"Media Empires" | The Business of Newsletters, Podcasts, Creators, and Data Acquisition

Chris Hutchins, expert in podcast growth and optimization, joins Erik Torenberg to discuss crucial factors of podcast optimization, choosing platforms, monetization practices, and the future of podcasts. They explore the challenges of content creation, the power of cross promotion, the importance of analytics, and the impact of audience demographics on advertising. They also delve into the journey of building a successful podcast, exploring the idea of subscription-based podcasts, and the future of the podcast ecosystem.

Mario Gabriele, founder of The Generalist, discusses the evolution of tech writing, niche publication opportunities, NFT experiments, and the importance of community in growing a media business. They explore the challenges of scaling a publication, the future of content creation, and lessons learned from an NFT experiment. The podcast also emphasizes the value of risk-taking and community building in content creation.

In this episode, Erik Torenberg interviews Adam Ryan, CEO of Workweek, discussing the transformation of digital media in the B2B sector, the potential of podcasts, their approach towards working with creators, evaluating different categories and creators, building and monetizing different categories in media, and the future of media partnerships.

Greg Isenberg discusses the future of B2B creators, monetizing media, and the venture of Turpentine on his podcast 'Where It Happens' with Erik Torenberg. They explore the rise of B2B creators, the power of podcasts, niche selection, media monetization, the value of data, diverse businesses within the media industry, startup ideas, price discrimination, and the evolution of San Francisco.

Robert Leonard, creator of The Investor's Podcast Network, discusses building podcast networks, vertical integration, monetization strategies, quality vs quantity, newsletters as a revenue stream, working with hosts, evaluating new show opportunities, focus on quality, and considerations for partnerships and ownership.

Hunter Hammonds, CEO of Assembly, discusses building multiple agencies, future expansion plans, the potential of creator-led B2B businesses, and the importance of iteration. The podcast explores the evolution of co-founders and the structure, growth, and division of labor in startups. It also emphasizes the significance of productized services and competition between different companies.

Romeen Sheth, CEO of Metasys, discusses the intersections between AI and service businesses, the rise of cashflow businesses, opportunities in offshore labor and AI, building an automation consulting firm, opportunities in vertical software, and leveraging media companies for lists and data.

Auren Hoffman, CEO of SafeGraph, discusses building data businesses, selling horizontal data, second party data sharing, challenges & potential for social recommendations, improving the user experience of LinkedIn, building a reputation database, and software businesses masquerading as services businesses.

Greg Isenberg, CEO of Late Checkout, discusses multipreneurship, building value around community-based products, and requests for startups with Erik Torenberg and Sean Linehan on Media Empires. They touch on the future of technology products, prioritizing ideas based on community feedback, starting a decaf coffee brand, and improving smoke detectors and home automation systems.

Michael Mignano, co-founder of Anchor and venture capitalist at Lightspeed, discusses the democratization of audio, Anchor's success, the demand for personalized audio content, analytic limitations, creator funding models, the rise of TikTok, AI in consumer social, making NPCs, the future of media businesses, mid-sized social networks, and the potential for a new audio-only social network.