716
10 min 21 sec

Snack-Sized Business News for Millennials

A banking duo discovers a disconnect between business news sites and millennials, then builds the solution into their full-time occupation.
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What It's About

Bite-sized business news for those always on the go!

Business Model
Service
Skills Required
Content Creation & Communication
Complexity
Low
Profit Potential
High

Words of Wisdom

What is the key to making something like this work? In Nick and Jack's case, a distinctive voice, a clear target market, and of course, consistency. It's a winning combination!

Fun Fact

While pumping out content on a daily basis is not especially common, Nick and Jack haven’t missed a day of news for MarketSnacks since they first launched in 2012.

Notes from Chris

Episode 716
A lot of business news just isn’t appealing to younger readers. Bloomberg has been having a hard time getting millennials to read its website. Fidelity Investments couldn’t get them to understand all the financial lingo. The Wall Street Journal can seem like an old-fashioned club that only the elite belong to.

Even as professionals in the world of finance, Nicolas Martell and his roommate, Jack Kramer, didn’t enjoy reading up on the latest news—but they didn’t have a choice. Keeping up with developments was important in their banking jobs.

One day the two met up at Old Town Bar in New York before walking back to the apartment. They talked stocks, economics, spreadsheets—the usual—but they also dreamed of a project. What if they created a business news media company that could be understood by millennials?

Nobody had easily-digestible market news. They knew they could make such a thing, and they called it MarketSnacks.

Their plan was to publish a blog with daily news stories that were relevant and understandable. All they needed was a simple website and an email provider, so the monetary startup costs were almost non-existent. And in just a couple weeks, MarketSnacks came to life.

But the hustle did cost a lot to start ... in time. Nick and Jack blocked off multiple hours before and after their day jobs to plan, write, edit, and publish content. It was an intensive project—and it required their focus every day.

The work paid off. In just a few weeks, MarketSnacks had a couple hundred daily readers. The idea was being validated with each new visitor to the site who turned into a regular reader.

MarketSnacks has evolved a lot over the years. In 2017 the duo launched a podcast, in early 2018 they raised outside funding, and later in the year they became full-time content creators.

With the sponsors they have, they’re making a lot of money. But according to Nick, the money’s not the best part—otherwise he wouldn’t have done it for nearly three years without pay.

The greatest rewards are the 5-star podcast reviews and email testimonials that indicate MarketSnacks is successful helping a generation understand business and finance news in a way that’s never been done before. Hustling in the dream job full-time—well, that’s a nice perk, too.

 
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Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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Resources

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Quote of the Day
"Having a co-founder with a skill-set that balances yours will minimize friction, allow you to strategically balance the workload, and optimize the value of your product."
—Nick Martell & Jack Kramer #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau