Craig Fuller - Acquiring Flying Magazine and Building a Media Playbook - Ep.250 [Replay]

My guest on this episode is Craig Fuller. Craig is the founder of FreightWaves, a data and media business focused on freight and supply chains. FreightWaves is a VC backed company with $19 million in revenue with editorial content, a data product, job board, video content, and multiple podcasts. Prior to FreightWaves, Craig had no background in media but has built quite a playbook for media businesses with a data component. Craig, as of a month ago, is also the new owner of Flying Magazine, an iconic, blue-chip publishing brand in the general aviation community which we discuss extensively in this episode. For a deeper background on FreightWaves, I highly recommend his episode on A Media Operator, which we’ll link to in the show notes.

During our conversation, we discuss his fascinating background in his family’s trucking business, starting a tech business before FreightWaves, launching FreightWaves, and his acquisition of Flying Magazine and his plans for growth and improvement.

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Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/

Links:

Craig on X

Flying Magazine

FreightWaves

Topics:

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:47) - Craig's career and background

(00:06:46) - The Birth of Freight Waves

(00:12:41) - Building a Media Business

(00:27:05) - The Importance of Unique Content

(00:29:42) - Acquiring Flying Magazine

(00:35:36) - Revitalizing Flying Magazine for the Digital Age

(00:43:07) - The Future of Media and Content Marketing

(00:52:30) - Balancing Leadership and Letting Go

(00:55:05) - The Best Business Model: Industrial Real Estate

(00:57:17) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts