A Media Operator
A Media Operator is a community for entrepreneurs and operators in the digital media space. This podcast is a natural extension of the newsletter (www.amediaoperator.com) and community that has already been built. Each week, I will interview entrepreneurs and operators that are building these media companies. Over the course of approximately an hour, we'll discuss their businesses, their success and failures, and, ultimately, what they learned about building media companies.
This podcast will provide actionable insights for current and prospective media operators. That means we're not only talking strategies in media, but also the tactics. We'll be diving into business models, audience development, subscription, commerce, advertising, audio, video—you name it, we'll be discussing it.
A Media Operator is also very much about niche media. That doesn't mean small. To me, niche media means depth. We should celebrate these stories and there are plenty of them. On this podcast, you'll finally hear them.
Wherever you listen to podcasts, hit that subscribe button so you know when I release an episode. As the show starts, considering rating it and leaving a comment so I know how I'm doing. I view A Media Operator as a tool for you; if I'm failing, I want to know.
Thanks for tuning in today and I'll be talking with you soon.
Latest episodes
Apr 8, 2024 • 46min
Stephanie Kaplan Lewis Talks About Bootstrapping Her Campus Media Over the Last Decade
Stephanie Kaplan Lewis, Co-founder and CEO of Her Campus Media, discusses bootstrapping her business. Topics include empowering Gen Z, campus chapters, pandemic career platform, revenue strategies, team structure, and lessons in building a community for media businesses.
Apr 1, 2024 • 1h 3min
Isaac Saul on Building a Truly Independent Tangle
Isaac Saul, founder of Tangle, discusses building a politically diverse media platform, strategies for engaging content creation, challenges in media growth, cross-partisan conversations, transitioning to Ghost, and advice on building a successful media business.
Mar 25, 2024 • 49min
Ellen Hyslop Talks About the Various Stages of Building The Gist
Ellen Hyslop, Co-founder of The Gist, discusses building a fan-first sports media brand, growth tactics, user onboarding impact on content, ad products, and future plans. Topics include inclusivity, email engagement strategies, revenue generation, event planning, technology backbone, funding journey, and career choices in the media industry.
Mar 18, 2024 • 39min
Brian Van Heuverswyn of Active Interest Media on Building for Enthusiast Audiences
Brian Van Heuverswyn is the chief operating officer at Active Interest Media, a portfolio of enthusiast brands, including Power & Motoryacht, Fine Gardening, Woodsmith, and so many more. In this conversation, we talk about how AIM came to be, the most recent Taunton Press acquisition, the move toward digital, and so much more.
Mar 11, 2024 • 53min
Scott Jamieson Talks About Building Annex Business Media
A CEO discusses growing a Canadian B2B media company, revenue shift from print to digital, challenges in the print industry, lead driver marketing campaigns, evolving revenue strategies, client reporting improvements, future growth strategy, and building a strong leadership team.
Mar 4, 2024 • 1h 3min
Mitch Bettis on the Various Brands of Arkansas Business Publishing Group
Mitch Bettis is the owner and President of both Arkansas Business Publishing Group and 360 West Magazine in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In this episodewe discuss how he came to own Arkansas Business, how the business has evolved from generating predominantly print revenue to diversified sources, the various consumer and b2b brands that he owns, and why he believes time tracking is so important.
73 snips
Mar 29, 2023 • 45min
Sam Parr on Launching and Growing Hampton
Sam Parr is the co-founder, a highly vetted membership community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs. As he articulates it, Hampton has the ability to one day become a $100m+ business. In this episode, we talked about why he felt there was an opportunity here, how they admit new members and build the monthly core groups, and his advice for operators to charge more for their products.
May 23, 2022 • 50min
Tim Hartman on GovExec's Rapidly Growing Business
Earlier this month, Tim Hartman, CEO of GovExec, and I took the stage at Omeda's Idea Exchange to do a live recording of the podcast. This is the outcome of that conversation. We talked about what it was like closing on the GovExec deal only days after the Covid-19 lockdowns had taken place. We also talked about how the company has acquired and integrated various other companies. Finally, we dug into the different aspects of GovExec's business model.
May 16, 2022 • 43min
Chris Ferrell on The Incredible Growth at Endeavor Business Media
Chris Ferrell is the founder and CEO of Endeavor Business Media, a b2b media company growing unbelievably quickly. His original goal? Hit $100 million in revenue. When that happened years faster than anticipated, he set a new goal: hit $100m in EBITDA. In this episode, we talked about how they have grown through acquisition, how they force all acquired companies onto the same technology stack, and how he sees market research becoming as big a part of the business as media.
Apr 25, 2022 • 37min
Alexis Grant on Launching They Got Acquired
Alexis Grant is the founder of They Got Acquired, a recently launched publication that covers digital companies acquired in the $100k to $50m range. In this conversation, we dug into the early decisions Alexis made when launching, how sponsorships took the business by surprise, and how they are planning to really monetize the business.
