Medium: Reaching Profitability while The Internet is Broken + CorePod | E2003

This Week in Startups

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Tony Stubblebine of Medium joins Alex.

(3:10) The broken internet and ad-based models

(5:57) Impact of AI on content creation and platform quality

(10:01) Medium's curation and financial model

(11:18) Notion - Try notion projects for free at https://www.notion.so/twist

(18:23) Medium's growth, geographic expansion, and AI translation

(20:02) Brex - Get the business account trusted by 1 in 3 US startups at ⁠https://www.brex.com/twist24

(22:05) AI-driven media platforms and the impact of AI spam

(29:32) OpenPhone - TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/twist⁠

(30:59) Medium's subscriber growth and financial milestones

(34:35) AI data exclusivity and challenges in forming training data cohorts

(41:26) Medium's venture scale potential, profitability, and mission

(45:17) CEO's mindset and financial scaling towards 10 million subscribers

(50:41) Tony's personal use of AI in his workflow

(53:24) Future of AI in practical applications and business model disruption

(57:09) Organizing content and the challenge of integrating different formats

(1:02:19) Growth potential of niche markets and Medium's independence

(1:06:23) Jam with JCal! Introduction to Ulan Abdurazakov and CorePod

(1:07:27) Corepod product discussion and go-to-market strategy

(1:17:23) Jason Calacanis's advice on testing and market validation

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Check out CorePod: https://www.corepod.tech/

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Follow Tony:

X: https://x.com/tonystubblebine

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonystubblebine/

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Follow Ulan

X: https://x.com/defoemark

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ulanbek-abdurazakov/

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Follow Alex:

X: https://x.com/alex

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm

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Thank you to our partners:

(11:18) Notion - Try notion projects for free at notion.com/twist

(20:02) Brex - Get the business account trusted by 1 in 3 US startups at ⁠https://www.brex.com/twist24

(29:32) OpenPhone - TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/twist⁠

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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