My business' competition

The second part of our assignment is to identify any competition that we could face. I've already written about this briefly, but these are the gaming news sites that I have identified to be my main competition:

Game Informer
I talk about Game Informer a lot, but for good reason. It is one of the most subscribed magazines in America, with a circulation of 7.8 million and 3 million online readers, according to Slate.com. Its staff members are excellent journalists who have a wide range of reporting multimedia knowledge. Since it is primarily a magazine, Game Informer has very well-written articles. Game Informer would most likely be my main competitor in the video game news industry.

In order to compete with Game Informer, I would have to enforce that in order to be a good journalist, one has to know how to write and report. As important as multimedia has become nowadays, it's crucial to know the basics of journalism.

IGN
IGN, or International Gaming News, is right up there with Game Informer. It's an online-only news site that tends take advantage of video features more than written features. While Game Informer would off competition through words, IGN would offer competition through multimedia.

Even though I would place emphasis on writing and reporting, I would require all staff members to have experience working with multi- and social media. It is the only way I will be able to compete with IGN.

Polygon
Polygon takes the best aspects of Game Informers and IGN and puts it into one. There are excellent, well-written features, thoughtful video features and discussions, and a beautiful web layout. Each feature is designed like an online magazine, tempting the reader to read more and more.

There are other gaming news sites like Gamesradar, Joystiq, and GameSpot that offer great video game journalism, but Game Informer, IGN, and Polygon are the most popular and well-made sites.

Actual market research

Now that I've identified different elements of market research, I have to do some actual research for five of them. Here's what I discovered:

1) How many gaming news sites charge for content?

To my surprise, very few gaming news sites charge for paid content. In fact, only found one that did. Companies that would be big competitors such as IGN, Polygon, Gamesradar and Joystiq do not charge readers for content, and, as a result, there are no paywalls. Game Informer, one of the most subscribed magazines in the U.S., charges readers for the actual magazine, but most of the online content is free. Some online content is only available with a subscription, however.

2) The number of mobile gamers in America.
Based on a review by Newzoo, there were over 100 million mobile gamers in America in 2012, a 35 percent increase from 2011.

3) The Average price of mobile games.
For this element, I went to the Apple App store's top 10 paid games. Eight out of 10 titles were priced at $0.99; one is priced at $6.99 and one is priced at $8.99. I searched through the app store some more, and while there seems to be a mix of prices, it was clear that a majority of games are priced at $0.99.

4) Which gender plays mobile games the most?
Based off of the same study by Newzoo, 58 percent of mobile gamers are male in the U.S.

5) The amount of money gaming news sites charge for content.
As I said before, Game Informer is the only gaming news site that I found that charges for content. It costs $20 for a 12-month subscription. 

Market Research

With the semester winding down, we are starting to focus more and more on our final projects. Our first assignment is to identify 10 different elements of market research that we would have to conduct.

As a gaming news site that also makes video games for mobile devices, these are the different elements of market research that I would have to conduct:

1) The number of people who read gaming news sites.
2) How many gaming news sites charge for content.
3) The amount of money that gaming news sites charge for their content.
4) The amount of money readers would be willing to charge for gaming news.
5) The average age of readers.
6) The average age of gamers.
7) The average of age of mobile gamers.
8) The average price of mobile games.
9) The number of mobile gamers in the U.S.
10) How much money gamers would be willing to pay for video games.
11) What types of games mobile gamers prefer to play.
12) Which gender plays mobile games the most?

These are the ones that came to me first, but if I think of any more I'll be sure to post them.

Questions for John Christie

-How did you come up with the idea for the Pine Tree Watchdog? Was it one "ah-ha" moments or was it an idea that developed over time?
-How did you come up with the name?
-When working on a story like The Book on Paul Lepage, how did you even begin to gather information? Where did you start? How did you start your writing process?
-When you first started your career as a journalist, did you ever think you would take on such enormous role?
-What was the hardest part in starting your own news outlet?

My company's vision and mission statement

Vision: The Gamer's Gazette will provide readers with well-written and in-depth reporting on the gaming industry while developing new and ethical ways in which our followers can experience story telling.

Mission: The Gamer's Gazette will keep readers informed about the latest news and trends in the gaming industry through different kinds of multimedia and high-quality and ethical reporting.

The gaming industry is an ever-growing business that shows now signs of slowing down. The Gamer's Gazette believes that it is important to report on this industry as it is a major contributor to popular culture and the entertainment industry as a whole.

Our stories will take advantage of multiple multimedia programs to fully immerse our readers in our stories.

In recent years, video games have proved to be an excellent medium in which stories are told. The Gamer's Gazette believes that it is a journalists duty to tell stories, so the gazette offers video games based off top news stories in addition to journalistic contest.

The games developed by The Gamer's Gazette will be ethical and informative and will be the collaboration of professional game developers and journalists.

Our stories and games will be accessible online through our website. A subscription is required to access all that The Gamer's Gazette has to offer.

Vision and mission: what's the difference?

Part of our homework assignment for Tuesday was to take a look at the Pine Tree Watchdog's website, specifically looking at the news site's vision and mission statement. I didn't know that a company could have both a vision and a mission statement; they just seemed like the same thing to me. But after reading through the Pine Tree Watchdog's I understand the difference between the two, and why it's important for a company to have them.

A vision is defined as an imaginative concept. This means that a company's vision is simply a concept or idea that it strives to meet everyday. In terms of the Pine Tree Watchdog, this means that all staff members strive to "fulfill the responsibility of a free press in the American Democracy," while writing and reporting clear articles that don't choose sides. The mission statement essentially says the same thing, but it goes into much greater detail as to what the company believes in and how it delivers content that reflects these beliefs. I think it's important to have both of these because it shows customers what the company strives for and what it believes in.

Revised Powerpoint Pitch

So I'm once again having problems embedding my powerpoint to a post, but I will provide the link. As I said in an early post, I focused on making the slides look cleaner. Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8v40a7CVTtwTTgtX3pDSnlibWc/edit?usp=drive_web

Response to pitch comments

Before we edit and pitch our business ideas, we were asked to look at what our classmates said about we have so far. I was surprised about how everyone supported and liked my idea. As I've posted before, my idea is a video game news outlet that that reports on video game news and actually develops small games based off of big news stories. The idea is a stretch, but I guess a lot of people like it!

