For more than a century, Forbes has been synonymous with success. But behind the lists, covers, and cultural moments is something far more interesting: a media company that quietly rebuilt itself to survive (and grow) through some of the most turbulent years in journalism.
At Media Summit NYC 2025, we sat down with Randall Lane, Editor-in-Chief and Chief Content Officer of Forbes, for a candid conversation about how Forbes actually operates today and where it’s heading next.
In this episode, Randall breaks down:
This is a real-time look at how a 100+ year-old brand adapts without losing its identity and why entrepreneurship remains the connective tissue across everything Forbes does.
Whether you’re a journalist, founder, creator, or media operator, this conversation offers rare insight into what it actually takes to build something durable in an industry defined by change.
🎧 Watch or listen to the full conversation from Media Summit | NYC 2025.
Independent media is a full-blown movement in 2025. And in this candid Media Summit | NYC 2025 panel, three of the most respected builders in the space pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to go out on your own.
Alex Konrad (Upstarts Media), Alex Heath (Sources), and Hope King (Macro Talk) join moderator Kerry Flynn (Axios) for a conversation that blends founder psychology, revenue mechanics, creative autonomy, and the hidden cost structure behind the indie boom.
This episode is a masterclass for anyone thinking about launching a newsletter, podcast, or solo media business or anyone simply fascinated by where journalism is heading next.
What you’ll learn in this episode:- Why so many top reporters are leaving legacy media (and why none of them regret it)
- The real economic math of going solo (subscriptions, ads, podcast revenue, events, fractional teams)
- The part no one glamorizes: loneliness, founder-burnout, no weekends, and the pressure to be the bottleneck in your own company
- How indie creators build alliances instead of newsrooms (and why community is replacing corporate structure)
- Why naming your media company after yourself might limit your upside
- The surprising truth: reporters make better salespeople than they ever expected
- A framework for deciding if independence is right for you: “Do you want the outcome or do you want the work required to get the outcome?”
- The future of indie media: the brands, the ad dollars, and the new infrastructure forming around independent creators
Packed with practical advice, behind-the-scenes stories, and founder-level honesty, this episode is required listening for anyone navigating the intersection of journalism, entrepreneurship, and personal brand building.
How do you build, protect, and grow one of the most influential news brands on earth?
In this panel from Media Summit | NYC 2025, Sara Fischer sat down with David Rubin, Chief Brand & Communications Officer at The New York Times. He’s the executive responsible for how the Times shows up across news, Cooking, Games, Wirecutter, The Athletic, and its entire subscription ecosystem.
Rubin joined the Times nine years ago, when the company had just 1.5 million subscribers. Today, it’s approaching 12 million with one of the strongest media bundles in the world.
This conversation goes deep into brand strategy, trust, growth, misinformation, product, and the future of journalism (and why the Times believes news is still the core of everything).
In this episode, you’ll learn:
👉 Watch and listen to the full episode now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Independent media isn’t a theory anymore. It’s a business model. And two of its most successful operators sat down at Media Summit | SF 2025 to break down how it actually works.
Emily Sundberg, the writer behind Feed Me, and Eric Newcomer, the founder of Newcomer, joined Nayeema Raza (Smart Girl, Dumb Questions) for one of the most honest conversations on modern media you’ll hear this year.
Both Emily and Eric have built profitable, bootstrapped media businesses with real revenue, real communities, and real cultural influence. In this conversation, they talk openly about money, subscription growth, community building, hiring, legal risks, events, brand deals, and the grind required to keep it all going.
They get into the parts of the business that most people never say out loud.
What You’ll Learn:
1. How they built multi-million-dollar media businesses without raising a dime
Eric reveals Newcomer will pass $3M revenue this year with seven-figure profits. Emily walks through her path to building a low-seven-figure operation with a small team, an office, and a fast-growing brand.
2. Why starting a newsletter in 2025 is very different from 2020
Both explain how Substack’s culture and ecosystem have changed, why today’s reader expectations are higher, and what it now takes to grow from zero.
3. How they knew their newsletters were working
From Marc Andreessen paying to read Feed Me to Silicon Valley legends DM-ing Newcomer, they share the real signals that told them to double down.
4. The business model behind modern creator-media companies
Subscriptions. Events. Ads. Community. Merch. Legal infrastructure. They talk through what actually drives revenue and what people underestimate.
5. The new rules of independence
How to stay close to an industry without becoming captured by it. What their readers expect. And why being “inside but independent” is now a competitive advantage.
6. The pressure to keep going — and how they scale the work
Eric talks about the brutal “year two” dip and why building a team matters. Emily shares why writing about New York is her secret weapon.
7. Why community is the new moat
Emily’s comment sections and IRL parties. Eric’s Cerebral Valley events. Both explain why readers care more about connecting with each other than anything else.
8. How legal, risk, and protection work when you leave a newsroom
They share what they miss from legacy media, what they’ve had to build themselves, and what every new creator should know before publishing something risky.
This episode is a rare look inside the real operations of two profitable, fast-growing, creator-built media companies. It’s sharp, honest, human, and genuinely useful whether you’re building something yourself or just curious how the new media world actually works.
Watch the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen!
After Earnings co-host Katie Perry moderates a conversation on reporting on Wall Street with New York Times reporter Lauren Hirsch and Wall Street Journal reporter Telis Demos at Media Summit | NYC 2024.
Accel's Chantelle Darby speaks with Fortune Term Sheet's Allie Garfinkle at Media Summit | SF 2025.
