Why Are We Doing This?

The thesis behind Workshop It

ANDREW:

The idea of creating a multimedia project is a good one and I think we all agree on that. Joining forces to collaborate on this project and make something great and interesting together will serves us all and our long-term career/business goals. To make this project happen and succeed in that goal will take some:

• formality (roles and responsibilities and commitment to them)

• structure and process (so that we’re efficient)

• regular planning/strategizing 

Tomorrow (our initial meeting) is really the first step to starting down this road to achieve those things with the goal of being able to execute at the level necessary to have this be a success.  I want to harken back to my original goals for starting these media projects:

1. Communicate publicly (to the right audience) our personalities and expertise 

2. Have an excuse to talk to interesting people regularly

3. Leverage those 2 things to build a more extensive network and open up opportunities

So far these things have proven to be true in just a short period of time - that signal tells me we should go harder in this direction (when something is working… double down until it doesn’t).  I also believe that there are market trends working in our favor that make this a long-term project we should pursue and dedicate our resources to:

• The emergence of AI and rapid scaling of it creates an opportunity where human creativity and content are valued MORE than they currently are.  This is contingent upon making GREAT and BEAUTIFUL content that stands out and is unique (something I believe we have the ability to do).

• Relationships and networking/connecting with other humans will also be MORE valuable

• High-quality production and distribution of content will continue to trend towards zero.  This is critical because it means we can do this and be highly efficient, however, standing out from the crowd and being unique will be hard and important to success (why #1 is so important)

I felt compelled to write out this thesis because it's been on my mind for 9 months, I've talked about it a lot, but I haven't ever crystallized it and written it down. I am sharing this because alignment to this thesis is critical to us being successful in pursuing it. 

I want to end with an ASK of you all (and I will start below) - to send in this thread your favorite media projects that you think we should model after or take as inspiration for how we do this.  Here are mine:

Andrew's Inspirations and Favorite Media Projects (and why):

1. Grantland.com - the now archived media project by Bill Simmons to combine long-form content with podcasts and video.  At the time this started (2011) this was a revolutionary approach. He collaborated with many of the best writers and thinkers around sports and pop-culture and so many POV’s were presented.

2. Lenny's Newsletter & Podcast - a multimedia approach to the tech industry that's very authentic, has amazingly informative content, and provides tons of value.  He brings on actual experts (not just influencers) and deep dives topics that aren't typically covered.

3. Prof G / Scott Galloway - No Mercy No Mallice blog is A+, less multi-media (although he has a couple podcasts) and more text based content, it's so well produced it's crazy. 

4. Not Boring by Packy McCormick - An advisor and investor who has some of the single best business blog posts of all time (any of his "Popular" ones on the blog and his new series on Vertical Integrators is fascinating). Absolutely Legendary.  

5. The All-In Podcast - to me this has fallen off from it's crest a bit (too political), but it's 4 dudes talking tech and business and trends from a unique POV (as VC's and high level tech execs).  Each member has their own blog, so mostly a podcast

6. Founders Podcast by David Senra - one of the single best sources of information about business throughout history, monetized in very interesting ways, building an empire around his POV and content