From Sponsorships to Subscriptions

David Bank left the Wall Street Journal after a long run covering tech and philanthropy and assigned himself to a new beat in impact investing, a world of private capital being directed toward social good that legacy outlets largely ignored. That journalistic instinct grew into ImpactAlpha, which over the past decade has grown into what David calls the “hometown newspaper” for the “agents of impact”: investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions rethinking finance.

In this conversation, we talk about the messy reality of building a media company from scratch — from early sponsorships to subscription revenue, near-acquisitions that never happened, and raising money from mission-aligned investors. David also reflects on why the best publications start in overlooked niches, and why persistence is the real moat.