Making Media

Latest Episodes:

7 More Nuggets of Media Wisdom - [Making Media, EP.44] Nov 02, 2023

Show notes

In early October, Matt put together seven insights that he's learned and implemented from this show. Today, it's Dom's turn to pull out his favorite lessons that guests have shared with us and how we've put them to use in our own business, Colossus. Enjoy seven more nuggets of media wisdom.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

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Show Notes

(00:02:37) - (First question) - How prioritizing listeners in podcasting benefits the business in unexpected ways

(00:07:10) - The long game in media: Why slow growth equates to sustainable relationships

(00:13:15) - How media growth and funding models are often misaligned with business sustainability

(00:14:35) - Why starting simple in content creation is vital

(00:20:02) - The underestimated power of newsletters in direct audience engagement

(00:24:43) - Building a unique, value-added subscription service for super fans

(00:28:07) - The crucial role of internal communication in a decentralized world

(00:32:40) - How passion and dedication can turn unpaid podcasting into a thriving business

The Ringer’s Press Box with Bryan Curtis - [Making Media, EP.43] Oct 26, 2023

Show notes

We are joined today by Bryan Curtis, Editor-at-Large at The Ringer. Bryan writes excellent columns on theringer.com and hosts The Press Box, which happens to be the show with our favorite podcast episode of this past year.

We gushed with Bryan over that particular podcast episode with Wright Thompson and we also hit on a wide range of media topics: writing versus podcasting, streaming versus linear, and searching for those water cooler events. We had a ton of fun during this one - please enjoy our conversation with Bryan.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

(00:02:00) - Exploring the role of Editor-at-Large

(00:03:15) - The factors influencing the prioritization of writing

(00:06:50) - Building chemistry with co-hosts and guests

(00:08:35) - Experiences working at ESPN

(00:12:00) - Predicting the future of sports media

(00:13:30) - The Ringer's independence within Spotify

(00:16:00) - Risks associated with cable channels transitioning to streaming

(00:18:15) - The essential attributes of a successful podcaster

(00:20:00) - Comparing podcasting to radio

(00:22:55) - The benefits of appointment-based viewing

(00:23:45) - Incorporating video into podcasting

(00:27:53) - The reception towards One Perfect Story

(00:34:45) - Where long-form media will be in the future

(00:36:45) - Internal focus versus metrics-driven approaches

(00:40:00) - Balancing media consumption while also working in the media industry

(00:41:30) - Lessons learned from working with Bill Simmons

(00:44:15) - Characteristics of the perfect media content

The Power of a Newsletter with Lenny Rachitsky - [Making Media, EP.42] Oct 19, 2023

Show notes

Today we welcome Lenny Rachitsky to Making Media. Lenny has built the biggest business publication on Substack, "Lenny’s Newsletter," with well over 500,000 readers. It started in 2019 as an advice column and since starting the newsletter, he has built a thriving podcast, community, and job board. Lenny’s world has become the destination for product and growth people at companies big and small across the world.

We explore his journey, the strategy behind his products or SKUs as he calls them, and we delve into his mindset which is particularly unique for someone who has been this successful at building an audience. I hope you enjoy our conversation with Lenny Rachitsky.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

(00:01:53) - (First question) - How Lenny tackles challenges through research, delivering actionable insights

(00:05:04) - Juggling weekly and long-term posts, correlating effort to engagement

(00:08:01) - How his varied experiences shaped his online content journey

(00:11:54) - Maintaining relevance by advising companies & addressing problems

(00:13:34) - How he aims to sustain his content creation without corporatizing

(00:16:53) - Quantifying podcast success monetarily and by growth

(00:19:43) - Evaluating post quality and striving for non-obvious, surprising connections while maintaining brevity

(00:23:37) - Emphasizing stakes to underscore a topic's relevance

(00:24:39) - Maintaining simplicity by avoiding empire-building, utilizing contractors, and focusing on core offerings

(00:27:28) - Starting small and curating members while maintaining quality controls for community growth

(00:29:47) - Engaging active supporters and notable individuals for a self-sustaining community

(00:33:16) - Utilizing the 'Jobs to be Done' framework to better serve readers

(00:38:37) - Why some topics resonate more than others

(00:41:17) - How Lenny’s Newsletter drives engagement and distribution across platforms

(00:44:26) - Appreciating Substack's simplicity and audience growth

(00:48:00) - Debrief

Inside Colossus - Debriefing a Successful Launch - [Making Media, EP.41] Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

Last week, we launched a new Colossus podcast called Art of Investing. It was our biggest and most successful launch ever so we wanted to share the tactics we put in play to help that show off to a fast start. We hope you’ll find them useful and we’ll be back with our normal interview episode on Thursday.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Media Playbooks: Events, New Verticals, and More with Jacob Donnelly - [Making Media, EP.40] Oct 12, 2023

Show notes

This is Matt Reustle and today I am joined by Jacob Donnelly. Jacob is the founder at A Media Operator and publisher from the Morning Brew.

