The definitive guide to doing media wrong

I’ve been thinking a lot about how American and European approaches to media funding, and capital in general, differ.

(Unless something earth-shattering happens in media funding, we’ll skip the next two editions and return on August 28. In the meantime, read our Digital News Pricing Report, the 2025 Newsletter Playbook or the first part of the audience research guide. Or enjoy the summer, if you are into that kind of thing.)

I recently discovered the Moneywise podcast on YouTube, an amazing niche media product & community for "founders", people who built successful businesses in the US and (usually) sold them for a LOT of money. It appeals to me the way Succession does: part aspirational fantasy (today I struggle with paper airplane folds; tomorrow, perhaps, choosing the right private jet), part anthropological fascination with the ultra-wealthy and feeling slightly superior for still knowing what milk costs (despite being mildly lactose intolerant).

A recent guest, perfectly at home in the money-equals-moral-worth cinematic universe, declared he doesn't consider anyone a "real" entrepreneur until they…