As for the strucutre of the pitch, my classmates had a lot of positive feedback to give. Mostly everyone said that the slides were very informative but text-heavy. When I revise my pitch the first thing I'll do take care of that. Now that I'm planning on actually presenting the idea, I'll save the words my actual spoken words. I'll also split up some slides into multiple slides to save space. A few people noted that the template for the pitch is kind of bland. As a video game news company, it would make sense that the presentation is fun and colorful. One response noted that I only talk about the video games at the beginning; I have to make sure that I'm running a news company that makes video games, not the other way around.

The structure of the pitch needs the most attention, but I also need to think about some aspects of the business itself. One person wanted to know how I would make people aware of my company, and another suggested that I change the amount of articles before a paywall is reached.

All in all, the comments were very helpful. I'm really glad that people like my idea, and it looks like the structure of the pitch itself only needs a little tweaking. The only thing I'm dreading is making sure I have enough to say when I talk to the class. Public speaking has never been my thing.

Response to "Inside Forbes" article

One of our reading assignments for Monday was a Forbes article titled "Inside Forbes: Journalists Need to Understand the Ad Business, Not Sulk and Go Home." It's basically just an informative article about the different types of advertising, but I'm the exact type of person that this is aimed at.

We talk about advertisement pretty frequently in our entrepreneurial journalism class, and I tend to zone out or loose track of what we are talking about. I'm a journalist after all, why should I care about this stuff? Just leave it for the business guys.

While I still think there's some truth to how I used to think (I certainly don't plan on managing advertising), the article proved that I need to learn some of the basics. If I don't know at least something about how newspapers make money, I can't contribute to discussions about the industry.

I like how the article related to Terry's discussion last week. The old business models of the industry don't work anymore; we have to find ways to adapt to the digital age.

Response to Terry Williams' visit

Terry Williams, the president and Chief Operating Officer of Keene Publishing Corp. came to our class to talk about what we should be do to prepare for our future and the current state of the journalism industry. Terry was my favorite guest speaker for one reason: he was optimistic. 

Right when he started he had good news and bad news. The bad news was that ad revenue is extremely low and that there are fewer jobs in the journalism industry. This is far less worse than I thought; we hear about this all the time in journalism classes, so I'm used to it. The good news was that the only way is up. Sixty five percent of publishers are optimistic about the journalism industry, Terry said, and news outlets all over America are figuring out ways to survive and survive well. We did talk about Patch.com's failures for a little bit, but the conversation was mostly about the industry's successes.

Two of the most interesting examples he gave were those that sold extra products in addition to magazines (like cowboy gear) and the newspaper that is completely free. I've never thought about the extra products business plan before. It's kind of like my semester project idea for the video game developing company but at a different level. I might add this to my business plan.

Overall, Terry's visit was positive and inspiring. I've wanted to go into newspapers for a while know because I figured the industry experienced it low points. Based on Terry's presentation, it looks like I was right. The industry had it's low points, but now things are getting back to normal, and I can't wait to see what it looks like in the next few years.

Powerpoint reactions 2

The second powerpoint I looked at was Focused Fencing by Corinne. My first reaction: it looks amazing. I know looks aren't everything for a pitch, but when I read through it I could tell Corinne put a lot of effort into it. I also really liked how she explained the sport and why her magazine would benefit readers. I was very impressed that she came up with hard numbers; I thought it was impossible to do for my pitch.

I really can't give much criticism for Corinne's pitch. It sells the product well. If I had to give one bit of advice, it would be to shorten the sentences on the slides to bullet points. The sentences aren't long and complicated, but anything that's not a few words looks long and cumbersome on a powerpoint. The powerpoint itself should just highlight key facts; the speaker can do the explaining. But like I said, I really liked her pitch.

Powerpoint reactions part 1

Part of our homework assignment was to look at our classmates powerpoint pitches and comment on them. The first one I immediately thought of was Breanna's project: See the News.

Her Project revolves around photo journalism and how stories can be told purely through photos. I love the idea and her powerpoint. It's simple, but that's what's so great about it. When we were making them last week I looked to my classmates' power points for inspiration, and I Breanna's blog gave the me the inspiration I needed. I was overcomplicating everything, but her pitch made me realize that a powerpoint shouldn't be so intense. Her pitch gets to the point fast, and it tells us exactly what she's striving for. But I'd like to know why she thinks her idea would better journalism. I personally think it would; we don't have enough photo journalism out there, in my opinion. But what does she say?

What I learned from Meg Heckman

Last week Meg Heckman, I fantastic local journalist, came to speak to our class about what it's like in the journalism industry right now and how important it is to keep coming up with good ideas. Meg focuses on hyper local journalism, so all the entrepreneurial examples she gave were based on that. My favorite example she gave was Chicago Talks, a hyper local site that reports solely on the poorer areas of Chicago. City news seems so focused on the industrial district that the majority of the city is overlooked. I've never thought about it before Meg showed us the website, but it's such a fantastic idea. Imagine how many stories newspapers overlook because they are too focuses on "bigger" things.

If Meg taught us anything, it's that coming up with new ideas in the journalism industry is critical. It moves too fast for us sit still and watch. As my editor at my old internship told me on my last day of work, zig where others zag. If you see a good idea, think of something even better.

Stateless Media: another unique news outlet

Ever since I've started this class I've been looking for news outlets that stand out from the crowd. Our first lecture was that entrepreneurs need to bring something new to the table, so now I'm curious as to what others have done.

I recently stumbled upon Stateless Media, a news outlet that brands itself with its "shortreals," short, journalistic films about popular news stories. The shortreals aren't 30 second clips that you'd find attached to an article; these are full video features that dive deep into a story and pull out facts.

