Talks at GS – Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin: Changing the Face – and Format – of News

Founding Context & Origin:

• Co-founders Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin, former NBC News producers, launched The Skimm in 2012 after identifying a gap in how information reached female millennials.
• Founders observed that their target demographic spent significant economic power but lacked a news source compatible with their non-traditional routines (e.g., not watching morning television).
• The initial concept was modeled as an email written "like it came from a friend," designed to fit into daily routines in under five minutes while maintaining an intimate, conversational tone similar to the original Today Show format.
• The product aimed to solve the "knowledge gap" where educated professionals felt unprepared to discuss general news topics despite being experts in their specific industries.

Operational Approach & Editorial Control:

• The company maintains a consistent brand voice by integrating the "Skimm girl" persona into product development, sales, and technical decisions; ideas are discarded if they do not offer tangible value to this specific demographic.
• Weisberg and Zakin remain Co-Editors-in-Chief and personally review every word published, regardless of the company's growth or the size of the editorial team.
• The editorial strategy explicitly consolidates complex global issues into digestible summaries to empower readers to feel confident in their daily decision-making.

Political Stance & Audience Responsibility:

• The Skimm maintains a strictly nonpartisan approach, focusing on fact-checked, verified information amidst rising "noise" and misinformation in the media landscape.
• The audience is split almost evenly across the political spectrum.
• Following the election cycle, the founders acknowledge a shifted responsibility: while they previously viewed themselves as a "gateway" to other news sources, they now recognize that for many users, The Skimm is their only source of news, with some users explicitly bypassing traditional outlets like CNN or the New York Times.

Business Model & Revenue Streams:

• Media Business: Partners with a select number of brands for high-integration recommendations (e.g., books, wine), leveraging high trust to drive sales; notably, wine sales peak on Friday mornings between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM.
• Subscription Business: Launched "Skim Ahead," a subscription service that integrates with users' calendars to provide forward-looking information; this represents a strategic move toward recurring revenue and deepening audience loyalty.
• The two business lines are kept distinct, with media partnerships focused on brand storytelling and subscriptions focused on utility and retention.

Entrepreneurial Advice & Industry Outlook:

• Founders advise that successful entrepreneurship relies on the ability to ask questions rather than possessing all the answers, as there is no set roadmap for new ventures.
• They caution against the "glamorized" perception of startups, noting that the "payday" expectation is often unrealistic and the work is not inherently glamorous.
• Hiring strategy prioritizes candidates who can articulate specific value propositions for the business over those who only cite academic credentials or degrees.
• The founders emphasize the distinction between being "entrepreneurial" (intrapreneurship within a larger entity) and being an "entrepreneur" (founding a new entity), noting significant opportunities exist in both contexts to reshape industries.