I might wait forever, but I really want the Nate, Clare, Harry, Galen (willing to accept up to one non-Nate substitution) politics podcast line up back. I would gladly pay a subscription fee just for that and nothing else.
This blog and podcast are good in the meantime. Looking forward to the book.
“I guess the general lesson here is that, if you’re some sort of small business founder, be wary of a situation where you’re being acquired by some larger business for ‘strategic’ reasons and there isn’t really a plan in place for your business unit to make money.”
Depends on your goals. Most journalists would prefer to be left alone (while somehow offering “strategic” benefit, whatever that means) and many people in the arts would prefer to be left alone (and bring an aura of prestige to their corporate sugardaddy) than be pressured to cheapen (or even alter) their product to bring in yet more revenue.
The security acquisition offers is too good to pass up, but making money is not their primary goal. They wouldn’t be doing what they do if it was.
It’s far from a start-up, but folks at the Washington Post were quite happy Jeff Bezos seemingly didn’t see great financial potential in them. Admittedly, the situation there may be changing.
I have been following politics blogging since around the time you got started and monetizing blogging always seemed to be the issue. In retrospect the right move seems to have been instead of blogging one should have been building up a YouTube audience because at some YouTube creators started making big money. But even that wouldn’t have guaranteed big money as the Lonely Island had one of the first viral YouTube videos and continued to create content that went viral pretty much until big money could be made on YouTube…and they even joke about it in a song. Contrast Lonely Island with Epic Rap Battles that I believe solely used YouTube and they hit the jackpot via YouTube.
Interesting insight in the process-oriented poker playing mindset and results-oriented political junkies. Maybe this is the reason I am one of like ten people who follow you for both poker and politics? I suspect you have more overlap in sports and poker. Thanks for sticking around to cover the important 2024 election from those of us who trauma-bonded to your voice in 2016. ;) I think it was a mistake to not try to build the 538 brand as a profit-making brand because you're right - a wide audience would have paid for content. On WSOP: The day I saw you and cashed 121 out of the 20k+ event this year, I spent half the day playing with panic attacks from sensory processing disorder and sensitivity to the bright lights. I think you're right the experience on stage really does give you an advantage, especially with the lights. I do a lot of public speaking, but the lights are brutal. This was the first year I noticed how significantly it impacts my play and I will adjust my schedule to include off days for my brain to recover in future WSOP.
I might wait forever, but I really want the Nate, Clare, Harry, Galen (willing to accept up to one non-Nate substitution) politics podcast line up back. I would gladly pay a subscription fee just for that and nothing else.
This blog and podcast are good in the meantime. Looking forward to the book.
Thank you Nate!
“I guess the general lesson here is that, if you’re some sort of small business founder, be wary of a situation where you’re being acquired by some larger business for ‘strategic’ reasons and there isn’t really a plan in place for your business unit to make money.”
Depends on your goals. Most journalists would prefer to be left alone (while somehow offering “strategic” benefit, whatever that means) and many people in the arts would prefer to be left alone (and bring an aura of prestige to their corporate sugardaddy) than be pressured to cheapen (or even alter) their product to bring in yet more revenue.
The security acquisition offers is too good to pass up, but making money is not their primary goal. They wouldn’t be doing what they do if it was.
It’s far from a start-up, but folks at the Washington Post were quite happy Jeff Bezos seemingly didn’t see great financial potential in them. Admittedly, the situation there may be changing.
I was intrigued by your aside in the podcast that you think sports are good for society. I hope you will write about that at some point.
I have been following politics blogging since around the time you got started and monetizing blogging always seemed to be the issue. In retrospect the right move seems to have been instead of blogging one should have been building up a YouTube audience because at some YouTube creators started making big money. But even that wouldn’t have guaranteed big money as the Lonely Island had one of the first viral YouTube videos and continued to create content that went viral pretty much until big money could be made on YouTube…and they even joke about it in a song. Contrast Lonely Island with Epic Rap Battles that I believe solely used YouTube and they hit the jackpot via YouTube.
Great podcast! I think we share a very similar philosophy of journalism.
Interesting insight in the process-oriented poker playing mindset and results-oriented political junkies. Maybe this is the reason I am one of like ten people who follow you for both poker and politics? I suspect you have more overlap in sports and poker. Thanks for sticking around to cover the important 2024 election from those of us who trauma-bonded to your voice in 2016. ;) I think it was a mistake to not try to build the 538 brand as a profit-making brand because you're right - a wide audience would have paid for content. On WSOP: The day I saw you and cashed 121 out of the 20k+ event this year, I spent half the day playing with panic attacks from sensory processing disorder and sensitivity to the bright lights. I think you're right the experience on stage really does give you an advantage, especially with the lights. I do a lot of public speaking, but the lights are brutal. This was the first year I noticed how significantly it impacts my play and I will adjust my schedule to include off days for my brain to recover in future WSOP.