What's great about Stateless Media's videos is that they can be humorous and journalistic at the same time. A video can dive into a controversial topic and pull out things that a newspaper or magazine would never use. The videos are longer than your standard feature, but they are entertaining and extremely well-made. I've always been a fan of video stories, and these are the best ones I've seen so far.

Powerpoint presentation link

I still can't figure out the audio for my pitch or how to embed the powerpoint, but it still should be viewable on Google Drive. Here is the link, and let me know what you think:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18-bYsHBiLzmGFt_EBd_EUiekYhtzwYeBoQoKTiz0CJA/edit#slide=id.g12182b3f5_2_185

Response to Meg Heckman's article

Meg Heckman, a well-known journalist in the area, is coming to our class today to speak about her visit to Local Independent Online News Publishers Association summit, but she asked us to read an article she recently wrote for netnewscheck.com before class. 

I'll let you read it, but it's a report on LION's first summit in Chicago. It was a gathering of 75 journalists who are dedicated to local and hyperlocal journalism. As Meg puts it, it was "a study in the paradox of local digital journalism."

The article reflected a very optimistic attitude at the summit, something that you don't hear too often when it comes to the future of journalism, but I really enjoyed how much support local journalism is getting through LION. I recently wrote about my local newspaper's publisher filing for bankruptcy, and how it was kind of an eye opener. The threat of papers going under is real, and this news only solidified that.

But after reading Meg's article, I am more hopeful than I was last week. It's cleat that people still care about local journalism, and even if the the publisher doesn't stay up, maybe The Westford Eagle will find a way to live. 

Creating a business pitch

Last week's reading talked about how to pitch business ideas. In writing it seems easy enough; I even wrote a post last week saying how creating a pitch was a lot like pitching a news story. We were told to create a powerpoint pitch for our idea, and I thought it would be a piece of cake. But sitting down to actually create a powerpoint presentation for your business idea is a lot harder than it seems.

For starters, I don't have any real budgeting information or investors, so I can't include that in my pitch. It felt awkward to not have such crucial information in my pitch, but then again it's just for practice. Then the technology didn't work. We were supposed to put the powerpoint on the blog and attach audio to it, but nothing was cooperating. Goes to show that technological mishaps can happen even during the most important moments.

The most challenging part was actually coming up with the best way to sell my idea to investors. I needed to find a way to make it sound new, desirable, and professional, while giving real details and goals. It was the first time I actually sat down to think about my business in such detail, and while it was tough, it was exciting at the same time. It actually sounds like it could be a real business.

If I can figure out how to put it online, I'll post the powerpoint as soon as I can.

My home town newspaper is in trouble, and boy is it eye-opening

I found out the other day that GateHouse Media, the company that owns my home town newspaper The Westford Eagle filed for bankruptcy.

I couldn't believe it. The Westford Eagle has been a part of my home ever since we moved to Westford when I was five years old, and there's a chance I might not see it anymore. I'm kind of in the stage of disbelief. I want to say that everything will be fine, but look at how many newspapers have gone under. As much as I love the Eagle, it's not exempt from such things.

This just proves that journalism needs new ideas. I know the Eagle has been making real attempts to adapt to the digital age, but I guess that just isn't enough.

An important lesson on self-branding

I think I've mentioned this before on the blog, but my goal is to one day become a video game journalist. I love video games and the video game industry; it seems that there is something new to talk about everyday. Working for a gaming publication would be amazing, but this weekend showed me that I have a lot of work to do.

Two weeks ago John Herman, a social/multi-media guru and self-branding expert, gave the contact info for Chris Dahlen, a local freelance writer who has spent a good amount of time as a games journalism. I spoke over the phone with him, and he gave me great advice for how to get started as a video game journalism.

Our conversation basically boiled down to self-branding. I will have to pitch story ideas to editors, remain in touch with them, and prove that I can be a reliable and talented addition to their staff. I have my own gaming blog and my social media accounts have a lot of gaming content, but it's time to go beyond that. I need to take charge and dive into the video game journalism world.

Self-branding is important for journalists, but it's equally important for businesses, especially startups and entrepreneurs. When you pitch business ideas or advertise, it's up to you to show what your business is about and what you stand for. This isn't something I was thinking about for my semester project, but knowing how I'm going to brand it is on the top of my list.

I sure am glad I didn't major in business

Last week's visitor was Joe Burke, my professor's friend who bought his magazine Points East a number of years ago. It was basically two-hour lesson on the terms, skills, etc, that you have to know to run a successful business. It was long, and my brain hurt afterwards, but it taught me one very important thing.

Business, no matter how you look at it, is not easy. I always thought that being a businessman (or businesswoman) meant taking numbers and adding and subtracting them. There's so much more to that though. A businessman has to predict, keep track of expenses, and know what to do when a bank account is lower than expected, just to name a few. The mind of a journalist and the mind of a businessman are two very different things; I can't imagine majoring in business after Joe's lecture.

The Art of Pitching: it's actually just like journalism!

One of our readings for today is titled The Art of Pitching. At first I thought it was going to be how to pitch news stories, but it actually details the best ways to pitch business ideas to investors. I thought I was going to be in a world of pain (business kills me), but I actually found the reading fun. As it turns out, pitching business ideas to investors is a lot like pitching new stories to editors. I know this isn't really related to entrepreneurism, but I think there's a cool relationship between the two. Here's some examples as to how they are similar:

Explain yourself in the first minute
This section of the reading talks about answering one simple question in the first minute of the pitch: What does this organization do? If you look at it from a journalistic angle, you'll have to ask," what is this story about?" When you pitch a news story to an editor, you don't want to fumble around and give the back story. Say what the story is, and give the background details when you write.

Answer the little man
"The little man" is what the reading's author says should be on everyone's shoulders when pitching a business idea. He asks, "so what?" In journalism, this little man would ask, "who cares?" Why would your publication want to read this story? Why is it news worthy.

Know your audience
This is self-explanatory in both business and journalism. Who are your readers? Will they care about this story enough to pick up a paper (or mobile device) to read it?

Set the stage
I said before to simply state what the story is about when pitching it. Well when that's done, your editor will want to know more. He or she will ask questions about the story. If you can't answer them, he or she will send you back to investigate or scrap your idea.