Jacob has long been involved in the media space, with a persistent interest in ideas on building a sustainable media company, leading him to launch his own. A Media Operator is a community with a high caliber of both people and conversations for those in the digital media and online publishing world. We cover events, launching new verticals, B2B media, and who Jacob is closely watching operate in the media market. Please enjoy this conversation with Jacob Donnelly

Subscribe to Colossus's New Show: Art of Investing.

Buy a ticket to Patrick and David Senra's live show.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

(00:02:30) - (First question) What events mean to the media industry

(00:03:30) - The economic equation for business-to-business (B2B) events

(00:06:00) - What makes an event stand out from the rest

(00:07:30) - The future of virtual events in the realm of business

(00:10:45) - Making your event sustainable for the future

(00:13:30) - Integrating event businesses into broader sectors

(00:15:45) - A playbook for launching a new vertical in the event space

(00:20:30) - What the timeline for a new vertical looks like at Morning Brew

(00:26:00) - Handling sponsorship and exclusivity

(00:31:30) - Balancing the synergy between creators and brands

(00:34:45) - The best businesses to study in terms of media

7 Nuggets of Media Wisdom - [Making Media, EP.39] Oct 05, 2023

Show notes

Today on Making Media Matt shares his top 7 bits of media wisdom that he has thoughtfully curated during his efforts to build a media company. Each individual guest and episode offers a new takeaway, and Matt attempts to find the thread that goes between all of these lessons and create an actionable summary.

Studying great founders, learning from the best in the investment world, studying these great businesses...well, what does it matter if you can't take that knowledge and apply it in practice? Today's episode pulls out the highlights and offers additional context as to why it's important to Colossus and how it can be more broadly important to anybody that's in the media space.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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This episode is brought to you by Scribe. Scribe is the presenting sponsor of this episode of Making Media and the magic behind the Colossus transcripts. One of the best decisions we made at Colossus was transcribing all of our audio into a searchable transcript library. We had been using another provider up until the summer of 2022 but we were constantly having issues with accuracy if our audio was just the slightest bit impaired. Whether it's training sessions, internal Q&As, or for media purposes, the value of transcripts is huge. And we are not alone. Scribe is the transcription service that powers all of S&P Global - like CapIQ - and the client list includes our friends at Tegus. Go to joincolossus.com/scribe to unlock 150 minutes of free transcription and test their capabilities.

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Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Life as a Writer with David Coggins - [Making Media, EP.38] Sep 28, 2023

Show notes

Today we have a special guest on Making Media. There are few people who write and live like David Coggins. David has a way of maintaining his creative identity while still adopting many of today's tools. He writes books, and he writes on his Substack, The Contender.

We talked to David about his process for writing, what he is or is not sacred about, how his parents normalized creative acts in his house growing up, and we get some great recommendations. Please enjoy this interview with David Coggins.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

(00:02:00) - (First question) His experience having parents who work in creative fields

(00:07:30) - Finding people who expose you to interesting things

(00:10:15) - How to find an editor

(00:12:33) - The transition from writing online to writing a book

(00:16:00) - Conveying a theme effectively in a book

(00:18:30) - Documenting emotions and experiences

(00:24:00) - Balancing travel and book writing

(00:28:53) - Editing a family member’s work

(00:30:40) - Scheduled writing versus writing in the moment

(00:33:00) - Favorite types of written media

(00:35:00) - Advice for aspiring young writers

(00:39:30) - The impact of location on writing

(00:44:40) - Defining a successful book

(00:45:45) - One piece of work every creative should experience

The Voice of Pickleball with The Dink’s Thomas Shields - [Making Media, EP.37] Sep 21, 2023

Show notes

This week we cover another niche media business. Our guest, Thomas Shields, launched The Dink in late 2020 and has quickly grown it to become the media authority on the booming sport of Pickleball. Across its newsletter, podcasts, videos, blogs, and more, The Dink offers everything you could want to know about the sport. And we discuss the whole journey and business with Thomas, who started it as a side venture and now has far grander plans for it. Enjoy!

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

(00:02:00) - (First question) - Thomas’ experience with content creation prior to starting The Dink

(00:03:49) - How the first ever newsletter looked and its contents

(00:04:59) - When the Dink started creating new content as well as curating existing news

(00:06:20) - The point when The Dink started breaking news stories

(00:07:21) - Family connections with Fromuth and the inception of Fromuth Pickleball

(00:09:49) - The reason why The Dink and Fromuth needed to separate their businesses

(00:11:01) - How The Dink made its first big steps as an industry leader in Pickleball news

(00:12:32) - How The Dink separated themselves from competitors

(00:13:11) - Thomas’ influences from other sports when creating content for The Dink

(00:14:00) - The evolution of the frequency of the newsletter

(00:14:52) - A breakdown of The Dink’s audience

(00:15:57) - Profiling the avid Pickleball fan

(00:16:48) - The timeline from getting started as a side hustle to Thomas making the leap into working on The Dink full time

(00:19:00) - Thomas’ strategy for the business moving forward

(00:23:13) - The Dink’s plan for content, diversification into other sports or delving deeper into Pickleball

