Esses' Ojus Jain on building an F1 culture brand

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That is beehiiv.com/trb. Welcome to "The Rebooting Show." I am Brian Morrissey.

I am joined today by Ojas Jain. Ojas is the founder of Esses Magazine, which is right in my wheelhouse, Ojas, 'cause it, it's sort of... It has a bunch of different things that I like about it. One is I like, I like print when it comes to niche.

Me too. And I like niche when it comes to rich people. [chuckles] [laughs] And I like brands that are at the intersection of, of two different things, and I, I think Esses is the intersection of F1 and the broader culture, 'cause I think that's usually where you can do a lot of good brands. Oh, and I like media businesses these days that are kind of front businesses in some ways, meaning l- [laughs]...

that particularly in the lifestyle area, that you've got... You, you're clear that the side hustle is, is, is the main hustle, and we'll get into that, so welcome. [laughs] Well, I appreciate you having me, Brian. I'm excited to be on the pod, and I'm excited to have this conversation.

I know you've been following Esses and came to one of our launch parties in New York a few months ago, last year, so excited to be here and looking forward to the convo today. Yeah. Okay, so let's get into it. Esses, y- give me what was the sort of genesis of it?

Was this something where you were... And be honest here, Ojas. Were you scratching an itch that you had that you were, like, an F1 obsessive, or is this, "I see a white space"? I think it's a combination of both.

We launched in October of 2024 with our first quarterly print magazine, but we were responding to a few things in the marketplace. One, as I'm sure you've even experienced anecdotally, F1 has had this dramatic transformation in the past few years. It's gone from a sport that was frankly kind of fading into irrelevance to now being one of the fastest growing and actually highest value sport properties in the whole world. The audience it's attracting, it's younger, it's more diverse.

It's an extraordinarily affluent audience. It's a global racing series with, you know, Grand Prix in 21 different countries around the world. And so I kind of recognized that as an F1 fan myself and as someone that when I was entering into university, only the European expats wanted to watch F1 with me, but by the time I was graduating, every single person wanted to come over to my house to watch F1 on Sundays, that there's a wide open opportunity to actually create a premium content ecosystem that meets the modern F1 fan where they're at.

We know that modern sports fans, forget just F1, but sports fans in general are as interested in what's happening on track or on the field with what's happening off track or off the field. And despite that, a lot of the legacy publications in the motorsport space were still reaching, I think, the traditional audience, the gearhead dad that has been invested in motorsport or in Formula One for 30-plus years. But no one was really meeting the modern fan, the new fan, where they're at and actually telling the stories that were driving their fandom.

So I kind of used myself as a case study, my friends as a case study, and, and saw an opportunity that actually extended much wider to the modern fandom in F1, and that was really what animated the, the opportunity, I think, at Esses. Okay, I wanna get into why, why the magazine, but just to stick on, on this, I mean, you're not really focused on reaching, like, people like your friends, right? I mean, you're focused on- No, no... reaching older, rich people, right?

[chuckles] That's a much better... Not that you guys are friends. They could be, they could be 50-year-old headfu- hedge fund managers for all I know. Well, actually, you know, you'd be surprised.

I think we reach a very wide-ranging demographic, folks who are in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, but overall, we've seen that the average household- And what's their, what's their household income? Yeah, let's get to the household income. And so Es- Oh, you'd see overall the average household income of an Esses reader is over $150,000 per year. And so despite this- Yeah...

younger fan base, you still have a very, very affluent fan base. I mean, the average F1 fan in general has a household income of over $120,000 a year. But you see the Power and the, it's their shift of wealth also coming towards younger professionals as well, you know, folks in their late 20s, early 30s who are more financially empowered than ever before. So we reach that audience as much as we reach the 40, 50, and 60-year-old sort of legacy wealth- Yeah...

audience as well. Okay. So at, uh, F1 really exploded, I feel like in, in the, at least in the American context. I've got, like, some European family members, and they were always watching these cars go around, like, tracks in Europe on the TV.

Right. And I was like, "What is this?" I was like, "Is it the car?" I was like, "Is the r- is the, is the driver really doing much or just trying to stay control?"

Then Drive to S- Survive came out on Netflix, and it kind of had a cultural moment. And obviously Liberty Media has done an amazing job building F1. Absolutely. And, and particularly recognizing, first of all, sports is, is a massive opportunity.

It's like an AI. It's, like, part of the AI trade, I feel like. Mm-hmm. Private equity is, is, is pouring into these, these properties.

What about F1 in particular made it attractive beyond the brand, but how it is structured versus, like, an NFL, NB- uh, NBA, other established, like, American leagues? Is there something there that allows... 'Cause I kind of think of, like, S's a little bit like Racket with a Q. Hmm.

Like, in that Racket is attached to tennis, which is the favorite sport for people who hate sports, and, you know, people wanna go to the US Open and sip on whatever those cocktails are, or they go to, like, Wimbledon, and they cosplay that they're English aristocracy, or now we got the French Open and, and, and it's fine. It's good. But you, only so many sponsors can be official partners of these, of these kinds of, of global sports franchises. Well, I think global is the key operative word here, and what really distinguishes F1 from the NFL or the NBA or, frankly, even tennis in, in some regard.

I mean, they race in 21 different countries across 24 races during the Grand Prix calendar. So there's no other global sports franchise that touches so many different geographies and so many different locales across their regular season. And I think because of that global platform and because F1 has always positioned itself as a sport that reaches an affluent audience, there's been this incredible convergence of lifestyle, of luxury, and global aspirational travel in the world of Formula 1.

And so you mentioned Drive to Survive, but also, you know, F1 took off in the US during the pandemic when it was one of the only global sports franchises and leagues that was still active and still racing. And so I think people see F1 as really a passport to discover taste and to discover culture on a global scale. And, and that's how we've built our editorial strategy. You know, we don't necessarily focus on the technical intricacies of racing.

You know, you'll never find an article in S's about what Ferrari's suspension geometry is gonna be for this Grand Prix or how lap time performance is affecting one team versus another. Hmm. But what you will find is an article about where to eat in Milan if you're traveling to Italy for the race in Monza or an article about an up-and-coming female driver, Alva Larsson, who's been dubbed the fastest girl in the world. You know, we really touch on all of the intersecting industries that weave themselves into the fabric of motorsport, and I think that's what is driving the modern fandom in F1, and, and that's what's been driving the growth for S's.

Okay, so it's... That's interesting 'cause it's, it's less for the obsessive, right? And so there's a lot of people, what do they call it? The grid.

What, what is the, like, the, the sort of... I don't even know. I'm not, I'm not, I'm obviously not a, a obsessive. [laughs] I guess it would be, like, the infield in, in- The paddock?

The paddock. Okay. That's the paddock. Yeah.

Sorry. In the paddock, you know, I don't know how many people there are, like, you know, there's a lot of cars going around, but I don't know, like, how in depth it is. And I don't mean that as a knock. I used to go to, like, the Preakness when I was far younger, and, like, I wasn't into horse racing.

[laughs] It was just a big party in the infield. [laughs] Well, I think we're able to reach not just these curious fans who see F1, again, as a, a way to discover taste on a global scale, but we do still reach the obsessives, you know, because we're constant- constantly uncovering aspects of the sport they may love that they may not have previously known. Like, we wrote an incredible article when we were getting started about one of the private chefs to F1's CEO, Stefano Domenicali, and that was something that a legacy audience really engaged with because they, everyone, everyone knew who Stefano was.

Everyone was curious about what he does when he's in the paddock, but here we are telling a story about his life that was, you know, taking an approach and taking an angle that other publications weren't. Or another example I have is the story we wrote about George Harrison, the Beatle, who actually was an, a major Formula 1 fan himself and actually produced an entire studio record called Faster, inspired by his relationship with Formula 1, and no one was telling that story about George and his love for F1.

We wrote it, and it got picked up by Rolling Stone and promoted by them on their channels as well. So we really have a, a- an incredible ability to not just reach new fans who are interested in F1 cur- in a curious way, but also reaching old school and hardcore fans by exposing aspects of this sport that they wouldn't have previously been exposed to. So let's talk about print for a little bit because, as I said, I like, I like print for, for, for niche brands, particularly niche brands- Hmm...

that are going to have A very heavy brand activations component to their business model. Right. Right? I think of- Right...

print as less a... It's not like a thing, this is not like some major discovery. You know, it's not for, like, the everyday information delivery vehicle. There are- No...

far more efficient ways to ship words and, and pictures to someone. But if you do print well, and I, you guys do it well. We- you came to a dinner we did here in, in Miami, and the, some, like, Conde Nast veterans were raving about your paper stock, so. Yeah, thank you.

