How to build a $525 million B2B media company

PLUS: Axios reaches 3,000 paying subscribers

Welcome! I'm Simon Owens and this is my media industry newsletter. If you've received it, then you either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you.

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Let’s jump into it…

Quick hits

"I have noticed that Amazon is using Follows more aggressively in how they distribute visibility in the storefront ... They matter, especially in the several weeks before and after a new [book] release." [Aggressively Wide]

"[Matt Yglesias] is undeniably one of our most successful and influential bloggers, and must be, at this point, recognized as an exemplar of the form, for better and for worse." [Read Max]

Axios now has 3,000 subscribers paying somewhere between $599 and $2,499 per year. [Digiday]

"Bootstrapped companies are far less likely to pivot to video." [The Rebooting]

I get why podcast publishers are consolidating their shows into a single feed, but as a podcast listener I often get annoyed when this happens. [Bloomberg]

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How to build a $525 million B2B media company

Sean Griffey is one of the foremost experts on running a B2B media company. He co-launched Industry Dive in 2012 and eventually grew it to 22 separate verticals. For much of its history, the company was completely bootstrapped, and as of last year it was generating over $100 million in annual revenue.

Earlier this week, Sean joined a Zoom call to answer questions from my subscribers. Here are some topics we discussed:

• Why he eschewed paid subscriptions and instead went all-in on advertising

• How he launches a new vertical

• What kind of advertising products are most effective for B2B clients

• Mistakes he made early on

The conversation was amazing, and I made sure to record all of it. You can find the video embedded below: