Media Summit Podcast

At Media Summit | SF 2025, J.J. Colao sat down with Brendan Vaughan, Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company, for a conversation about the business of modern media, revenue models, the role of print, the pressure of clicks, and what AI means for publishers. Brendan shares how Fast Company thinks about diversifying revenue, why they maintain a print magazine in an increasingly digital world, the work that...

In this fireside conversation from Media Summit | NYC 2025 , J.J. Colao sits down with Mike Hofman , Editor-in-Chief of Inc. , to unpack how one of the most iconic founder-focused media brands is adapting to a radically different landscape. Mike started his career at Inc. as a fact-checker, left for roles at GQ and Fast Company, and returned nearly 15 years later to lead the publication as Editor-...

In this fireside conversation from Media Summit | NYC 2025 , J.J. Colao sits down with Eric Hippeau , Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau and former CEO of Huffington Post and Ziff Davis , to unpack what actually broke the media business and what (if anything) can be rebuilt in its place. Eric has spent three decades operating at the intersection of journalism, technology, and capital. He’s seen med...

In this fireside conversation from Media Summit | NYC 2025 , Alyson Shontell (Editor-in-Chief and Chief Content Officer of Fortune) sits down with Peter Kafka from Business Insider to talk candidly about what it actually takes to run a modern newsroom in the AI era. Rather than speculating about whether AI will “replace journalists,” the conversation stays grounded in practice: how AI is being use...

What happens when journalists have to cover their own industry while that industry is under political, legal, and financial pressure? At Media Summit | NYC 2025 , we hosted a candid, sometimes uncomfortable conversation about the state of media reporting itself. This panel brought together Oliver Darcy (Status), Max Tani (Semafor), moderated by Hadas Gold (CNN) to unpack how journalists are naviga...

Everyone is talking about AI. Very few people actually understand what’s happening. At Media Summit | NYC 2026 , we brought together three of the reporters who spend every day inside the AI story: - Rebecca Bellan (TechCrunch) - Hayden Field (The Verge) - Rashi Shrivastava (Forbes) - Moderated by Julie Samuels (Tech:NYC) This conversation wasn’t about shiny demos or vague promises. It was about po...

Crypto isn’t just a technology story. It’s a story about legitimacy. At Media Summit | NYC 2025, three of the most trusted reporters covering crypto (Nina Bambysheva @ Forbes, Leo Schwarz @ Fortune, and Yueqi Yang @ The Information) sat down for a rare, candid conversation about how crypto actually gets covered when the cameras are off and the hype fades. Moderated by Dan Simon (Qwoted) , this pan...

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 c...

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 mech...

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...

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....

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,...

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: The...