And how well-designed it was, not just the, the thickness. [laughs] Thank you. Yeah. 'Cause a lot of, a lo- look, a lot of magazines, I'm not gonna comment on even newsweeklies, you know, they've, they've just- [laughs] They're, they're...

It's sad. Like, you cannot get these, these tissue paper, you know- Mm-hmm... pages, and you gotta go premium. No glossy, no glossy paper at ESs.

Yeah, exactly. So I like print for that, because, like, you know, you guys obviously invest a lot in design, and I think you can't miss on design in these kinds of brands in some ways. Like, it can't be, like, a nice to have. If you were just doing, like, I don't know, straight business news, like, you can do it through a Substack and you can design- Right...

you're not gonna live and, live and die on design. But for this kind of brand, I think you can. So tell me about w- the leverage that you see in... You know, 'cause you only have so much money to invest in, and I love, like, well-curated, you know, media products.

But why print? Well, I think there's been a resurgence in print, and I think there's been a resurgence for people who are seeking curated and thoughtful experiences to hold something in their hands. And I think the sensation that you get when you have a well-crafted product in your hands is pretty much irreplaceable. I mean, you were just talking about the dinner that we had in Miami, and people were remarking on the paper stock, or something that people always do when they get a magazine in their hands is they stick their nose in it, and they smell it, and they smell the ink- It does smell good...

and they smell the- That's true. [laughs] Yeah. They smell the fresh paper, and so I think there's something there that you can't replicate in a digital medium. And I'm obsessed with the synergy of form and content, and I think all the time about not just how we tell a story, but how we package it into a medium that I think will resonate with audiences most.

And there's something special with print that I think you can't translate into other formats. But really, it's so, it's a window shop to the brand. It's, it's the perfect distillation of our editorial strategy and our design ethos. And I think when a reader or a partner or an investor holds the magazine, I think they're able to conceptualize in an instant what our brand stands for, what we believe in, and how we approach storytelling, and there's, again, really no other medium, I think, that empowers us to do that.

But, you know, this is a great moment for me to shout out my team as well. You know, our creative director, Emma Rochon, our, our editor, Tony Callon Brown, and Joey Biancon. I mean, they're incredibly talented people and, you know, we've worked together to pore over every single detail of the magazine to make it so that people have that reaction that you were just describing. Mm-hmm.

So how are you building an audience for this? 'Cause I, I, I, I really like the concept of it, and I understand, like, how the brand activations piece can be an engine for this kind of business. But to me, the, the wild card is distribution. Like, if- Mm.

If you, and we talked about it, it's like getting the right people. I had to leave, otherwise I would've gone, I would've happily gone [laughs] to your event- The event on Thursday... in Miami. Y- yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we hosted a huge car show in Miami on the Thursday of the Grand Prix. Yeah, it looked cool. We had almost 2,000 people come to it, actually. We took over an abandoned military hangar and we filled it with 10 classic cars, everything from a Ferrari F40 to a 2JZ modified donk, and then blocked off the street that was adjacent to it, lined it with food trucks, had an ESs booth as well, and essentially threw a big block party, but it was a huge success.

And, you know, events are a big part of our audience development strategy. I mean, I see everything as part of a- So wait, you're, you're using events to, like, 2,000 people in Miami came to this. Yeah. I should've done some on the ground reporting, but I had to go back to- [laughs] I had to, I had to leave somewhere.

Were, were they already in your database? Like, how many were net new? 'Cause I think a lot of times events, when it comes to media models, are oftentimes thought in the kinda harvesting of the brand value that's created elsewhere, if you will. Mm.

Well, a lot of those folks were net new, you know, people that were not previously in our database, and we were able to reach them through grassroots marketing campaigns in Miami, tapping into our local partners. And, you know, storytelling is at the core of everything we do, even our events. And so the purpose of this event was to really celebrate the car culture of South Florida. And so we worked with local car owners, we worked with local artists to curate this environment, and that's how we were able to leverage exposure and leverage expansion for the brand.

Yeah. I'm thinking about car culture around here, and I'm [laughs] like- Yeah. [laughs] It's like, uh, I know what you mean broadly, but it is a lot of, like, rented Lambos and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah.

We were not necessarily talking about that. You know, we're talking about- Influencers. [laughs] Yeah, yeah. Authentic South Florida car culture.