The biggest frustration in learning business

I wrote earlier that I was having a hard time understanding all the business terms and applications that were given to us for homework. After a couple more read throughs, I'm still having a tough time understanding it all. There is just so much! I'm sure part of it has to do with the fact that this is the first time I've really tried to learn business; everyone has a hard time learning something for the first time.

But after a few reads, I think I've figured out why I'm having such a hard time learning everything. It starts with the first subject on the list we were given: assets = liabilities + equity.

The equation is simple enough. Once you put it in numbers it's not that hard. What's challenging is what those numbers mean.The packet defines assets as anything a company can use to generate revenue through the sale  of goods and services. So far so good.

Then it says that assets can include patents, trademarks, and goodwill. What's goodwill?

Luckily for me there's another packet about goodwill...and liquidating value. What the heck does that mean?

By the time I look up liquidity, I forget what my original question was! It never ends!

The same thing happened when I looked up accrual basis of accounting. It's somehow distinguished by the cash basis of accounting. So in order to understand one basis, I have to know exactly how another works? What???

Joking aside, it's actually extremely frustrating. I have such a hard time keeping up with the transitions that I forget what I learned the second I switch topics.

Thank goodness I picked journalism, and not business, as my major...

I think I've realized why newspapers are struggling financially...I think

Through the assigned reading I learned about things called assets. Assets are things that can be used to generate revenue, so they can pretty much be anything. Since this is a journalism program, I thought what a paper like The New York Times could have for assets.  I came up with three things: newspaper copies (both physical and digital), advertisement (both print and online), and subscriptions.

Before the Internet, those three things sound like more than enough because people had to pay for their news, but people get free news all the time in this day and age. Between social media and an absence of paywalls, it's no wonder that newspapers have a tough time making money.

When I look at it this way, I have a better idea for how my "company" can bring in a strong revenue; it needs a variety of assets. Subscriptions won't be enough, so I'm going to have to think of other assets I can sell to customers when it comes time to make a business plan.

Business homework: attempt #1

Our homework assignment for this week was reading on various aspects of business. Being a class about entrepreneurs, I figured this topic would come up sooner or later.

Business is my Kryptonite. I've never done well in business classes, and the terminology and ideology behind it goes way over my head. You'd think that understanding vocabulary would be easy an English major, but something about business vocabulary just doesn't stick.

The reading topics range from accounting equations to depreciation. The first time I read them through, I had no idea what the majority of the reading meant. Assets, liabilities, and equity seem like easy concepts to get down. But accounting, cash flow, balance sheets: those will be the death of me.

Although this is challenging, this is exactly what I signed up for. I don't plan on owning a business in the future (who knows though, maybe someday I will), but I think it's important for me to know these things as a professional. There's no easy way to understand business, so I'm just going to have to keep plugging away.

A visit from John Herman

Last week John Herman came to our class to discuss his work and what it means to brand oneself through social and multimedia. If you don't know who John Herman, you should definitely check out his website (which is linked in the sentence before). The guy's done it all: he had his own web series, he's made films, he's written books and plays, he's worked with TV and radio, and he teaches. John has an incredibly inspiring story.

What really inspired me is his ability to see how to best use social media and how he just did what he wanted to do. Learning how to best use social media takes time, and that's something I plan on learning throughout my career as a journalist. But he wasn't afraid of failing at a project or messing something up. If he thought of an idea, he just went for it. He took risks. That's really what being an entrepreneur is all about, it seems like: learning what you love, and taking risks.

So for the past week I've been thinking about how I can learn more about social media and what I can do to take risks. I think I just have to use social media more and more. I frequently use Facebook and Instagram, but I need to connect with people on Twitter more. That means to actually tweet at people and ask questions instead of looking at tweets and calling it a day. I'll also have to experiment with social media that I'm not familiar with, like Storify, Vine, and anything else I come across. Finally, I'll have to blog more. I have a gaming blog that I love, but I have a hard time updating it on a regular basis. The more I post, the more chances people will see it and connect with me. If this doesn't work, I'll keep trying other things.

Entrepreneurial questions and answers

For part three of our homework assignment, we were asked to answer the following questions about our semester project:

Question: I have read your idea and I would like to understand a little more about it. What need does this idea fill? Is this a need that you have yourself? Who would share this need?

Answer: I personally do not have a need for this idea, but it fills an area of journalism that does not currently exist. Now that journalism is entering a fully digital age, I think it is time to start embracing unique ways in which we tell stories; my idea fills a need to tell stores in a new and digital approach. My idea is aimed primarily at the gaming community, so it would be fans of video games and the video game industry who would share this need.

Q: At this point you should have some idea of who the average user of your product will be. What is the profile of that person?

A: Like I said before, the average user of my product would be a fan of video games and the video game industry. That being said, it would be hard to put a profile on this person. The common stereotype of a gamer is a nerdy individual who spends hours upon hours playing games, but that stereotype isn't necessarily true. Anybody can play video games, so it is impossible to make an accurate profile of a user of my product.

Q: Who wants this product that you intend to develop?

A: Anyone who has an interest in news and/or video games would have an interest in my product. The idea is to appeal to both everyday news readers and gamers, and I think this would provide both types of people a unique way to experience news.

Q: What problem or need are you satisfying for your customers? (Remember, the customers aren't necessarily the people who will be using your product. For example, television audiences aren't customers unless they pay for the product, as in HBO. The customers are advertisers.)

A: It's hard to deny that two of the biggest industries are the gaming and news industries. I think it would be a great opportunity for advertisers to get their products out to a large population. 

Q: Who wants this product?

A: Gamers and those interested in new ways to tell journalistic stories want this product. The video game community is critical, but it is also willing to try new things. There are unique innovations in the gaming industry all the time, and gamers are always willing to try something that could potentially improve their gaming experience. 

Q: We all have to live. Where is the money in this product?

A: Like other news outlets, the company would offer different subscription packages for the news stories and the video games. 

Q: You are a journalist. Where is the journalism in this product?

