Lots of people start media companies using money from rich people. Jason Koebler and his colleagues did it themselves, using a grand total of $4,000. That was back in the summer of 2023. Now 404 Media, the tech news + investigations site they started after leaving Vice Media, is a success story. Koebler tells us how they started, how it’s going, and what he’ ... Show More
Jan 14
How to Build a Profitable Media Company in 3 years, with Semafor’s Justin Smith
News is a tough business. So how did Semafor, the news startup founded by Ben Smith and Justin Smith, figure out how to turn a profit in their third year of business? Excellent journalism certainly helps. But it’s really because the company made two key decisions: Focusing on eve ... Show More
39m 32s
Jan 7
Inside Bari Weiss’s Rise: LA, Sun Valley, and the Mogul Network
How, exactly, did Bari Weiss become the head of CBS News? We know that David Ellison, who bought Paramount last year, hired her — and bought The Free Press, the publication she started a few years earlier. But how did she get on Ellison’s radar? And why are so many media moguls, ... Show More
40m 4s
Dec 31
Craig Finn on Friendship, Fans and The Hold Steady’s Second Life
Craig Finn makes music — as the head of the Hold Steady, and on his solo records — about grown-up lives and bad decisions. Back in 2017, we talked about his life as a working rock musician — and how touring actually works, how the band found a second life, and why fans and friend ... Show More
48m 49s
Feb 2025
When Traditional Advertising Is Dead
It’s no secret the media business, which has long relied on advertising revenue, is in crisis. It’s not a stretch to imagine that few if any of the major TV networks, newspapers and magazines - the old guard bedrocks of U.S. media - will survive into the next decade. BCG’s Neal Z ... Show More
33m 20s
Aug 2024
Disney is a Tech Company?
Streaming didn’t just change the way consumers watched movies and TV shows, it reconfigured how media giants operated, and how they saw themselves. If tech companies were disrupting old business models, perhaps Disney’s best move was to join the crowd. In our final episode, we lo ... Show More
36m 9s
Aug 2024
Sergey Brin: Googling billions
<p>By founding Google, tech titan Sergey Brin helped shape the internet. He also got very, very rich, as his company Alphabet became one of the biggest in the world. BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng tell the story of the billionaire who partied on planes ... Show More
47m 27s
Oct 2024
Investor FOMO is back, and what's happening with WordPress and WP Engine?
Today on Equity, Devin, Margaux and Anthony Ha are rounding up the week's startup and venture news, kicking things off with a look at the $400 million raised by Lightmatter, and the importance of fast networking within the fast growing datacenter industry today — not just in year ... Show More
36m 39s
Mar 2025
China has some big ideas about smartphones
In this episode, what's old is new again, and what's new is... AI again. The Verge's Allison Johnson and Dominic Preston join David to discuss their experience at Mobile World Congress 2025, where they saw the latest devices from Xiaomi, Samsung, Realme, and others — and found th ... Show More
1h 14m
Sep 2024
Not an Internet Error: How 404 Media Aims to Shake Up Online Journalism
<p>Last summer, OTM host Micah Loewenger <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/rise-worker-owned-journalism-on-the-media">reported a piece</a> about the rise of worker-owned newsrooms: Hell Gate, a local New York publication, and Defector, a national outlet f ... Show More
20m 14s