The AMO Show

Paul Miller, the CEO of Questex, articulates the transformative potential of the B2B media and events industry in this insightful discussion. He explores the pivotal notion that 2026 may herald a significant shift in the mergers and acquisitions landscape, emphasizing Questex's commitment to a mixed model that synergizes media and events. The conversation delves into the strategic rationale behind reducing the number of annual events, shifting focus towards quality and impact, and adapting to evolving market demands. With an eye on both organic growth and acquisitions, Miller outlines Questex's proactive approach to maintaining relevance and driving innovation in sectors such as life sciences and healthcare. The episode culminates in an examination of the company’s robust growth trajectory, underscoring its resilience in an ever-evolving marketplace.

This podcast episode features an in-depth conversation with Devin Emery, President of Morning Brew Inc., who elucidates the transformative journey of the company from a singular daily newsletter to a multifaceted media entity. The central theme revolves around the strategic evolution of Morning Brew's consumer business, particularly its innovative pivot towards a creator-led portfolio. Emery articulates how the organization has effectively partnered with creators to enhance brand engagement and expand its multimedia presence, while also addressing the challenges faced by other media companies in making similar transitions. Throughout the discourse, we delve into the financial dynamics underpinning this evolution, exploring the intricate balance between revenue generation and maintaining the brand's core identity amidst rapid growth. Emery's insights reflect a keen awareness of the changing landscape of media consumption and the imperative for companies to adapt to sustain relevance and profitability.Takeaways:The evolution of Morning Brew's consumer business is a striking example of successful adaptation in a competitive media landscape.Devin Emery emphasizes the importance of aligning creator partnerships with the core values of the Morning Brew brand.The transition from a newsletter-focused strategy to a multimedia approach has presented unique challenges and opportunities for Morning Brew.Understanding audience engagement metrics is crucial for maintaining the integrity of the brand amidst a rapidly changing media environment.Morning Brew's strategic focus on first-party data is a key differentiator in enhancing advertiser relationships and generating insights.Maintaining the essence of the brand while expanding into new content areas is essential for sustainable growth and audience retention.