(00:25:59) - How Thomas plans to become more independent and less reliant on Pickleball’s economy

(00:27:05) - Harnessing media to grow Major League Pickleball and The Dink’s relationship with the league

(00:29:12) - What Thomas has learned about the value of each of The Dink’s media outlets

(00:31:26) - Bundling for cross media advertising

(00:33:08) - The influence of celebrities involvement in Pickleball

(00:35:48) - The challenge of bringing supply and demand together as Pickleball grows

(00:36:59) - The differences between Platform Tennis, Padel and Pickleball

(00:38:26) - Where Thomas would like to strengthen his team with investment

(00:40:26) - Thomas’ opinion on the biggest opportunity within the Pickleball ecosystem right now

(00:43:03) - The sport that Thomas would choose were The Dink to create another newsletter

(00:45:24) - Debrief

More with Less Media with Brian Morrissey - [Making Media, EP.36] Sep 14, 2023

Show notes

Today we're sitting down with Brian Morrissey and getting back to the guts and glory days of the media industry. In 2021, Brian founded The Rebooting - a newsletter publication focused on the mechanics of building sustainable media businesses. Prior to The Rebooting, he spent a decade building Digiday and had a nice stint as editor at Adweek. We get into Brian's own experience launching his business and unpack his view that we're in a "more with less" era in media.

Please enjoy this conversation with Brian Morrissey.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

(00:03:23) - (First question) - How media is adapting to the "more with less" era amidst challenges

(00:06:08) - Efficiency's impact on media brand identity and content quality

(00:08:21) - The benefits of niche focus in media for building sustainable brands

(00:10:25) - Media companies' failure to adapt and the impact of misaligned incentives

(00:13:30) - The power law effect on media business size and advocating for lean operations

(00:16:22) - Starting narrowly versus broadly in the media business

(00:18:57) - Leaving Digiday to build a personal, autonomous, trust-based media brand in The Rebooting

(00:22:27) - Using his year away from work to strategize personal media product creation

(00:23:52) - Leveraging connections to sell ads, avoiding paywall to grow faster

(00:28:12) - Understanding the essence of sales and the role belief plays in it

(00:30:41) - How niche markets and personal connections can serve as media business moats

(00:33:43) - Valuing passion and expertise over market trends when starting a media business

(00:36:53) - Why questioning industry norms can be beneficial

(00:37:52) - Creators using autonomy and audiences for better deals

(00:40:57) - Pat McAfee's leverage as an entity, not just talent

(00:42:56) - Analyzing the Barstool-Penn breakup and its implications for the media business

(00:46:27) - Why ad agencies continue to survive despite being dysfunctional

(00:50:23) - Debrief

(01:01:17) - Live Event

Matt Levine - Wall Street’s Art Critic - [Making Media, EP.35] Sep 07, 2023

Show notes

Today we speak with the Wall Street Wonder, Matt Levine. Matt's Bloomberg column, Money Stuff, has become a must read for most of the finance community. It's that rare place where you get laughter, learning, and complex topics. During the conversation, we talk with Matt about his ability to translate those complex topics, how his early legal career at Wachtell Lipton, and then his banking career at Goldman Sachs have played a role in his success, and we cover a ton of topics in terms of what's going on in the markets today - the overall regulatory structure and some very abstract questions. Please enjoy this conversation with Matt Levine.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

(00:01:51) - (First question) - Today's regulatory efficiency versus history

(00:07:26) - The area of finance he would like to investigate the most

(00:09:39) - The access he has to both public and private finance for his articles

(00:10:21) - His relationship with his readers

(00:11:08) - Responses from the individuals he writes his columns about

(00:12:24) - Legalization of unregulated activities making for the most interesting articles

(00:14:31) - His reason for defending finance and banks

(00:17:19) - His view on whether derivatives around financial securities are a net positive

(00:18:22) - His view on himself and how he would categories what he does

(00:19:16) - What it’s like being an opinion writer for Bloomberg

(00:21:35) - His view on large companies owning individual writers IP’s

(00:25:24) - Twitter's relevance in today's society and its continued impact on social culture

(00:26:39) - Replacements for Twitter and where journalists look for interesting writing topics

(00:27:28) - Topics he feels trapped into writing about due to their popularity

(00:30:27) - His knowledge of special purpose acquisition companies or SPACs

(00:31:52) - His perspective on the fallout from SPACs

(00:35:34) - His process on researching topics he finds most interesting to write about

(00:37:00) - Strategies he uses to choose topics he wants to write about

(00:37:51) - The moment he knew readers were interested in his opinions

(00:39:25) - Analytics and the importance of how his columns perform

(00:41:03) - Performance reviews he receives from Bloomberg

(00:42:02) - How writing columns has detached him from his previous financial careers

(00:43:24) - His future in writing and whether he plans to change or expand his endeavors

(00:44:56) - Harnessing the power of his readers and expanding his reach with media

(00:46:33) - The transition from traditional media career paths to creator-led career paths

(00:50:28) - Debrief

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