Ian has a very fascinating background. He attended college at Franklin and Marshall before taking a leave of absence and working at a hedge fund. He ended up realizing that finance and college weren’t for him and went into writing. He ended up at a small trade publication before working his way up to Quartz. He spent a few years working in product roles before starting FinTech Today. Ian's experience working in both product and media was instrumental in helping him launch FinTech Today. If you are looking to write content and build a community for a niche audience, I highly recommend you listening.

And this is why newsletters are becoming more popular than ever. Consumer attention is scarce. Just because a consumer follows you on social media, doesn't mean they engage with your brand. But a newsletter is different, they are letting you into their life. You are taking up a small part of their inbox.

Did you ever wonder how to become an executive? How someone can go from intern to senior leader? Well this week, my guest Mikey Sadowski explains just how he did that. He got into the communication world by happenstance; through hard work, and a little bit of luck found himself as the GM of PR and Communications at Intrepid Travel.

The consumer is adopting to traditional advertising. Paid media doesn't work as well as used to. You need to be authentic when you are trying to reach consumers. And that is why influencer partnerships are so popular

I speak to many companies who say, "I want to be in the WSJ or go on CNBC." OK? But why are you interesting? There is so much to write about. What makes your company, product, or team of interest to others? Well, for Jasmine and Concepts Bureau, their answer is storytelling. Before you can create an actionable PR strategy, you need to create a story around your brand. Jasmine gives insights on how to do that and brands that are doing a good job of implementing this advice.

It was 2006. My favorite basketball player was Stephon Marbury (don't judge me). He just announced his new basketball shoe, The Starbury. I couldn't tell you anything about the shoe except that Stephon Marbury made it. That was the point. I wasn't buying the shoe, I was buying Stephon Marbury.

Justin is a former speechwriter and communications professional. He has written for Jim Mattis, General David Petraeus, and Leon Panetta. He has worked as an evangelist for Palantir and held the role of Director of Communications for the Secretary of Defense. Currently, he works at Gumroad and has a newsletter summarizing the big ideas of the biggest names on Twitter:

In February 1898, a peasant is born in Modena, Italy. Over 90 years, in the same town, he dies a king. This is the life of Enzo Ferrari, the founder of Ferrari. His pursuit of excellence, not only built the world's best racing team but the world's most powerful brand.

The internet brought about a new way to connect with people. Social networks like Reddit fostered these communities. There is nearly a subreddit for anything. Lately, we've seen a handful of companies attempt to unbundle Reddit.