#181: Alex Lieberman - Co-Founder of Morning Brew - Building & Selling MB, Crypto / NFT's & More

Alex Lieberman is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Morning Brew, a multi-platform business media brand. In October 2020, Alex & his co-founder sold a majority stake of Morning Brew to Business Insider for a reported $75 million. Today, Morning Brew provides quick and digestible business content to more than 3 million users, successfully changing the way young professionals engage with the business world.

On this episode, Chris and Alex deep dive into the founding story of Morning Brew, the future of Morning Brew, and Alex's transition to Chairman from CEO. They also discuss how newsletters and online media companies are valued, how crypto/blockchain/NFT's will impact media, and much more!

Follow Chris on Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris
Follow Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/
Learn more about Chris Powers & Fort Capital: https://www.FortCapitalLP.com
Follow Fort Capital on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-capital/

Listen & Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7oIeNSaSJ4zkTQOXiedyOr?si=dEM48cSPQ9OIQ1HiD8sjrg

Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fort-with-chris-powers/id1410549811

(01:52) - Alex’s Journey Starting & Growing Morning Brew

(08:02) - What did the newsletter space look like in 2015?

(12:44) - What was the process for putting in a day’s worth of content?

(16:09) -  Where did you end your senior year of college and when did you come to the conclusion to go full time into MB?

(24:30) - Where was the business at when you decided to leave Morgan Stanley and how did you initially monetize?

(31:32) - How did the MB referral program work?

(37:20) - Was there an inflection point along the way that caused the balloon effect to happen?

(41:22) - How do you price ads today?

(44:21) - What was the process to come to the decision to sell MB?

(52:34) - Did you do anything wild after you sold?

(56:55) - How is a newsletter valued?

(58:17) - Alex’s Transition Out of the CEO Role

(1:07:28) - What’s the goal for The Brew going forward for your 3 million users?

(1:08:44) -  How does Crypto and Blockchain impact MB?

(1:17:09) - How do you think about the future of media and truth?

(1:21:44) -  How can people get in touch with you?

Follow on Alex on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/businessbarista

The FORT is produced by Johnny Peterson & Straight Up Podcasts