Jessica Lessin
Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Information. Former WSJ reporter.
Discussion
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
Hi. My name is Jessica Lessin, and in 2013, I left my job at the Wall Street Journal to start the technology publication The Information because I believed that tech news needed a reboot. More than 18 months later we have the best team of tech reporters in the Bay Area, digging up important stories every day. I've got strong opinions on everything from the fate of Twitter to the best SoulCycle class in San Francisco. So ask away!
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Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
Hey Jessica - Thanks for joining us.
As a susbcriber, I'm a HUGE fan of the content and the community and would encourage others to join. You guys have obviously done a great job assembling world class journalists, but i'm curious: how do you see The Information as a product evolving in the future?
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@eriktorenberg Great question. As a subscription business our product is all about giving subscribers more value. We're testing share links that allow subscribers to share full text with anyone they want. That's a perfect example of the kind of stuff we're excited about.
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@eriktorenberg Here's a link to our new podcast too. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podc...
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
@jessicalessin oooh exciting! is it going to be similar to Recode (interview + tech news?) any awesome guests confirmed?
Amir Efrati
@amir
If you could invest in one of the top 5 private tech companies (by valuation) right now, which one would it be and why? Uber, Xiaomi, Airbnb, Palantir or Snapchat? (In other words, which one are you most bullish about.) Bonus question: would you invest in Alphabet?
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@amir At current prices, I wouldn't invest in any of them. That's basically because I think The Information is a better investment :) But as for being bullish.. Airbnb has a real business. Big questions: can it break luxury and business. Uber is operationally very strong but internationally a mess (no one talks enough about that.) Snapchat: I am too old. Palantir don't know enough of the financials. Yes, I would invest in Alphabet. It's a bet on tech and Larry Page and I'm long both. (of course, as a journalist, I don't invest yadda yadda.. disclosure.)
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
You've organized your community into a thriving slack community. What have you seen is are the main differences/advantages between community management on Slack vs over on Facebook or Twitter?
cc @erictwillis @davidspinks
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@eriktorenberg We're really learning and would love to hear from others on this too. Slack is great because it is threaded. I tried a very small experience like that in Messenger and after like two days, we knew it had to be threaded. I like Slack a lot but I know Stewart doesn't think of it as cross-company community so not sure how the product will evolve...
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
@jessicalessin cc @erictwillis has a lot of ideas here
Joe Beninato
@beninato · CEO, FounderLine
Hi Jessica, thanks for doing this chat today. In publishing, there's a dilemma between publishing for free and achieving wider distribution vs. a subscription model like yours where fewer people see the content, but you generate revenue. Do you ever feel like you're missing out on the wider audience with the paywall? I know many people would love to see the content. Any ideas here? I know Pando has a bit of a hybrid model now where subscribers can unlock content for a limited time, which allows people to sample their content before buying.
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@beninato Great question. Our business is really really different. I know that's hard to believe but I think of us as much more of a SaaS company. We obsess over customer and lifetime value. Now, audience is really really important. We write to inform people and change the way people think about the world - but we're focus on doing that for people interested in what we have to say. THAT IS A BIG DEAL. We think that if you're writing for everyone you're not saying anything interest. We have to work hard to build awareness about our content and we're doing that through allowing subscribers to share stories. But the minute we say we want the whole universe of people interested in business and tech to read us we lose our edge.
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
Hey, Jessica! To follow up on @sydney_liu_sl's question, I like that you're going "against the grain" by charging for access at The Information. What will you do if too few people pay to grow your business? Will you transition to a different business model, experiment with other types of content, etc.?
Joe Beninato
@beninato · CEO, FounderLine
@rrhoover Similar to what I was asking. Would love to see some of the content.
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@rrhoover Great question. Our mission is to be the most valuable business publication so yes, we'll have to iterate a lot. But subscription is in our bones and it's working. We've been basically covering our costs all along and it is very very scalable. Over time, I am sure we're have different prices etc. But that's a long way away.
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@beninato email hello@theinformation.com and we'll give you a month free! That goes for everyone. That's our standard for new subs.
Alex Finkielsztein
@alfink92
Hey @jessicalessin what under the radar startup or tech sub-sector are you most excited about?
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
Hey Alex. Thanks for the first question! I'll think of a sector in a sec, but I am excited to finally see a couple of startups come out of stealth. One is Sean Parker's Airtime and other other is UpThere, started by Bertrand Serlet. I hear good things about both and we've written a little about them.
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@alfink92 Ask for sectors: I think we're on the cusp of some cool AI companies -- not the big picture "Her" stuff yet but much more focused on verticals like autos. I also think food is interesting. Amir and I reported that Google tried to buy the fake Hamburger company Impossible Foods and I think that's a space to watch, for sure. (You can read the full text of that here: go.theinformation.com/357cac)
Niels
@hi_niels · Commercial Cofounder
@jessicalessin If not quite delivering on the big picture Her proposition yet, at what stage is Fin at the moment?
Sydney Liu
@sydney_liu_sl · Co-Founder of Commaful
Hi Jessica! Thanks for doing this.
You were able to charge a premium for content, something many people weren’t used to paying for or at least the industry didn’t believe you could just pay a subscription for. You had completely different metrics of success (not page views and ad optimization). What allowed you to differentiate and attract subscribers who were willing to pay that high premium in a market where there were already so many big players? and what were your key metrics of success?
Thanks!
Sydney
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@sydney_liu_sl Totally on metrics. For every story, we look at things like the percentage of subscribers who read it and how many subscriptions it drove. To this day, the number one thing that moves the needle for us is stories that aren't elsewhere: really in-depth stuff, news etc. People pay when you give them something that's valuable. It's not sexy but it is hard.
Jim Payne
@jpjr6130 · Program Analyst
Hello Jessica,
Thanks for doing this. What made you decide that it was the right time to leave your "day job" and start your own business?
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@jpjr6130 Hey Jim. It's corny but I was just really really excited about the opportunity. There have been a lot of news startups but they are all pursuing the same (broken) business model. I thought: could we get together a team of awesome reporters to focus on doing it the right way, and once I was convinced we could, I went for it.
@jessicalessin unlike many comment sections on the interwebs, the the discussion in the comments on The Information are one of the best parts! Which comment have you found most memorable since The Information was founded?
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Jessica Lessin
@jessicalessin
@nivo0o0 Thanks for saying that! I adore our comments and learn a lot from them. One of my favorites was from the late Dave Goldberg about RegFD. Diego's comment here is also priceless. https://www.theinformation.com/S...