A: Although my company would be making games, it would also be dedicated to delivering factual and ethical stories on a daily basis to prove that we are serious journalists. In addition, hired reporters would make sure that each game is as factual and ethical as the articles. We would be making games, but we would be making games for the sake of telling stories in a new and interactive way. 

Q: We've read that passion is key to success of a new venture. Money alone will not sustain it. So where is the passion in your product?

A: I have loved video games ever since I was a child, and for the past three years I have been learning how important and integral journalism is to the world. These two things have had a large impact on my life throughout my college career, and I don't believe it is enough to work in one of the industries. I want to make good video games that tell well-written stories.

Semester project discussion

For part two of our homework assignment, I sit down with three of my friends to talk about my semester project idea, which is a news company that makes games based off of news stories.

My semester project idea

Our homework assignment for this week consisted of three parts. The first is to clearly and concisely write out our semester project idea in a couple of sentences. The second was to run our idea by three people, and the third part was to answer a series of questions that our professor made up for us. Here is the first part:

My semester project idea is a news company that aims to appeal to the gaming culture by developing small video games on a monthly basis based off of top news stories that have strong narratives. In addition to this, the company would secure its position as a news outlet by reporting on international and gaming news. The company would embrace the digital age of journalism, and it would allow readers to comment and share articles.

My interview with Sandy Posa

Our assignment from this week as to interview an entrepreneur from any field, so I chose to speak with Sandy Posa. Sandy used to work with my dad at Gillette several years ago. As he explains in the interview, he always invested in early stage companies and continued to do so after he left Gillette. Here's what he had to say:

Joel Kost: Describe what kind of business you do and how you’re an entrepreneur.

Sandy Posa: I’ve got been working for large companies for most of my career. On the side I’ve invested in a bunch of small early stage companies over extended period of time since 1990, I would guess. So when I left Gillette like your dad did, I started becoming an angel investor. For the past five or six years I’ve invested in probably half a dozen start-ups in that period of time. With a few of the companies I’ll either get on the board or I’ll work with equity.

JK: Why did you decide to work with smaller business after you left Gillette?

SP: A lot of my career has been in the early stages in big business. That’s always been my best work. It was sort of a natural evolution. When you look across the venture community, there isn’t that many people that want to be involved in early stage companies. Most of our dollars got to high-tech stuff. By and large there’s a hole in the market for early stage producers.

JK: Can you describe the product you’ve invested in now, the cleaning product?

SP: There’s this technology that’s been around for nearly a decade, but its never been commercialized really well. It’s a product that’s based off electrolyzed water. And what it is, is a combination of salt, water and electricity, with the right kind of device. Believe it or not, that produces sanitizer. It will kill mold, bacteria…really mold and bacteria from flu virus, to mrsa, to everyday bacteria. It effectively kills that. It also has cleaning properties to it. And it’s made with salt water and electricity. It has some very green, eco friendly characteristics to it, as well as sanitizing properties that are difficult to get without harsh chemicals.

JK: Why are people reluctant to invest in it?

SP: There’s a whole series of reason why. Most of the other people who have tried to commercialize the technology are trying to do it on industrial side. Nobody’s tried it on the commercial side. It’s a really small number. I think the commercial cleaning business is north of 30 billion a year. And it’s basically all kinds of stuff. There’s been very little innovation, very incremental innovation for a long time.

JK: What are some of the other companies you have invested in?

SP: One that’s a little bit on the rental beat. It’s a database of rental apartments. If you’ve very tried to rent an apartment, it’s really a tough experience for consumers for a couple of reasons. And this company has a database that consumers and brokers can access. And that database doesn’t exits anywhere else in the country.

I’ve invested in a consumer business that is involved with Glow Design, and we design really cool products. One of the lead items is cases for your iPhone. We design for some really neat applications.

It’s a very eclectic group of companies. They all have kind one thing in common, which is addressing consumer pain points. Those are the common things that I look for, companies that solve that problem.

JK: So you tend to look for companies that try to solve consumer problems or work with technology?

SP: Yeah, That’s generally what look for.

JK: What has been the hardest part of being an entrepreneur?

SP: For me personally, is I’m not someone who raises capital. I just don’t like to do it. So I like helping the operation side of companies. The biggest problem is having to raise capital.

JK: What is your favorite part of being an entrepreneur?

SP: I like to get involved with younger and dedicated people. That’s fun for me. And eventually these companies will have the ability to change some of these markets. It’s also a little bit of a hobby.

JK: Do you have any advice for young entrepreneurs?

SP: I think if you’re at an early stage and the idea stage, a couple things. One, it’s a longer haul that you think. You’re going to have to get yourself attached to companies that have made it. It’s a very real commitment if you’re going to do it. You have to be really devoted to your idea. And the second phase, I haven’t seen one company evolve who’s original idea hasn’t’ turned 180 degrees. You have to know how businesses evolve. And number three, you have to know how to work with people. If you do and you get friends and family to invest in you early and get good market traction and validation, the earlier the better.

Now this News: another great and original contribution to news

I love watching well-made video stories made by The New York Times and The Boston Globe, but sometimes I just wish there were short video clips that updated me about current events. Enter Now this News: my recent obsession.

Now this News is a website that offers short (often between one and two minutes) videos reporting news ranging from politics, world affairs, science, and popular trends on the internet. The journalists who report are fun to listen to and watch, and there is new content all the time. Aside from news reports, there are also videos that re straight up video footage of current events. For example, Now this News is currently featuring footage of the Kenyan mall siege. 

Now this News is great because its easy to use and its content can be shared easily. The videos won't take up much of your time but they are very informative and fun to watch; it's easy to get lost while exploring its content.

But what exactly makes Now this News unique? It's really that it fully embraced the digital age and is one of the few news outlets that reports purely through multimedia. It's casual, fun, and most importantly relevant. In a time when everyone is panicking about news, its comforting to see a news outlet that has so much fun with what it does.

Thoughts after reading Ken Doctor's "runway" article

Ken Doctor wrote an article the other week about Jeff Bezos' purchase of The Washington Post and how he plans to give the newspaper a "runway." It's an interesting piece that I suggest you read.

