From Public Radio to a Groundbreaking Media Startup with Alex Blumberg

My guest today is a radio journalist, former producer for public radio and television, and an entrepreneur.

From 1999 until 2014, he was the producer of the public radio show This American Life. He was also the co-creator and co-host of Planet Money, one of my favorite podcasts of all time.

In 2014, my guest made the crazy decision to leave public radio and start a podcast company — Gimlet Media and their first podcast Startup. Later that year, Gimlet received $1.5 million in seed funding and went on to become a runaway podcasting success.

In 2015, Gimlet received another round of funding, their Series A at an additional $6 million.

Now, let’s hack…

Alex Blumberg.

In this 35-minute episode Alex Blumberg and I discuss:

• Why it is essential to remove the unnecessary elements from the story
• The story behind Alex’s ‘crazy’ decision to leave public media
• The true value of puttng constraints on your work
• Doing work that matters to avoid facing ‘the me that could’ve been’

The Show Notes

• Gimlet Media
• Sampler Podcast
• Suprisingly Awesome Podcast
• Reply All Podcast
• Startup Podcast
• Mystery Show Podcast
• Science Vs Podcast
• Gimlet Media 0n Twitter
• Alex on Twitter
• Jon on Twitter
• Hack The Entrepreneur: The Book
• Show Sponsor: Fizzle.co – Get five weeks free training at Fizzle.co/hack