My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
The news business will see massive disruption opportunities despite historically poor economics due to declining trust in traditional media
The Reasoning
General distrust of traditional news creates openings for upstart news organizations to capture audience and advertiser attention with fresh approaches and perspectives
What Needs to Be True
- Trust in traditional media continues declining
- Audiences willing to pay for alternative news sources
- Advertisers follow audiences to new platforms
- New entrants can solve traditional news economics problems
Counterargument
News has always been a terrible business with high costs, low margins, and dependence on breaking news cycles that are hard to predict or control
What Would Change This View
Traditional news organizations successfully rebuilding trust and audience loyalty, or new entrants failing to solve fundamental economics
Implications for Builders
Opportunity to build news organizations with different business models
Focus on specific niches or perspectives underserved by mainstream media
Consider subscription models over advertising-dependent models
Build direct audience relationships rather than platform-dependent distribution
Example Application
“Launch niche news publication focused on specific industry or political perspective with premium subscription model and direct audience monetization”
Related Knowledge
IQ Arbitrage Strategy
Moving talented people from highly competitive, intellectually demanding industries into underoptimized industries where
Content-First Newsletter Economics
Building newsletter businesses by obsessing over content quality first, then layering on growth and monetization rather
Launch and scale a newsletter to 7-figure revenue
100K+ engaged subscribers generating $18+ annual revenue per subscriber through advertising and products
Standard Setting Through Allowance
The quality standard of any business becomes whatever level of work the leadership allows to pass without correction or
Having an enemy (real or imagined) is essential for startup motivation and focus
Founders should identify or create competitive threats to maintain urgency and drive performance
You're totally right, but you can be right and not be an asshole
Being factually correct doesn't justify poor communication or relationship management