E1003: The Athletic CEO & Co-founder Alex Mather is building a paid online sports media publication, shares insights on attracting investors in a seemingly dying industry, managing 500+ remote writers

1:05 Jason intros Alex Mather

2:08 Why did Alex launch a paid subscription publication in a seemingly dying industry?

4:32 How & where did The Athletic start? What was their thesis?

6:32 What was early feedback like from investors?

15:57 Changing approach from ad-based to subscription-based writing

21:34 Why the NHL & MLB are great for The Athletic

22:43 How do they manage young writers?

26:52 What % of their spend goes to editorial?

33:00 Managing 500+ writers

36:20 What are some ways they manage engagement?

39:08 Twitter's impact on journalism

43:39 Scouting new talent & capitalizing on layoffs

50:10 What has the inflated valuations of BuzzFeed & Vox done to the digital media industry?

55:20 How is The Athletic handling Apple's app-store subscription explosion?

58:20 Apple's impact on the boom of incredible products in our society and how The Athletic translates that to editorial

1:01:56 Alex asks Jason: "Mayor of San Francisco or owner of the Knicks?"

1:03:47 Alex shares his thoughts on the NBA/China situation

1:12:01 How does Alex go about re-activating users who have churned?

1:12:42 What does The Athletic think about the prevalence of sports gambling in America?

1:14:55 Who is the most interesting NBA player right now?

1:16:01 Jason & Alex pick who they would start an NBA franchise with today

1:17:50 Jason plays "good tweet/bad tweet" with Alex