I'm primarily sharing this article because I've really enjoyed a lot of the work that 404 Media has produced, and figured that the financial victory was worth celebrating.
I'm primarily sharing this article because I've really enjoyed a lot of the work that 404 Media has produced, and figured that the financial victory was worth celebrating.
I’ve had the opposite experience (and have mentioned as much on other articles from them posted here). Their articles seem to make mountains out of molehills and take the most basic premises and...
I’ve had the opposite experience (and have mentioned as much on other articles from them posted here). Their articles seem to make mountains out of molehills and take the most basic premises and exaggerate them to an almost comical degree.
Take the personality test article that was posted earlier. They took some mentions from an old Reddit thread, cropped out the context and timeline, and now are making it seem like it’s this concerning trend that people need to be worried about. They also seem to give very little useful detail about the info (as someone else pointed out, they provide some stats about the company in the article to show a success without detailing why the stat means success).
Journalism, in general, is in a very precarious state and I’m not sure another clickbait site is something to be celebrated, even if it was founded by supposed journalists.
I quit out of that article when they wanted me to sign up just to read past the third or so paragraph (and my Readwise failed to pull the full copy). I thought "this is probably just going to be a...
I quit out of that article when they wanted me to sign up just to read past the third or so paragraph (and my Readwise failed to pull the full copy). I thought "this is probably just going to be a rehash of the Reddit thread I read yesterday" - and judging by your comment, I was right. I find that the kind of hard-sell tactic asking for a sign-up just to access otherwise free content is usually a negative indicator of quality...
Well, in fairness, they used to be completely free without a sign-up until other sites started to scrape their articles and make AI rip-offs. The sign-up isn’t an issue for me. It’s mostly how...
Well, in fairness, they used to be completely free without a sign-up until other sites started to scrape their articles and make AI rip-offs. The sign-up isn’t an issue for me. It’s mostly how their articles focus on something that’s not entirely accurate so they can turn it into a problem to gain views and clicks.
It’s hard to say whether “profitable” is just getting that $4k out then covering absolutely necessary expenses plus a bit of take-home, or if it’s actually sustaining a livable, reasonable...
The four cofounders each own 25% of the company, and at launch each put in $1,000 to cover initial costs. Koebler declined to share current revenue numbers, but said the company is profitable (and that everyone’s been able to pay themselves back the money they initially put in).
The 404 team DIYs as much as possible.
Every month, the team meets (virtually) to decide how much they can pay themselves. (The number changes each month, but everyone gets paid the same amount.)
It’s hard to say whether “profitable” is just getting that $4k out then covering absolutely necessary expenses plus a bit of take-home, or if it’s actually sustaining a livable, reasonable full-time wage for everyone.
I'd assume it means they're able to pay themselves their agreed upon wages, pay whatever costs there are and have something leftover (a lot or little? Who knows). There's a certain confidence in...
I'd assume it means they're able to pay themselves their agreed upon wages, pay whatever costs there are and have something leftover (a lot or little? Who knows).
There's a certain confidence in the statement 'profitable' that I don't think they would have if the company is just scraping by. I would assume they'd get a lot more sympathy if they just outright said they aren't profitable if that's the case since they live and die by subscriptions.
I don’t get the same impression. They’re DIYing a lot, as much as they can, beyond their normal skill set, rather than bringing on specialized employees or outsourcing. They need to re-evaluate...
I don’t get the same impression. They’re DIYing a lot, as much as they can, beyond their normal skill set, rather than bringing on specialized employees or outsourcing. They need to re-evaluate their wages every month, and it sure didn’t sound like it’s because they’re pulling in more than they know what to do with.
The success of an experiment like this is important, possibly setting a precedent, so painting the situation in the best possible light would be understandable.
While they’re definitely not losing money, making enough at least to keep going for now, but that doesn’t mean they’re making a real salary near market rate that could be comfortably lived on without dipping into savings (like possible at a large, traditional publication).
I'm primarily sharing this article because I've really enjoyed a lot of the work that 404 Media has produced, and figured that the financial victory was worth celebrating.
I’ve had the opposite experience (and have mentioned as much on other articles from them posted here). Their articles seem to make mountains out of molehills and take the most basic premises and exaggerate them to an almost comical degree.
Take the personality test article that was posted earlier. They took some mentions from an old Reddit thread, cropped out the context and timeline, and now are making it seem like it’s this concerning trend that people need to be worried about. They also seem to give very little useful detail about the info (as someone else pointed out, they provide some stats about the company in the article to show a success without detailing why the stat means success).
Journalism, in general, is in a very precarious state and I’m not sure another clickbait site is something to be celebrated, even if it was founded by supposed journalists.
I quit out of that article when they wanted me to sign up just to read past the third or so paragraph (and my Readwise failed to pull the full copy). I thought "this is probably just going to be a rehash of the Reddit thread I read yesterday" - and judging by your comment, I was right. I find that the kind of hard-sell tactic asking for a sign-up just to access otherwise free content is usually a negative indicator of quality...
Well, in fairness, they used to be completely free without a sign-up until other sites started to scrape their articles and make AI rip-offs. The sign-up isn’t an issue for me. It’s mostly how their articles focus on something that’s not entirely accurate so they can turn it into a problem to gain views and clicks.
It’s hard to say whether “profitable” is just getting that $4k out then covering absolutely necessary expenses plus a bit of take-home, or if it’s actually sustaining a livable, reasonable full-time wage for everyone.
I'd assume it means they're able to pay themselves their agreed upon wages, pay whatever costs there are and have something leftover (a lot or little? Who knows).
There's a certain confidence in the statement 'profitable' that I don't think they would have if the company is just scraping by. I would assume they'd get a lot more sympathy if they just outright said they aren't profitable if that's the case since they live and die by subscriptions.
I don’t get the same impression. They’re DIYing a lot, as much as they can, beyond their normal skill set, rather than bringing on specialized employees or outsourcing. They need to re-evaluate their wages every month, and it sure didn’t sound like it’s because they’re pulling in more than they know what to do with.
The success of an experiment like this is important, possibly setting a precedent, so painting the situation in the best possible light would be understandable.
While they’re definitely not losing money, making enough at least to keep going for now, but that doesn’t mean they’re making a real salary near market rate that could be comfortably lived on without dipping into savings (like possible at a large, traditional publication).
You might be right, I just don't see the upside of misrepresenting profitability when you aren't looking for investments.