A Media Operator

My guest this week is Tagg Henderson, co-CEO of BNP Media, a b2b media company operating in a variety of different niches. In this 40 minute conversation, we talked about how the business got its start, the 90 day pivot from print to digital that happened during 2020, the various revenue streams including advertising, events, research, and continuing education, the new agency that they brought on about a year ago and how that helps the business, and where he sees the business going from here. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Phillip Jackson, co-founder and CEO of Future Commerce. In this hour long conversation, we talked about how the brand got its start, the various revenue streams across advertising, subscriptions, learning, insights, and events, why they can accomplish all of this with a very lean team, and where he sees the brand going from here. Future Commerce is doing things differently than other b2b media companies, but I think that is to their advantage. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Curtis Cord, the founder and editor in chief of Olive Oil Times. In this 35 minute conversation, we talked about how the business got its start, its expansion into launching the NY World Olive Oil Competition, its education business where it holds sommelier courses in New York and London, and why he feels so passionately about making sure his various websites load as quickly as possible. This episode was a reminder to me that there are possible media niches in all places. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Eric Hoffman, CEO of Hoffman Media, a publisher that publishes a number of publications targeting women and southern living. We talked about how the business first got its start, why they charge what they do for subscriptions, the five figure experiences business they have, and so much more.

My guest this week is Kat Craddock, the editor-in-chief and CEO of Saveur, a publication that she acquired from Recurrent Ventures a little over one year ago. In this episode, we dove into how the deal happened, how she financed it, why they reintroduced a print product, and so much more.

My guest this week is Richard Lander, Director at Citywire, a UK-based media company that serves the asset management and wealth industries. In this 40 minute conversation, we talked about the various parts of the business, why the pandemic ultimately killed the print business, their events model, the various ways they generate revenue from licensing, and an interesting intent-based product they call Goldmine. I hope you enjoy this discussion.

This week we have a special edition of the AMO Podcast with Todd Handy, the chief revenue officer at SEBPO, a leading global outsourcing partner that serves the advertising, media, and technology industries. In this discussion, we dig into how companies should properly think about outsourcing, the scale, save, and succeed framework, how to overcome or avoid the common mistakes and fears in outsourcing, and why media companies need to be thinking about dual transformation. I hope you enjoy this discussion.

My guest this week is Jim VandeHei, co-founder and CEO of Axios. In this hour long conversation, we talked about the importance of advertising for the main business and why they never paywalled that, the company’s expansion into niche subscriptions, events, local news, entertainment, and software, how they've structured the team to build these various division. We also dug into a couple of M&A what-ifs tied to Politico and The Athletic, and then ended with his new book, Just the Good Stuff. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Andrew Perlman, co-founder and CEO of Recurrent. In this 45 minute conversation, we talked about the firm’s M&A strategy, their thesis on content to commerce and the various revenue sources, how they are thinking about platforms cutting into traffic to publisher sites, and how they’ve structured the teams with various GMs across the portfolio. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Andy Cates, the President and founding Chair of Memphis Fourth Estate, a 501(c)(3) that launched and operates The Daily Memphian. In this conversation, we talked about why The Daily Memphian care so much about reaching break even on operating revenue versus purely fundraising, the inherent challenges they have raising money from national journalism funders due to this belief in building sustainably, how they’ve thought about growth over the six years of its existence, and so much more. I hope you enjoy our discussion.