This Week in Startups Medium: Reaching Profitability while The Internet is Broken + CorePod | E2003
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Timestamps:
(0:00) Tony Stubblebine of Medium joins Alex.
(3:10) The broken internet and ad-based models
(5:57) Impact of AI on content creation and platform quality
(10:01) Medium's curation and financial model
(11:18) Notion - Try notion projects for free at https://www.notion.so/twist
(18:23) Medium's growth, geographic expansion, and AI translation
(20:02) Brex - Get the business account trusted by 1 in 3 US startups at https://www.brex.com/twist24
(22:05) AI-driven media platforms and the impact of AI spam
(29:32) OpenPhone - TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/twist
(30:59) Medium's subscriber growth and financial milestones
(34:35) AI data exclusivity and challenges in forming training data cohorts
(41:26) Medium's venture scale potential, profitability, and mission
(45:17) CEO's mindset and financial scaling towards 10 million subscribers
(50:41) Tony's personal use of AI in his workflow
(53:24) Future of AI in practical applications and business model disruption
(57:09) Organizing content and the challenge of integrating different formats
(1:02:19) Growth potential of niche markets and Medium's independence
(1:06:23) Jam with JCal! Introduction to Ulan Abdurazakov and CorePod
(1:07:27) Corepod product discussion and go-to-market strategy
(1:17:23) Jason Calacanis's advice on testing and market validation
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Check out Medium: https://medium.com/
Check out CorePod: https://www.corepod.tech/
Enter the Jam with JCal contest: https://www.jamwithjcal.tech
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Follow Tony:
X: https://x.com/tonystubblebine
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonystubblebine/
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Follow Ulan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ulanbek-abdurazakov/
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Follow Alex:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
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Thank you to our partners:
(11:18) Notion - Try notion projects for free at notion.com/twist
(20:02) Brex - Get the business account trusted by 1 in 3 US startups at https://www.brex.com/twist24
(29:32) OpenPhone - TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/twist
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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
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Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
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