Episode SummaryJacob sits down with Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of Firecrown — a media holding company built around legacy print brands including Flying, Boating, Trains, Model Railroader, and Astronomy, alongside the B2B data powerhouse FreightWaves. In a candid, wide-ranging conversation, Craig pulls back the curtain on the bruising lessons of rapid M&A, the founder's rock-bottom moment that changed everything, and why he believes owning audiences — not renting them — is the ultimate media business model.What We CoverHow Firecrown was born — Craig's journey from launching FreightWaves as a venture-backed freight data company to spinning out its media arm and rolling it into a print magazine empireThe 2025 reckoning — What happened when Craig did 20 acquisitions in 3 years and the infrastructure cracked under the weightThe marine business miscalculation — How buying Active Interest Media's marine portfolio the week before a 20% revenue drop forecast exposed deep operational blind spotsGoing "founder mode" — The Saturday Craig didn't get off the couch, and how a podcast with his dad snapped him out of itThe $9.2M cost cut — How Craig got ruthless from July onward and slashed nearly $10M in expenses in the second half of 2025Why salespeople tied to brands — not companies — is a massive problem in media roll-upsThe Sonar data business — Why FreightWaves is "the Bloomberg of freight" and what it will take to get to a $50–100M ARR exitThe "Bloomberg Option" — The clever deal structure that keeps FreightWaves media and data separate but reversible for future buyersPath to $1B in revenue by 2030 — The compounding math behind Firecrown's acquisition strategy and why Craig's family office financing is a cheat codeAI in media — but not where you think — Why the real opportunity isn't content generation, it's back-office automationVibe coding as an operational superpower — How Craig's team built an internal contributor management app in a week using Replit, saving $1.8M annuallyThe secret teaser: a "Landman for trucking" — Craig hints at a Hollywood-style freight drama series in the worksKey TakeawaysOn acquisitions without a playbook: "We were opportunistic, but we didn't have a system for buying businesses and integrating them. We let these businesses run on their own. That creates a lot of cultural problems and resentment."On working in vs. on the business: "All too often we work in the company and not on the company. You're afraid of admitting your business has problems. You have to get outside of it and realize it."On AI and media: "Everyone talks about AI replacing editorial. I don't think that's where the opportunity is. The opportunity is in the back office — the operating systems that encompass all these technologies."On the unit economics of scale: "At $2M in revenue, the best case is you pay yourself. You don't start to get economies of scale until about $10M top line."On patient capital: "The limitation is ultimately: can we execute, and can we finance it? Those are the only two things that hold any business back from growth."About Craig FullerCraig Fuller is the founder and CEO of Firecrown, a media holding company that owns enthusiast print and digital brands across aviation, marine, trains, and astronomy. He is also founder of FreightWaves, a B2B freight data and media company often called "the Bloomberg of freight," and its flagship data product Sonar. Craig has built Firecrown from $9M to $60M in revenue in roughly two years through aggressive M&A, and is targeting $1B by 2030.Links & ResourcesA Media Operator — amediaoperator.comFirecrown — firecrown.comFreightWaves — freightwaves.comSonar (FreightWaves data product) — sonar.freightwaves.comFlying Magazine — flyingmag.comTimestamps00:00 — Introduction: Craig's origin story and the FreightWaves pitch that started it all02:06 — What is Firecrown? The print roll-up thesis explained06:32 — 2025: The year the wheels came off08:46 — The marine business acquisition that went sideways immediately12:14 — Going founder mode: Craig takes a no-prisoners approach to costs14:04 — The M&A trap: inheriting old problems plus your own16:58 — Consolidating sales teams and why individual brand-tied reps kill efficiency43:23 — The emotional toll: "It was a brutal year"45:41 — Lessons from Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel on founder control47:18 — The FreightWaves / Sonar split explained56:07 — The "Bloomberg Option": structuring a reversible transaction01:05:07 — How Sonar built its proprietary freight data moat01:08:23 — Sonar's exit path: why $50–100M ARR is the target01:10:36 — Firecrown's path to $1B: compounding through M&A01:11:03 — AI in media: the back-office opportunity nobody's talking about01:17:02 — Vibe coding: how Craig's team built a $1.8M savings app in a week01:23:50 — Founder advice: working on your business, not in it01:28:36 — The big tease: a Hollywood freight drama seriesBecome an AMO Pro member for deeper analysis and access: amediaoperator.com

My guest this week is Tagg Henderson, co-CEO of BNP Media, a b2b media company operating in a variety of different niches. In this 40 minute conversation, we talked about how the business got its start, the 90 day pivot from print to digital that happened during 2020, the various revenue streams including advertising, events, research, and continuing education, the new agency that they brought on about a year ago and how that helps the business, and where he sees the business going from here. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Phillip Jackson, co-founder and CEO of Future Commerce. In this hour long conversation, we talked about how the brand got its start, the various revenue streams across advertising, subscriptions, learning, insights, and events, why they can accomplish all of this with a very lean team, and where he sees the brand going from here. Future Commerce is doing things differently than other b2b media companies, but I think that is to their advantage. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Curtis Cord, the founder and editor in chief of Olive Oil Times. In this 35 minute conversation, we talked about how the business got its start, its expansion into launching the NY World Olive Oil Competition, its education business where it holds sommelier courses in New York and London, and why he feels so passionately about making sure his various websites load as quickly as possible. This episode was a reminder to me that there are possible media niches in all places. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Eric Hoffman, CEO of Hoffman Media, a publisher that publishes a number of publications targeting women and southern living. We talked about how the business first got its start, why they charge what they do for subscriptions, the five figure experiences business they have, and so much more.

My guest this week is Kat Craddock, the editor-in-chief and CEO of Saveur, a publication that she acquired from Recurrent Ventures a little over one year ago. In this episode, we dove into how the deal happened, how she financed it, why they reintroduced a print product, and so much more.

