A podcast for news entrepreneurs, featuring practical advice on launching and growing a news business

News Guest is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

Launching and growing a digital news business can be a tough hill to climb — but it doesn’t have to be a lonely journey.

That’s why we’re launching News Guest, a new podcast featuring practical advice from LION members and other entrepreneurs who are changing the news business.

Subscribe to News Guest on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you do your streaming to hear our first three pilot episodes, coming this spring.

The first episode, available now, examines how Block Club Chicago turned a viral story into a $100,000 merchandise campaign.

Here’s a sneak peek at what to expect in the rest of the pilot series:

Episode 2 (May): How Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service built a racially diverse team that reflects the community it serves

News organizations across the country have talked about diversifying their teams and prioritizing equity and inclusion in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service has actually done it. Nearly 70 percent of its paid staff are people of color, including its top editor Ron Smith — and it’s not by accident.

In our next episode of News Guest, Candice talks with Ron about the approaches to recruitment, hiring, and training that have helped Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service build one of the most racially diverse news teams in the country, and what other news leaders can learn from MNNS’s progress.

Episode 3 (June): How RANGE acquired its first 1,000 readers and built a newsletter audience from scratch

Luke Baumgarten started the Google News Initiative Startups Boot Camp last fall with little more than an idea for RANGE Media, a new progressive news organization in Spokane, Washington.

Six months later, Luke has grown RANGE’s newsletter audience from zero to nearly 1,000 readers — and turned more than 9 percent of those readers into paying subscribers.

In this episode (coming in June), Candice talks with Luke about his first six months as an independent news founder, as well as the paid and organic acquisition tactics he used to build an audience from scratch.

Got feedback or ideas for News Guest? Email [email protected] to let us know!

And don’t forget to subscribe to News Guest on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you do your listening to catch our first three pilot episodes.