Communicating Efficiently While Disrupting a Legacy Industry With Jim VandeHei, Co-Founder and CEO of Axios
In the latest episode of The Speed of Culture podcast, Jim VandeHei, co-founder and CEO of Axios, joins Suzy founder and CEO Matt Britton to discuss his journey from reporter to leader of a publishing agency with more than 500 employees.
“Being a great communicator, a great marketer, a great advertiser is the whole game right now.”
VandeHei went from being a lone wolf journalist covering the White House to co-founding the news website Axios, which covers local events, politics, health, climate, tech, media, business, sports and other topics in a truly revolutionary way.
The website’s sharp and conversational, yet politically unbiased, tone allows readers to consume content effectively without getting distracted by intrusive advertisements.
Key Takeaways
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01:06-03:05 — Efficient Content Consumption — In a time of information abundance, one of the fundamental challenges people have is finding trustworthy and relevant content as quickly as possible to be up to date with the latest trends. That was the idea behind Axios and the Smart Reedy concept, which combines insights on smart topics with efficiency.
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08:16-10:08 — Advertising Supports Free Media and Journalism — Great journalism has to be paired with a great business model. At the same time, journalists must be effective at engaging their audience. For these reasons, journalists should have the best tools and data available. They can also use advertising, which supports free journalism.
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13:51-14:39 — How the Mind Gets Enthusiastic About Information — In the multimedia era we live in today, successful journalism comes down to delivering content in a fun, direct and engaging manner that resonates with your audience and inspires enthusiasm about the information you provide.