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Location: Coverage Plan
Discussion: Thinking like a Startup
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stoweboyd |
Thinking like a Startup
Mar 3 2009, 3:20 PM EST
Starting with 147 and asking "what would their jobs be?" seems totally backwards to me.Imagine you are starting a new 'newspaper' as one person: what do you focus on doing? Raising money to employ 147 people? Or working on the single most important thing? What is the business model, who are the customers/clientele, and what do they need? If hyperlocal is so critical, pick three neighborhoods and test what the people in those neighborhoods are willing to pay $1/day for. Note: hyperlocal means it may not be the same thing, which is potentially large gaffe in the Outside.in model, btw. Can you get to a model where a neighborhood like North Beach or Noe Valley can support a full-time or half-time reporter? If not, then trying to scale up to 147 people is just a way to lose money faster. This is the 'shortest path to money' approach; one that may be necessary since it will be very hard to capitalize a newspaper business. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?
Keyword tags:
hyperlocal
shortest path to money
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alexismadrigal |
1. RE: Thinking like a Startup
Mar 3 2009, 6:10 PM EST
That's a great post, Stowe. I think it's a valuable thought experiment to see how much money it would take to support a newsroom even half the current paper's size, but to actually turn the PostChron into a real entity, there's no doubt that it'd have to start much, much smaller. Will add your thoughts into the business model and coverage plan discussion.
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stoweboyd |
2. RE: Thinking like a Startup
Mar 4 2009, 8:51 AM EST
Cool. I will watch this with interest.
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1000voices |
3. RE: Thinking like a Startup
Apr 21 2009, 1:46 AM EDT
As a journalist I think it's important that any business model values professional journalism. I agree with Alexismadrigal in that it's important to be aware what a newsroom staff costs. I also think it's a big mistake to assume that advertising will drive the revenue stream for the SFPC. I'm not saying that the new model of journalism needs to operate, as Ward Bushee pointed out on Forum last year, "as a charity." But following from the heretofore unprofitable internet success stories like Facebook, maybe we should develop a news platform people can't live without, pull in some VC money and figure out how it will be profitable down the line?I realize it's short sighted and risky, but a thought nevertheless. Do you find this valuable? |
