Many newsletters and podcasts started as side projects. Morning Brew began as a daily business email a student sent to classmates. 20VC, the venture capital podcast, was started by an 18-year-old about to study law. Media is among the most common side projects, because starting costs almost nothing and the work fits around a job or classes.
In this guide
- At a glance
- Why media is the classic side project
- The stories in this group
- What these stories have in common
- How media side projects make money
- If you are building one
- More media stories on the way
- Frequently asked questions
At a glance
| Title | Started | Built alongside | Where it went |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning Brew | 2015 | Business studies at the University of Michigan | Majority sold to Insider Inc. at a reported valuation of about $75 million in 2020 |
| 20VC | 2015 | The start of a law degree at King’s College London | More than 100 million downloads; a $400 million fund in 2024 |
Figures come from the full stories, where each one is sourced.
Why media is the classic side project
A newsletter needs an email tool and something to say. A podcast needs a microphone and a guest. Neither needs permission, stock or premises, and both can be produced on a fixed schedule around a job or classes.
The difficulty is consistency. Media grows through repetition: readers and listeners come back because the next issue or episode arrives when they expect it. That makes a media side project a test of discipline more than of capital. The founders in this group kept a schedule for years, and the audience they built opened doors that went well beyond the newsletter or the show.
The stories in this group
Morning Brew. Alex Lieberman was a finance student at the University of Michigan’s business school, planning a career on Wall Street. He noticed that business news was dense and dry, and that few of his classmates enjoyed reading it even though they needed it for classes and interviews. So in 2015 he started writing a short daily summary himself, sent as a PDF called Market Corner.
Austin Rief, a younger student at the same school, joined him. They spent months refining it, renamed it Morning Brew later in 2015 and kept the tone that made it work: short, clear and a little funny, the way a friend would explain the news. It spread through forwards, first across Michigan and then to other campuses and young professionals.
Lieberman set aside the finance career to keep building it. The founders hired writers and sold advertising to brands that wanted to reach young readers interested in business. Subscribers grew about tenfold in a year to more than a million by late 2018. In 2020 Insider Inc. bought a majority stake at a valuation reported at about $75 million; Morning Brew was profitable at the time. Read the full story: Morning Brew: The College Newsletter That Sold for $75M.
20VC. Harry Stebbings was born in London in 1996 and by 18 knew he wanted to work in venture capital, though his path led to a law degree at King’s College London. He also needed income: his family was struggling to pay for his mother’s healthcare. He started a podcast about venture capital and kept each episode to about twenty minutes, short enough to finish on a London commute. That is where the name came from.
He had no connections, so he relied on cold outreach. His first guest was Guy Kawasaki, and the first episode came out on January 10, 2015, recorded at home. He has described starting with about $50 to his name. After every interview he asked the guest to recommend the next one, and the guest list grew from there. The show grew quickly enough that he left his law degree within weeks to focus on it.
The podcast earned money from advertising, which Stebbings has said paid for his mother’s healthcare. It also built him a network. In 2016, at 20, he joined the venture firm Atomico, which had first contacted him through the podcast. In 2020 he launched his own fund, named 20VC, starting at $8.3 million, and in October 2024 20VC closed a $400 million fund. The podcast has passed 100 million downloads. Read the full story: 20VC: The Podcast an 18-Year-Old Started With $50.
What these stories have in common
They started narrow. Morning Brew began for one group of readers, business students at one university. 20VC covered one subject, venture capital, in one format of about twenty minutes. A narrow start made it easier to know who the audience was and to reach them in spare hours.
The founders were their own audience. Lieberman wanted business news he would actually enjoy reading. Stebbings wanted to learn about venture capital and used the podcast to talk to the people who could teach him. Producing something you want to read or hear makes it easier to keep going when nobody is paying yet.
The format did the networking. A newsletter reaches inboxes and a podcast brings guests to the host. Stebbings built relationships with investors one interview at a time, and those relationships later opened the door to a job and a fund.
How media side projects make money
The two stories show different routes.
Morning Brew made money from advertising sold to brands that wanted to reach its readers, and grew into a company large enough to sell. That route needs scale, and it works best when the audience is clearly defined, which makes it valuable to specific advertisers.
20VC also earned from advertising, but its larger value came indirectly. The podcast gave its host credibility, a network and access, which became a venture capital business. For some media side projects, the audience is the asset and the business is built next to it.
Other media stories coming to this group show a third route: readers paying directly through subscriptions or memberships.
If you are building one
These two stories suggest a few practical rules for a newsletter or podcast built in spare hours.
Design the format around your audience’s day. Morning Brew arrived first thing in the morning; 20VC fit a commute. A format that slots into the reader’s or listener’s routine is easier to keep.
Make the voice the product. Morning Brew covered the same news as everyone else. The tone was what made people subscribe and forward it.
Let each issue or episode recruit the next. Stebbings asked every guest for a referral. Morning Brew grew through readers forwarding the email. Building sharing into the work is cheaper than any promotion.
Keep the schedule. Both projects grew because they showed up reliably. A smaller issue on time is worth more than a perfect one that arrives late.
More media stories on the way
The 5 to 9 is adding media stories every week. Coming next in this group are The Points Guy, started while its founder worked in finance; Mashable, started by Pete Cashmore as a teenager; The Onion, started by university students; xkcd, the webcomic started while its author worked for NASA; Khan Academy, videos made to tutor cousins while working in finance; and Starter Story, founder interviews started as a side project during a full-time job.
All the stories published so far are listed below and on the All stories page.
Frequently asked questions
Which newsletters and podcasts started as side projects?
Among the stories covered here, Morning Brew began as a college newsletter and 20VC as a podcast started by an 18-year-old. The Points Guy, Mashable, The Onion, xkcd, Khan Academy and Starter Story also began as side projects and will be covered in this group.
Can a newsletter started in college become a business?
Morning Brew did. It started as a daily email to classmates at the University of Michigan in 2015, and in 2020 Insider Inc. bought a majority stake at a valuation reported at about $75 million.
How do podcasts started as side projects make money?
Through advertising and sometimes indirectly. 20VC earned from ads at the start and end of each episode, but its bigger value was the network and credibility it gave its host, which led to a job in venture capital and later his own fund.
What is the hardest part of a media side project?
Consistency. Newsletters and podcasts grow because the next issue or episode arrives on schedule, and both founders in this group kept publishing reliably until the work paid.