Introducing The Rebooting Show

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After a year break from podcasting, I’ve finally started anew with The Rebooting Show, a weekly audio and video discussion that goes into the details of building sustainable media businesses with those building them. (The video is still in the works, and it will take a bit of time before the podcast feed is available on Apple and Spotify. Apologies.) The goal for the show is to focus on the mechanics and execution since I believe too much is generally made of “vision” in the media business. There aren’t a ton of secrets; those who succeed tend to simply excel at executing the details. 

My goal is to get beyond the PR spin that’s, unfortunately, a feature of most business podcasts. I always knew a podcast would likely suck if multiple PR people showed up with the guest. It was nearly guaranteed if the guest then took out a sheet of talking points. You’d be surprised how many big media executives feel uncomfortable simply answering questions about what, in theory, they’re responsible for doing.

My plan is to break the podcast into mini-seasons of five episodes focused on a theme. This first season is focused on modern B2B media businesses, a topic near to my own experience. B2B has long been treated as something of a backwater, at best a stepping stone to consumer titles. That’s always sold B2B short. There are many terrible, old school B2B publishers and events companies, but there are a new crop of modern players emerging who are still focused on going deep on the ins and outs of their business areas but do so with a higher focus on in-depth reporting, slick packaging and diverse business models. In many ways, I think consumer media can learn more from B2B than vice versa since B2B has always focused on direct connections (often through email), communities and diverse business models that aren’t reliant on advertising.

That’s why I wanted to talk to Adam White, the CEO of FOS, home to Front Office Sports and Sports Section. Adam started Front Office Sports while still a student at the University of Miami in 2014. His cobbled-together Wix site was meant as a foot into a sports marketing career but grew to the point where Adam made the plunge into starting a business out of it.

I’ve always liked Front Office Sports and how Adam and his team have thoughtfully built the company and continued to execute. In our conversation, we discuss the origins of Front Office Sports, the white space they saw in the market, their approach to differentiation, and the decision to build off their B2B base with newsletters aimed at a wider consumer audience.

Some highlights from our discussion:

The importance of talking to your audience

FOS began as an informational interview project Adam did one summer during college. Putting them online seemed a no-brainer. There wasn’t a product roadmap or a business plan, but Adam listened to what he was being told. Many of the interviews veered toward career advice, giving him insight into needs in the market. “What they told me all the time was these young professionals that work in sports don’t get accolades.” That led to what in retrospect was FOS’s breakout moment: The Rising 25 awards in 2017. “It’s been the most impactful thing we’ve done,” he said.

Not having money is a gift

Investment firm Steins backed FOS in 2018, but Front Office Sports took a bootstrapped path. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise in retrospect. “If we had the money before we did the informational interviews, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We would have never figured it out. They told us everything we should do.” That gave FOS a