My guest this week is Richard Lander, Director at Citywire, a UK-based media company that serves the asset management and wealth industries. In this 40 minute conversation, we talked about the various parts of the business, why the pandemic ultimately killed the print business, their events model, the various ways they generate revenue from licensing, and an interesting intent-based product they call Goldmine. I hope you enjoy this discussion.

This week we have a special edition of the AMO Podcast with Todd Handy, the chief revenue officer at SEBPO, a leading global outsourcing partner that serves the advertising, media, and technology industries. In this discussion, we dig into how companies should properly think about outsourcing, the scale, save, and succeed framework, how to overcome or avoid the common mistakes and fears in outsourcing, and why media companies need to be thinking about dual transformation. I hope you enjoy this discussion.

My guest this week is Jim VandeHei, co-founder and CEO of Axios. In this hour long conversation, we talked about the importance of advertising for the main business and why they never paywalled that, the company’s expansion into niche subscriptions, events, local news, entertainment, and software, how they've structured the team to build these various division. We also dug into a couple of M&A what-ifs tied to Politico and The Athletic, and then ended with his new book, Just the Good Stuff. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Andrew Perlman, co-founder and CEO of Recurrent. In this 45 minute conversation, we talked about the firm’s M&A strategy, their thesis on content to commerce and the various revenue sources, how they are thinking about platforms cutting into traffic to publisher sites, and how they’ve structured the teams with various GMs across the portfolio. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Andy Cates, the President and founding Chair of Memphis Fourth Estate, a 501(c)(3) that launched and operates The Daily Memphian. In this conversation, we talked about why The Daily Memphian care so much about reaching break even on operating revenue versus purely fundraising, the inherent challenges they have raising money from national journalism funders due to this belief in building sustainably, how they’ve thought about growth over the six years of its existence, and so much more. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Stephanie Kaplan Lewis, co-founder and CEO of Her Campus Media, a network of brands that serve college students across thousands of colleges. In this conversation, we dug into the early days of the business, the various advertising products they take to market, how they think about the inevitable graduation of their audience, and where they see the business going from here. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Isaac Saul, founder of Tangle, a media company that tries to summarize the best arguments from across the political spectrum. In this hour-long conversation, we talked about the brand's exceptional free to paid conversion rate, where they are exploring advertising and events, the major headwinds the brand and all political media is dealing with, and how he plans to overcome it.

My guest this week is Ellen Hyslop, co-founder of The Gist, a fan-first sports media brand based out of Canada (but serving the United States). In this episode, we talked about the early days of the business, what sorts of growth tactics they used when first starting versus what now works, how their user onboarding impacts the types of content that readers see, the various ad products they take to market, and where the business goes from here.

Brian Van Heuverswyn is the chief operating officer at Active Interest Media, a portfolio of enthusiast brands, including Power & Motoryacht, Fine Gardening, Woodsmith, and so many more. In this conversation, we talk about how AIM came to be, the most recent Taunton Press acquisition, the move toward digital, and so much more.

Scott Jamieson is the CEO (COO when recording) of Annex Business Media, a network of b2b publications headquartered in Canada. In this episode, we talked about how Annex came to be along with him finding himself running the business, how the brands of Annex are stronger when united, and how they have made the transition from being predominately print to offering some very innovative digital ad products.

Mitch Bettis is the owner and President of both Arkansas Business Publishing Group and 360 West Magazine in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In this episodewe discuss how he came to own Arkansas Business, how the business has evolved from generating predominantly print revenue to diversified sources, the various consumer and b2b brands that he owns, and why he believes time tracking is so important.

Sam Parr is the co-founder, a highly vetted membership community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs. As he articulates it, Hampton has the ability to one day become a $100m+ business. In this episode, we talked about why he felt there was an opportunity here, how they admit new members and build the monthly core groups, and his advice for operators to charge more for their products.