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Six months in, journalist-owned tech publication 404 Media is profitable (www.niemanlab.org)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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of note:

The 404 team DIYs as much as possible. They pay for hosting through Ghost and set up litigation insurance, for example, but everyone makes their own art for stories instead of paying for agency photos. (The reporters are also the merch models). Everyone works from home, so they don’t have an office and don’t plan on getting one anytime soon. The team communicates through a free Slack channel. Koebler mails out merchandise from his garage in Los Angeles. Every month, the team meets (virtually) to decide how much they can pay themselves. (The number changes each month, but everyone gets paid the same amount.)

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

While I love that they are profitable, this sounds like a massive private investment from all involved which is not a good model as a whole

[–] [email protected] 64 points 8 months ago (1 children)

To me it sounds like a journalism co-op, how is this not a good model? Everyone contributes to getting it going, and then everyone gets an even slice of the pie. They keep their overhead minimal to keep costs down, and everyone has incentive to put out their best work. Sounds solid to me.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Well, the line between a minimal overhead, self employed lifestyle and an abusive workplace are fuzzy in those kinds of arrangements

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago

How does it compare to a regular journalist workplace? I’m not a journalist.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (2 children)

They each put a quarter share of $1,000, per the article:

The four cofounders each own 25% of the company, and at launch each put in $1,000 to cover initial costs.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean investment less in dollaridoos and more in time and energy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Isn’t that what most small business owners go through? My brother and his wife own a business and they hustle waaaay more than I need to as an employee of a large business with all the HR, retirement etc baked in. I don’t think they went net positive for like 4-5 years.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Yeah, this sounds like most small businesses. You could do well, or not. That's the risk you take. It isn't for everyone, which is why a lot of people work for other people for a regular wage. They trade the chance of doing really well for (more) stability, and forgo the risk of losing their investment and having to look for a new job.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The thing is it's profitable because they pay themselves less than they make in income. We don't really know how sustainable their pay is

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Yeah they make the same point in their subscribers-only podcast. They did say that they earn enough to be sustainable, so it sounds like they aren't having to dip into their savings anymore. I hope they get more than that though as everyone deserves to thrive.