But there's one thing that I can't get off my mind after reading it: are newspapers destined to be bought and nurtured by millionaires and billionaires until the news industry recovers from the shift to the digital age? That what it seems like.

At first this made me sad and rather depressed. Has the news industry fallen so far that it needs to be bought out of its trouble? Something about that just sounds awful.

But at the same time, these corporate powerhouses have the two things that the news industry needs: money and faith. Doctor says in his article that Bezos' investment in The Washington Post is both expensive and long-term. Nobody, not even millionaires, would make such a large investment if they didn't have faith in the news industry. Journalists may have to rely on others to help their profession recover, but if it works in the long then I guess it can't be that bad.

My idea for my semester project

Last week I had this crazy idea of making a reporting/video game company that made video games based off of top news stories. As crazy as it sounds I think it's a great idea and I'm going to pursue it as my semester project. This class is all about taking risks, and this idea seems as risky as you can get.

To review, my idea was to make a video game company dedicated to making games based off of top news stories. I don't know what the news appetite among gamers is, but I'm sure this would be an effective method to educate them more about journalism and important current events. In a way it's the opposite of video game journalism; there would be video game developers making games based off journalism.

So what do I have to do to make this happen?

Well to start, I think the games would be smaller projects than big-budget games like Halo and Grand Theft Auto, and I see them being released on the iOS app store and Google Play. It's cheaper to make games on this platform and mobile devices are quickly becoming gaming consoles of their own. If the company did this, it would be able to produce content quickly and effectively while reducing costs.

In terms of employees, it would consist of both reporters and game developers. If a game based off of a top news story is to exist, it would have to have excellent narrative detail and no factual errors. The reporters would get this information and sit down with the developers to discuss how they could make it work. The reporters would also have to have knowledge about video games so they could contribute to the development process. To make this project more journalism-esque, I think it would be good for the company to have a website or blog to write actual news stories on. This way the company's followers could play the games and read the stories.

The only thing I'm really concerned about is ethics. Some stories are obviously not appropriate to make games about (Boston Marathon bombings, Connecticut shootings), but where do you draw the line? This is something that requires some serious conversations.

A new idea to save journalism

Ok, so this idea probably won't save journalism, but its certainly a unique idea that will get a large population educated about current events and maybe get them interested in journalism. I think it would be cool to see a video game developer that made small games, possibly for the computer and/or mobile devices, based off real news stories and current events. The idea came to me last week when we were discussing our ideas to save journalism, and someone had the idea to "songify" news stories. So why can't the same idea be put towards video games?

It would be impossible to make games everyday, so the games that would be developed would have to be based off memorable news stories. There could be racing games, role playing games, puzzle games, etc. There are so many types of news stories that the possibilities could be endless.

The development team would also have to have a small team of reporters to do some extra reporting to get some great narrative detail, and they would probably be the ones to choose which stories could be made into games. Certain stories have the potential to make great games, but would they be ethical? That's a big question the reporters would have to ask.

I think this idea actually has some potential. The gaming and news populations are huge, so why not try to combine them? Video game journalism exists, so journalism video games could exist too. The quality of the games would obviously determine the success of such a business venture, though. I really like this idea, so I may try to pursue this as my project for the class. I'll keep you all updated.

I lost so much money making lemonade when I was a kid

I remember it like it was yesterday.

It was a hot summer week, so I went up to my mom to ask her for help with my lemonade stand. The next day we set up our old foldable table, some ice, and lemonade-making material. I have no idea how much money I made, but I had fun. That's all that's important...right?

Not in the real world of lemonade stands. Our first group project for entrepreneurial journalism was to come up with a business plan for a lemonade stand. It sounded pretty easy at first: we decided to partner with UNH dining, allow cats cache and dining dollars, sell other lemon-based products, use a mobile base of operations, etc.

We came to class last wednesday with all of this prepared, but then we were asked about prices. How much are supplies? How much are our products? What's our profit? Also, what permits do we need to acquire? What does it take to actually work with UNH dining services? Would we sell all year round? If lemonade is this hard to sell, I don't want to know what it's like to run a newspaper.

I'll post our final findings here once we calculate them.

Indie Statik - a unique take on video game journalism

For those who don't know me, I am a huge fan of video games; ever since I was a kid I've been in love with them. But for the past three or four years I've been setting my sights on video game journalism. A lot of people don't know such a thing exists, but trust me when I say it does. News outlets like Game Informer, IGN, and Polygon are highly respectable journalism sites; in fact, Game Informer is ranked as one of the top most subscribed magazines in the U.S.

A lot of attention in the gaming world has been centered around independent (or indie) game developers. Just like the film and music industries, gaming has its fair share of independent creators that don't operate under the budget of publishers and have limited resources. Just like indie movies and bands, indie games have a unique style that separate themselves from big-budget titles, and for whatever reason they have been extremely popular.

While I was browsing the web I found a website called Indie Statik, a video game journalism website that only reports on indie video games. This might not seem like a big deal, but in the gaming world it is. The video game industry may be popular but it's still small. I'm sure it's no easy task to operate news outlets like Game Informer and IGN, but it must be even harder to operate a site based solely on the small indie developer beat.

Video game sites report on indie games when the news is relevant, but this is the first time i've ever seen one focus entirely on them. Considering their popularity now it's surprising, and it seems like Indie Statik is the first journalism site to take advantage of their popularity and report on them.

The whole idea makes sense. If people are interested in indie games, they are going to read about them more. But I'm curious to know what running such a specified beat of journalism is like. I've reached out to the site's founder, Josh Mattingly, to see if he'd be willing to do an interview. I'll post what I found out if I hear back.

Facebook's "personalized newspaper" might just be the future of journalism

Back in March Facebook announced that it's news feed would eventually transform into a "personalized newspaper." To put it simply, Facebook's new look is going to simplify the user face and make things easily accessible. From photos to posts to groups you like and follow, you choose what you want to look at.

