Big Noises: Rafat Ali on choosing the slow path to growth
Jul 24, 2023
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Rafat Ali, known for choosing the slow growth path, discusses eschewing VC funding for sustainable growth and practical AI use at Skift. From tech expert to premium B2B travel site founder, he shares insights on revenue diversification and avoiding media industry pitfalls.
Rafat Ali emphasizes slow, sustainable growth over VC funding to maintain control and focus.
Skift leverages AI technology for content creation, enhancing user engagement and providing unique experiences.
Deep dives
Raffa Ali's Entrepreneurial Journey and Skift's Premium Brand Philosophy
Raffa Ali, the CEO and founder of Skift, discusses his entrepreneurial journey, from starting a blog acquired by The Guardian to founding Skift as a B2B travel service. Skift aims to be a premium brand, focusing on quality and relevance in its content rather than just quantity. Ali emphasizes the importance of good instincts over solely data-driven decisions, highlighting Skift's cautious approach to raising money to maintain control and focus on sustainable growth.
Challenges and Lessons in Media Business Strategy
Ali addresses challenges faced by media brands, cautioning against raising too much money and becoming overly dependent on a single revenue stream. He emphasizes the need for diverse revenue models, such as subscriptions, advertising, and events, to ensure long-term sustainability. Ali advocates for staying true to the core purpose of the business, maintaining relevance, and avoiding the temptation to expand into unrelated sectors.
AI Integration and Innovation in Skift's Content Creation
Ali discusses Skift's innovative use of AI technology, including a chatbot trained on historical archives and financial data to provide expert answers to industry queries. Skift also generates AI-driven articles for deep dives into specific topics, enhancing user engagement and offering unique content experiences. The integration of AI complements Skift's focus on quality and relevance, providing a new dimension to content creation and audience interaction.
Investment Strategies and Ownership Philosophy in Media Entrepreneurship
Ali shares insights on investment strategies, preferring a slower growth path with a focus on profitability and ownership control. He explores the trade-offs between owning a larger share of a smaller business versus a smaller share of a larger enterprise. By prioritizing optionality and sustainability, Ali aims to maintain creative freedom, make impactful decisions, and ensure the long-term success of Skift as a distinctive media brand.
Welcome to the latest season of Media Voices: Big Noises! This season, sponsored by Glide Publishing Platform, we’ll be talking to publishing people with something to say. Media Voices co-host Peter Houston is tired of hearing the same old industry buzzwords. The publishing platitudes are starting to wear a bit thin, and he’s decided to see if he can shake the conversation up a bit by speaking to some of the biggest characters in the business.
On this week’s episode of Big Noises we hear from Skift founder Rafat Ali. He tells us about why he decided on eschewing the rush for VC funding in favour of more sustainable growth, how the travel information site is using AI in a practical way, and where so much of the media industry goes wrong when choosing priorities.
He tells us about his lateral moves from tech expert to paid content specialist into founder of a premium B2B travel site.
Thanks to Glide Publishing Platform who have sponsored this season of Media Voices: Big Noises. Glide exists to make publishers more successful by removing any need to get bogged down building Content Management Systems, providing an industry-leading SaaS tailored to let publishers do more and spend less. Publishers using Glide direct more resources at their audiences and products, and focus on building things that make them money. You do the content, Glide does the management.
Glide have created 3 expert guides to getting much more from a new or headless CMS, created for editorial, technology, and product teams. You can get the whitepapers here.
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