Today is Opposite Day at Pathfinder. Rather than interview someone, Ryan himself is sitting down in the hot seat to take an hour’s worth of questions. Our guest host is cofounder Mo Islam. Though he’s Ryan’s coworker, he’s also his boss and a fair, unsparing interviewer.
Pathfinder #0021 is brought to you by Spaced Ventures, the planet’s first space investment portal. Spaced Ventures recently launched an effort to open an investment round into SpaceX, and as of this writing, has received $36.6M+ in pledges from more than 2,050 investors.
Okay, here we go…Today’s guest is Ryan Duffy, the managing editor of Payload and host of Pathfinder. Our discussion with Ryan peels back the curtain to offer an inside look into how the ever-growing Payload newsroom operates.
What we cover: a sneak peek
- Launching the daily Payload newsletter and what we’ve learned one year in
- Ryan’s experience creating Morning Brew’s second product
- Digital media startups and newsletter-first distribution models
- Evolving from curation to original reporting and analysis
- Popular narratives vs. what’s actually happening in the space industry
- Who we write for at Payload and how we see our audience
- Ryan launders the best insights and talking points from previous Pathfinder alumni
- Hype cycles in space and other emerging technology-dominant industries
- What’s next for Payload 👀👀👀
…there’s plenty of range in this conversation, from running a mile every day for 1,000+ days in a row, to getting hit by a car, to wanting to be a garbage man rather than an astronaut as a child (hence the thumbnail). We hope you enjoy the convo and learn something new about Payload.