It's a cool move on Facebook's part, especially since it seems to be embracing the idea that it has a large role in journalism, but I want to see newspapers and news outlets adopt this personalized newspaper idea.

My news diet is very specific. I follow a lot of gaming and tech news outlets, and I primarily read The Boston Globe for national and international news. I occasionally listen to NPR and NHPR, and I'll pick up some local papers from time to time. But when I do pick up the Globe or local paper I don't read the whole thing; most of the time I only read about half. It's not that I don't like what's being written, but sometimes issues are heavy in subjects that don't appeal to my interests.

With journalism heading to a completely digital age, I think it's time for personalized newspapers to make a permanent appearance. If I want to pay for news, I don't want to pay for a paper that has a bunch of articles I'm not going to read. This relates to my idea that papers should offer specific subscription packages.

Newspapers should start adopting this idea now to prepare for the completely digital age. Journalism isn't what it used to be any more. Readers can read anything they want on the Internet; that means they cam choose to completely ignore your articles. Why not avoid that and let them choose what their paper looks like every morning?

I love news aggregators, but I think they're slowly killing newspapers

One of my favorite apps on my phone is the news aggregator News 360. You pick as many categories of news as you want and the app collects hundreds of up-to-date articles as it can for your reading pleasure. How much more digital and progressive can you get with this? There are only a few publications that I read on a regular basis, so this app introduces me to a lot of different new outlets and writing styles.

But as I was writing my 10 ways to save journalism I realized that my favorite app might be one of the reasons newspapers are dying. My first idea to save journalism was to have all news outlets establish paywalls on their websites, that way people would have to pay for their news. But news aggregators like News 360 are only encouraging the idea of free news. I know that in this era it seems ridiculous to have news that isn't free, but that's how it used to be.

When you look at it from this angle, News 360 seems pretty bad for journalism. It's great that I have access to all these articles, but is it worth it at the expense of newspapers losing money? Probably not. But regardless of how bad it is I still love News 360; I don't want to see it disappear. So how do we solve this problem?

Paid subscriptions, that's how! Readers are stuck in this mind set that news is free, and we have to break that. I want news aggregators to stay around because they are extremely useful applications, but users should have to pay for them. One of my other ideas for saving journalism was to have different level of subscription plans for news outlets; why not have that for aggregators? You can pay for a certain amount of articles per week/month. I don't aggregator developers can use this plan yet, though. For this to happen, news outlets have to establish a paywall system for online readers, otherwise we'd be seeing riots in the streets.

Story of invasive pigs in Texas could be a great interactive story

I never thought I'd be writing about pigs on this blog, but journalism has this way of shoving random things in your face.

My roommate pointed out an interesting story from NPR to me Sunday night about invasive pigs wreaking havoc in Texas. According to an article in the Smithsonian form 2011, these pigs cause millions of damage.

It's definitely an interesting story, and it has a lot of potential to be a great interactive feature. I couldn't help but think about those interactive maps during the last presidential election. You could select a state and see what its projected votes were. I think it would be really neat for this story to have something similar with a map of Texas. It could be divided up into sections based on towns or counties, and information like how many pigs have been reported in that area or the amount of damage could pop up. Hunters have even been granted permission to hunt these pigs, so there could also be info on how many pigs have been hunted. Readers could also submit photos or videos of their damaged property to add to the map's detail.

This would take a lot of reporting and digging around, but it would be a fantastic way to interact with readers.

Why news has to look good on the Internet and some examples

This past summer I had a change to intern at The Lowell Sun newspaper in Lowell, Ma. I've always had a lot of respect for the paper, but I hated the website. It was crowded, clunky, and disorganized. The newspaper changed its interface over the summer that looked more like a front page of a newspaper. It was cleaner, things were spaced out, and it was so much easier to navigate.

But for some reason the readers were not happy. As the intern, one of my duties was to listen to readers reaction voice messages, and so many of them thought the interface was terrible; some even said they stopped going to the website. That can't happen. A news outlet's website and user interface have to look good or else some readers will abandon it. And now that people have smart phones and tablets, news outlets need to make sure their website's format looks good on a smaller screen.

I did some searching on the Internet and found some news sites that have excellent page layouts:

Polygon

Polygon.com is a great gaming site. It has awesome news reports, well-written articles, and above all else, a great website. It's biggest and newest stories are on top, and the res of the articles are lined up in rows of three. It's very clean and easy to navigate; it reminds me of an online magazine. It also looks fantastic on tables and smart phones.

Mashable

Mashable is very similar to BuzzFeed in the sense that it reports on a lot of pop culture, but its articles focus more on writing. Posts are neatly displayed in the right in a zig-zag type of pattern and a small bar to left showcases newer posts. Mashable also has a fantastic app that seamlessly transitions from post to home page by simply scrolling down the bottom of the post.


The Lowell Sun

The Sun's readers may have not liked the website, but I think it looks great. It look like the front page of a newspaper, and the white background looks clean. When the page loads there is a giant ad on top, but it disappears to make room for the articles.

10 ways to save journalism

Journalism isn't dying, but some news outlets are finding it difficult to stay in business. The way we get our news is undoubtedly changing. Fewer and fewer people are reading physical newspapers, and more and more people are getting their news online. So while journalism itself will be here forever, news outlets might not.

So how do we stop news outlets from disappearing forever? That's one of the question this class hopes to answer. One of our homework assignments was to come up with 10 original ways to save them (yes, it's as hard as it sounds. Here are my thoughts:

1) Every news outlets should establish paywalls on their websites

Just to review, a paywall is a feature news outlets use that force readers to subscribe to their paper before they can read their online content. The Boston Globe uses this, and The New York Times activates its paywall after a certain amount of article views a month. If people really cared about their news, they would pay to read it online.

2) Better interaction with readers

Many journalists use Twitter and Facebook to interact with their readers, but maybe we should go beyond that. When readers comment on articles we should respond to their comments. We should ask readers what THEY want to read. I'm not saying newspapers should transform to their needs, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. What about user submitted photos, articles, and opinion pieces? I think the more interaction, the better.

