[2][3] Koechley attended Madison West High School and graduated from Columbia University in 2003 with a double major in philosophy and creative writing.
[6] His association with The Onion began when he published his first article on the site at age 17 as a high school student in Madison, Wisconsin.
[7] Later, he began to work at the office of the publication and landed an internship during his senior year in high school as the site's first intern.
[12] By the end of October 2012, it has attracted 8.7 million users, leading Business Insider to name it the fastest growing media company in the world.
[13][14] In 2015, he apologized for Upworthy's out-sized success and pledged to change the algorithm, saying:"We sort of unleashed a monster.