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

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Notion. Notion Projects combines project management with your docs, knowledge base, and AI. Try notion projects for free at notion.com/twist Brex. The financial stack founders can bank on. Brex knows cash is king for startups, so they built a banking experience that takes every dollar further. Get the business account trusted by 1 in 3 US startups at ⁠https://www.brex.com/twist24 OpenPhone. Create business phone numbers for you and your team that work through an app on your smartphone or desktop. TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/twist⁠ * 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 * Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com * Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp * Check out Medium: https://medium.com/ Check out CorePod: https://www.corepod.tech/ Enter the Jam with JCal contest: https://www.jamwithjcal.tech * Follow Tony: X: https://x.com/tonystubblebine LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonystubblebine/ * Follow Ulan X: https://x.com/defoemark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ulanbek-abdurazakov/ * Follow Alex: X: https://x.com/alex LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm * 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 * Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland * Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow TWiST: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916