3) Print, TV, and radio news outlets should work together

News outlets are separated; you never see, for example, NHPR and The Boston Globe collaborate on projects together. It might not necessarily bring in more money, but it would attract a lot of attention. And who knows, maybe it could pave the path for future business ventures.

4) Print, TV, and radio news outlets should merge

What would happen if news outlets like The New York Times and WMUR pooled their resources and worked under the same company? So many news outlets spend money to survive against competition; let's just combine various print, TV, and radio news outlets that focus on different forms of media. The new company could dominate the many different methods of reporting.

5) Offer different subscription packages

Some people enjoy reading the news, but not enough to pay for the whole yearly package. What if they only like the arts section of the newspaper, but they don't want to subscribe to the whole thing? That newspaper could be losing customers just because they don't offer specific packages.

6) Focus on getting it right, not first

Let's look at stories like the Connecticut shootings and the Boston Marathon bombings. The number of false reports is staggering. I actually stopped paying attention for a day or two so some of the false news could correct itself. I think this all boils down to news outlets focusing on reporting first and not correctly. People lose faith when there are false reports. If journalists built their career around this standard, maybe people would have more courage to pay for news.

7) An easier way for readers to become involved with their news outlets

Readers have been able to comment on articles, share articles, and write letters to the editors for a long time now. We should let our readers become even more involved. Maybe let worthy contributors or bloggers sit in on editing meetings? The more readers can interact with their favorite news outlets, the better.

8) Hire more contributors

I sometimes think news outlets are too proud. Many don't allow contributors to submit their work...why? This is free content. As long as the work is well done, I don't see anything wrong with it.

9) Prove to the public that journalists can be trusted

This will be tough, but not impossible. When I was a senior in high school, there were a series of tragic deaths that plagued my home town. A lot of journalists were in our town during that time, and most of them did not respect the publics wishes. I heard so many stories of reporters disrespecting my classmates and taking photos without asking them. I'm not saying every journalist does this, but a lot do. We need to prove to the public that we have respect and integrity. If we can accomplish this, then maybe more people will pay for their news.

10) Save colored images for the Internet

Some facts: colored ink costs more than black ink, and more people get their news online than in print. By putting two and two together, it makes sense to only use black ink for print newspapers.

BuzzFeed: a totally new way to report news and interact with your audience

My last two posts focused on what journalism has become and what it means to be an entrepreneurial journalist, so I want to focus on a website that I think uses a new idea to report news called BuzzFeed.

BuzzFeed heavily focuses on photos, Internet memes, and videos. Some posts focus more on writing, but you'll find that most of them don't. This isn't a bad thing. While it's true you have to be a good writer to be good journalist, you also have to be good at understanding what your audience wants to see when they go online everyday. This is where BuzzFeed excels. From cute puppies to social justice to national news, BuzzFeed provides its audience with a new way to read and interact with online media.

BuzzFeed has a variety of methods it uses to report. Here are few examples:

13 Ways to Survive a Party Without Drinking

This post isn't "news," but it's a great example of how BuzzFeed uses memes in its articles.

James Blake and the Difficulty of Learning to be Happy With What You've Got

Then there are posts like this, which are essentially opinion pieces. Unlike the previous post, this reads like an actual newspaper article with appropriate photos.

J Street Won't Back Obama on Syria Resolution

This post is an actual news article.

8-Year-Old Boy Shot in the Face While Playing

Finally there's this post, which uses reporting skills with photos that tell most of the story.

What does it mean to be an entrepreneurial journalist?

This thought came to me as soon as I wrote my first post about what it takes to be a journalist in today's world: what exactly is an entrepreneurial journalist? That's what this blog is about, but I've never actually sat down to come up with a concrete definition. My entrepreneurial journalism class just started last week so my definition may change by the end of the semester, but my definition, as it stands now, is a journalist who uses new ideas and concepts that reflect what his or her audience wants to deliver fast, accurate, and timely news. The more unique the reporting, and the more unique ways in which one reports, the better.

A really good example of unique reporting is the website Newspaper Death Watch. This was introduced to me during my first EJ class. When ever a newspaper or news outlet goes under, Newspaper Death Watch reports on it. It also reports news about news outlets financial situations, like the removal or additions of paywalls. To go even further, the website lists newspapers that have died under a "RIP" section. With all the talk about how newspapers are dying and how print won't be around soon, Newspaper Death Watch seems like the only place that is keeping track of what's happening.

College Media Matters is another great example of unique reporting and ideas. Focusing entirely on college level journalism, College Media Matters has some great articles as to what's going on in the college journalism world.

So, why are new ideas like these so important? The way I see it, newspapers and news outlets don't have much money to hire every single aspiring journalist. They need to hire those who have proficient reporting and writing skills, and those who have new ideas that will attract more readers. If I find more websites like Newspaper Death Watch and College Media Matters, I'll post it here.

An intro: what I think it takes to be a journalist in today's world

For my first blog post I want to talk about journalists themselves. I feel like everyone is so concerned about newspapers and how journalism itself is changing that there is little room to discuss the actual people. Journalism is about reporting and writing about people to people so this topic is definitely something I want to explore more, but for now I'll just start with the basics: what it takes to be a journalist in today's world. I learned a lot during my two internships, and the most important thing I learned is that journalists need to be multi-talented individuals.

When I say today's world, I mean what everyone calls the "digital age." Almost everyone has a tablet, laptop, and/or a smartphone. That means that all these people have constant access to the Internet, which means constant access to news. The general public isn't going to wait around for tomorrow's newspaper or their favorite TV station's report at 8 p.m.; its wants news that it can get on any device at its earliest convenience

Is it possible to reach such a demand? Yes, but that means staff reporters can't just write stories. Editors can't just edit. Critics can't just review the latest books, restaurants, and movies. Photographers can't just take photos. You get the idea.

In order to survive in today's world as a journalism, one has to be able to do everything I just mentioned. Unfortunately, there isn't much money in journalism today, so news outlets are looking for journalists who have a wide range of skills. The quality of reporting and writing is obviously still very important, but interacting with your audience, photo and video skills, and knowledge about social media is becoming equally important.