Going Live and Starting To Scale
So we did it. We officially told the world (or at least our personal and professional worlds) about our new media venture and our “flagship” website, Emerging Market Views. By 11am Wednesday on October 19th, 2016, a full-page press release had gone out on BusinessWire and a fair amount of our friends, work and business colleagues had not only seen it, but heard from myself and other team members personally. It was done. As my mentor Brian Lemond (CEO of Brooklyn United) told me, my firm was officially “out there”.
What now? I am coming in to my own as not only a business owner, but as a CEO. I am managing budgets and expenses, wrangling sources, keeping an eye on our editorial voice and direction, and participating in a one-semester intensive as a Tow-Knight Fellow in New York City. And oh, getting our revenue streams and partnerships into place. Learning more and more as I go, but also building on the confidence I began this journey with.
Our market has been defined, our mission is clear and our digital presence is growing. The excitement of being a new entity with dozens of ideas can often overshadow the reality of not only scaling, but sustaining a business. So here we are, now a team of eight across two continents, working to remain focused and keep emotions in check.
For The Love Of (Good) Journalism
What is it about journalism that keeps drawing us back to it? Day in and day out we hear from our colleagues across the media business about what is working, what isn’t and in some instances, what they fear may be next. As a small and privately held firm, we are working to remain current on all trends across media, technology and the overall journalism ecosystem. Do we have a “runway”? Yes, somewhat. But certainly not an infinite one. Do we have the patience to test, fail and go at it again? Yes, we do. And with even more resolve. We want to make mistakes, we want to learn from them and we want to deliver the best products and services to our audience and potential clients — which we know are a higher-end and somewhat demanding demographic.
Test, Fail, Take The Risk(s)
Being named a Tow-Knight Fellow has been a professional honor and a privilege. One that challenges my thinking daily and offers a new rigor that I bring to the table when with my team. I am asking tougher questions, pushing back harder on ideas, yet at the same time more willing to take risks. It’s my “entrepreneurial experience” in digital media and it’s a thrill.
We’ve heard more than once that if we are satisfied with our first take on a product or offering, we are “going about it wrong”. “It should embarrass us”. Our initial and very early version sure did, mainly for reasons out of our control, but nonetheless a subpar version of our “vision”.
Emerging Market Media is proud to have announced a key product to the world after not one, but three hard revisions coupled with a lot of reflection. Now to build, grow and sustain what we so eagerly set out do to — become one of the world’s great media companies.