Haymaker Founder J.J. Colao discusses the role of tech and venture capital journalism with TechCrunch’s Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos at Media Summit | NYC 2024.
Haymaker Group Founder J.J. Colao discusses the ascendance and fall of digital media with Semafor’s Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith at Media Summit | NYC 2024.
Erin Gleason, Chief Communications Officer at Founders Fund, moderates a conversation on VC reporting with Forbes’ previous Senior Editor and founder of Upstarts Media Alex Konrad and Axios’ Business Editor Dan Primack at Media Summit | NYC 2024.
Big Tech Reporting with The Verge's Alex Heath, WIRED's Zoe Schiffer, and Semafor's Reed Albergotti, moderated by SF Standard's Jeff Bercovici at Media Summit | SF 2025.
Emilie Cole speaks with Kara Swisher at Media Summit | SF 2025.
Tony Haile, founder of Chartbeat and Filament, discusses the future of media with Business Insider’s Chief Correspondent Peter Kafka at Media Summit | NYC 2024.
Haymaker Founder J.J. Colao speaks with Noahpinion's Noah Smith at Media Summit | SF 2025.
Tech:NYC CEO Julie Samuels discusses the changing media landscape with The Verge’s Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel at Media Summit | NYC 2024.
Haymaker Founder J.J. Colao speaks with The Information's Jessica Lessin at Media Summit | SF 2025.
Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Mike Mignano moderates a conversation on the behind-the-scenes details of podcasting with Semafor Mixed Signals co-host Nayeema Raza and Prof G Markets co-host Ed Elson at Media Summit | NYC 2024.
Kia Kokalitcheva, Senior Editor at Pitchbook, moderates a conversation on AI Reporting with Fast Company's Mark Sullivan, Bloomberg's Shirin Ghaffary, and TechCrunch's Maxwell Zeff at Media Summit | SF 2025.
How should we think about AI Reporting?
Moderator Kia Kokalitcheva sits down with Shirin Ghaffary (Bloomberg), Mark Sullivan (Fast Company), and Maxwell Zeff (TechCrunch) to sort what is real, what is working, and what is still wishful thinking. They cover the early “holy shit” moments, why full job takeover is harder than the slides suggest, where agents break in the real world, how they actually use AI in reporting, and the most uncomfortable story they have covered so far.
What you will learn
Chapters
00:00 Intro. What makes this AI wave different
00:00:13 Shirin on a new kind of “intelligence” that felt like science fiction
00:01:07 Maxwell on how new the field still is and why newcomers can contribute
00:01:49 Mark on compute, GPUs, and why the “magic” surprised everyone
00:02:56 Early skepticism. Chatbots of 2015 vs ChatGPT
00:04:52 “Holy s***” moments and the limits seen in early Copilot demos
00:06:41 What the panel is still skeptical about
00:06:49 Shirin on why full job replacement is a long road
00:08:14 Maxwell on chatbots vs agents and what feels far off
00:09:04 Mark’s agent‑first reality check
00:10:31 The most uncomfortable story to cover
00:10:49 Maxwell on SB 1047 and a divided AI community
00:12:15 How the panel actually uses AI in their work
00:12:30 Maxwell’s “find the holes” edit pass with AI
00:13:19 Mark on research, triangulation, and why he avoids AI writing
00:14:39 Shirin on using AI for structure and why writing sharpens thinking
00:15:54 Will AI replace journalists
00:16:11 What AI still cannot do in real reporting
00:16:50 Wrap
If you care about how business news gets made, subscribe for more sessions and episodes from Media Summit on all podcast streaming platforms.
Moderator Sally Shin sits down with Natasha Mascarenhas (The Information) and George Hammond (Financial Times) to unpack mega funds, the AI frenzy, rollups and secondaries, the rise of VC podcasts, and exactly what it takes for a smaller company to earn real coverage. We get practical about sourcing, exclusives, tension, speed vs accuracy, and why “going direct” often backfires.
What we cover:
Chapters:
00:00 Intro and panel setup
00:00:27 What is the big theme in VC right now
00:01:27 AI boom meets exit drought and mega funds
00:02:13 Emerging managers and fundraising cracks
00:02:54 Getting GPs to talk when times are tough
00:03:41 What VC is getting wrong; smaller funds and new products
00:04:23 Are VC podcasts strategy or ego
00:04:49 How journalism adapts to the podcast era
00:05:39 How startups get coverage from The Information and FT
00:06:13 The Information’s bar: exclusivity, bigger theme, real tension
00:07:25 The FT’s lens: audience, geography, and exclusives
00:08:27 Moonshot AI teams and why they get covered
00:08:46 How stories are sourced; embargoes, tips, relationships
00:09:26 Slow burns and when small rounds become big stories
00:10:04 Independents vs newsrooms; speed and checks
00:11:32 Covering mega AI companies across beats
00:12:58 Mega funds, rollups, and a bifurcated VC model
00:14:32 Reinventing VC: spin outs, secondaries, business model shifts
00:15:47 Keeping up with direct channels and why journalism still matters
00:17:29 The power shift and access challenges
00:18:35 Going direct when you have nothing new to say
00:19:36 Preempting negative press and why it can amplify
00:20:11 When calls and DMs go public
00:20:50 A more combative climate and the job of ethical reporting
00:21:32 Is the IPO window open yet
00:22:06 Closing and thanks
If you found this helpful, subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of venture, media, and the AI economy.