The intersection of media and data has been the top idea on my mind for quite some time now. And my guest today, Craig Fuller, runs one of the best modern examples of this concept in action. FreightWaves, founded in 2016, is a media and data company focused on trucking, freight, supply chains, and all things logistics. To date, they have raised $91 million, will hit $42 million in revenue this year, split 55/45 between data and media, and have a valuation of between $300 and 400 million today.
Craig’s work building FreightWaves has been an invaluable model for my work at HW Media as Chief of Staff with CEO Clayton Collins and the rest of our team. Conversations like this one have been instrumental in our discussions on the future of HW Media as an all-things housing media business. But we, and especially myself, also believe this model, this intersection of media and data can be a replicable strategy across industries.
The goal of my episode with Craig today was to better understand how media and data can work together to create transformative companies, and I’m grateful for Craig’s willingness to share his experience and expertise. Throughout the episode, we talk about what data sets to focus on first in an industry and how to build around them, developing the product roadmap, the media data flywheel, hiring effective editorial and sales teams, and the investor perception of FreightWaves. Enjoy.
Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.
Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/
I want to tell you about the audience survey we are currently running. These surveys help us create the best content for listeners and better understand your needs and interests. Thank you in advance for sharing your feedback, we greatly appreciate it.
Take the survey here: https://bit.ly/3QLBB1N
Links:
Craig on LinkedIn
FreightWaves
The Economics of Data Businesses by Abraham Thomas
Topics:
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:05:08) - Why do media companies typically misunderstand ‘data’ and data companies?
(00:07:51) - How did the Media & Data arms of FreightWaves impact each other as you built this business?
(00:13:44) - When you think back about creating high-frequency data, how did you approach building it for FreightWaves?
(00:18:32) - Where has the bulk of your capital gone in building the company?
(00:28:02) - How do you think about expanding your data sets going forward?
(00:32:50 - Who is involved in your product development process?
(00:38:44) - How did you two sides of your business interact in the early days, and has that changed over time?
(00:50:12) - How do you attract high-quality talent?
(00:54:56) - How do you structure your sales teams? How do you think about pricing?
(01:02:01) - What’s the investor perception of businesses running on Media & Data?
Think Like an Owner