All Episodes

January 4, 2024 63 mins
Today's guest is Craig Fuller, Founder and CEO of FreightWaves and CEO of FLYING Magazine. We get into some of the early observations that Craig had when he was building out FreightWaves, which is a software data business with a media empire sitting around it. He shares the challenges associated with fundraising for a media business and why the market doesn't put a value on audiences. In the second half of our conversation we get into Craig's playbook for buying up niche magazines around things like private aviation and boating. He explains why it is so important to capture the full audience base and some of the fun projects that he has been tying in around those audiences. This is a wide ranging conversation with someone who has taken a very interesting approach coming in as a practitioner, once a pilot himself, and how he's taken some of those lessons and applied them into building businesses. Please enjoy this conversation with Craig Fuller.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page HERE ----- Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @ReustleMatt | @domcooke | @MakingMediaPod | @JoinColossus  Show Notes  (00:02:38) - (First question) - Craig’s initial mindset when launching FreightWaves (00:05:37) - Craig’s observations about fundraising when shifting the business into a media business (00:13:08) - How he bridged the gap between his industry expertise and the media business' need for specialized knowledge (00:17:35) - How his media business was initially funded (00:20:46) - Disparity in market valuation with audiences undervalued and some SAS businesses overvalued (00:26:14) - The motivation in pursuing the purchase of Flying magazine (00:31:02) - Lessons learned from attaching real estate to audiences compared to finance or e-commerce (00:34:15) - The strategy behind acquiring numerous media outlets (00:37:54) - Economic principles for managing acquired magazines  (00:39:33) - The correlation between the aviation and freight industries (00:40:46) - The importance of having an interest in an industry before acquiring an existing audience (00:43:47) - The elements Craig tries to enhance when revamping older magazines (00:47:39) - Shifting advertiser mentality into niche marketing and its ultimate success (00:49:46) - The early challenges of switching to a specialized, niche audience (00:51:08) - Whether this model works for all magazine or if niche marketing is only successful with expensive product content like planes (00:54:58) - Debrief
Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.

Crime Junkie

Crime Junkie

Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.