Created by Rishabh Srivastava, Founder of Loki.ai
This summary was largely done for my own note-taking, sharing it just in case it adds more value to other people.
I have no affiliation whatsoever with anyone in this note. This is a summary largely taken for my own reference, and may contain errors :)
Context
Source URL:
Why is it important: talks about how to get and monetise people’s attention
Keywords
Attention, Media, startups
Summary
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Highlights
Got initial money through salary (paying $10-15k per month) and not through selling the company. Had very low expenses
Currently has 3 sources of revenue:
- Podcast: launched in 2015. Called The TOP Podcast. Revenue through sponsorships. Initially anchored to CPM. Changed it to a number lower than what their CAC was through other channels. Last year, did $700k in revenue. Largest sponsor pays $100k. All sponsors start on a $15k for 3 months test. Belief was that distribution was more important than product. Build Your own distribution In an industry you want to own. Do the same thing for a long period of time, with consistency, and with high quality. Was prepared to do 200-300 episodes even if no one listens to an episode. People with successful media businesses generally just stick with it for the longest time
- Subscription database: giant database of SaaS metrics that people subscribe to
- SaaS (founderpath): Helping finance founders and help them understand their valuations. Also helping founders raise equity or debt. Wants to have access to the balance sheet of every SaaS company that earns more than $10k MRR
Wealth is being able to do whatever you want whenever you want to do it. Freedom leads to wealth. You can’t have freedom without being an indiehacker
Put 5-6 years into it. Don’t work for a year and then complain that you haven’t made it
Nathan had a net worth of a $100k when he was 25 after selling a vc-funded company for a loss
Now is much larger than a million dollars, mostly because of the podcast
Podcast is about grilling SaaS founders on their numbers. Often records 10-20 episodes a day. Has done over 3000 episodes in 5 years
There is a tension between volume and influence. If you’re only getting 6000 listeners per day, but all of them are c-suite executives, you have a lot of influence
Educational content is wildly popular and is something people are happy to pay for. But has high churn. Newsy content has less chances of someone paying for it, but has Low churn. If you can combine both (like Stratechery), you win
How to create compelling content?
- Have tight and dense content
- Maintain suspense
Getting pre-sales helps reduce uncertainty by a lot. Get these presales to build partners’ confidence in your business
People are there to boost their egos and feel smart. Make people feel smart
Write a lot. You need to take the time to convince people and sell them
You make things happen by how confidently you say them. Be a confident, clear communicator
Bloomberg magazine was meant to deepen the moat for Bloomberg terminal. Products have much more pricing power than media. But media is a great enabler
If advertisers really want to start using your channel to reach customers, maybe you should build the product they’re building and increase your margins
If you have a media business, you get to speak to a lot of smart people and understand the industry and be thought it as someone who knows what’s happening in the world. You can then leverage this into dealflow