The Evolution of FreightWaves with Craig Fuller - [Making Media, EP.51]

Making Media

Today's guest is Craig Fuller, Founder and CEO of FreightWaves and CEO of FLYING Magazine. We get into some of the early observations that Craig had when he was building out FreightWaves, which is a software data business with a media empire sitting around it. He shares the challenges associated with fundraising for a media business and why the market doesn't put a value on audiences.

In the second half of our conversation we get into Craig's playbook for buying up niche magazines around things like private aviation and boating. He explains why it is so important to capture the full audience base and some of the fun projects that he has been tying in around those audiences. This is a wide ranging conversation with someone who has taken a very interesting approach coming in as a practitioner, once a pilot himself, and how he's taken some of those lessons and applied them into building businesses. Please enjoy this conversation with Craig Fuller.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page HERE

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Show Notes

(00:02:38) - (First question) - Craig’s initial mindset when launching FreightWaves

(00:05:37) - Craig’s observations about fundraising when shifting the business into a media business

(00:13:08) - How he bridged the gap between his industry expertise and the media business' need for specialized knowledge

(00:17:35) - How his media business was initially funded

(00:20:46) - Disparity in market valuation with audiences undervalued and some SAS businesses overvalued

(00:26:14) - The motivation in pursuing the purchase of Flying magazine

(00:31:02) - Lessons learned from attaching real estate to audiences compared to finance or e-commerce

(00:34:15) - The strategy behind acquiring numerous media outlets

(00:37:54) - Economic principles for managing acquired magazines

(00:39:33) - The correlation between the aviation and freight industries

(00:40:46) - The importance of having an interest in an industry before acquiring an existing audience

(00:43:47) - The elements Craig tries to enhance when revamping older magazines

(00:47:39) - Shifting advertiser mentality into niche marketing and its ultimate success

(00:49:46) - The early challenges of switching to a specialized, niche audience

(00:51:08) - Whether this model works for all magazine or if niche marketing is only successful with expensive product content like planes

(00:54:58) - Debrief