You know, people who are modifying their '70s Impalas, you know, or who have been- Okay... collecting cars for decades. Yeah, not renting Slingshots. Okay, so that's like, that, that's pretty interesting.

So like, man, like, but how are you thinking about distribution? 'Cause to me it's like, you know, there's, you, what'd you say, 21 F1, uh, a year, right? 24- And you-... and 21 cities...

24, excuse me. Yeah. And how many of those will you activate at? Well, we won't do all 24.

We really pick the races that have the most cultural cachet, if you will. So think Monaco, think Miami, Austin here in the US, Las Vegas, or the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Really the ones with the most momentum behind them. But distribution, again, we think about every different touch point as a brand as a way to ex- to expand our audience.

So the magazine is distributed not only to our subscribers, but it's in private aviation lounges and business class lounges and yachting marinas across the world. But, you know, these events are a way for us to grow our newsletter, to grow exposure around the magazine. Our partnerships are also a big way for us to generate exposure and audience for the magazine. I mean, I'll tell you the example of another partnership we had in Miami, where we worked with Puma to essentially architect their influencer strategy for the weekend, and Puma was bringing a bunch of influencers into town for the Grand Prix, and we essentially designed this custom scavenger hunt for their influencers to do around the city.

You know, go for a dip in South Beach, go have a cortado at this famous coffee shop, or have a Cuban at this fab- Cub- Cuban restaurant. And this entire time they were posting about Puma and posting about ESs with the content they were creating from that scavenger hunt. And so organically, we reached almost 10 million people on that campaign- Yeah... and it was a huge audience development to play for us in the mean side of a, of a partnership.

Yeah. It's funny 'cause, like, you're starting this from scratch, and a lot of people are... Like, I think of Bustle, it kind of, like, arrived here by accident or- Mm... by not having other options in some ways, in that they're taking a brand like Nylon and they're really, they're really making it into a brand activations play in which- Mm...

a lot of the distribution is done through influencer partnerships. So they will have the Nylon House in, during Art Basel in Miami or, or elsewhere, or, or Coachella or whatever, and they will source a lot of the influencers. And it's an interesting... I don't know.

It's, it... To me, it's interesting because it seems like you started this as a brand, right? Like, a lot of people start... They used to just do media as, like, media.

And it's like, no, it's a publication. Right. You know? No, we started as a brand.

I, I know. It's like, "Oh, I'm, I'm writing, like, a, a, a newsletter." People are like, "Oh, I do a newsletter, a podcast or something." But this is a brand.

And I think a lot- Mm... of media, this sounds very simplistic, but they're really moving from being a magazine, a newspap- whatever, to being brands. And you, you- Absolutely... you express that brand a bunch of different ways.

You get distribution in all kinds of, of different, of different ways too. I think that's how audiences build relationships with modern media companies. You know, they're building relationships with the brand fundamentally. And once you're able to build that positive association that ESs, you know, has a certain aesthetic, it has a certain approach, it has a certain commitment to quality or storytelling, you know, audiences will follow you wherever you show up.

And so that's how we've been able to build this very pliable model where we have an events business, we have a quarterly magazine. We're actually relaunching our website in a few weeks and relaunching our newsletter as well to, you know, really bolster expansion into digital. We're thinking about launching a podcast later this year. But we're confident in the growth behind these additional products because we know that our readers and our subscribers have built that positive association with their brand.

They know that ESs shows up intentionally in the world. And so if ESs is launching a product, it's gonna be something worth them checking out. Yeah. But, like, let's talk about the activations piece, 'cause I feel like they're the, the straw that stirs the drink at the end of the day.

I know the magazine- Mm-hmm... is important. I know the, the newsletter is, is real- without the, the, without the activations, there's no business, right? If there was no races, there would no- be no ESs.

[laughs] Well, I think that's true and- Or if the races were closed off. Like, you know what I mean? Like, if- Right... it, it's, it's different in that, like, you've got a set number of...

Here's my, like, outside theory of it. You have a set number of these tent pole activations, right? 'Cause, like, in my business, like, I have a set number of tent pole activations. I will hopefully see you in Cannes, right?

Yes. And Cannes is one of them. And guess what? My partners have budgets that are specific against Cannes.

You either- Right... do stuff with them in Cannes or you don't make money. You can't, like, be like, "No, no, no, no, you should do these other things." And that's, like, a major...

That's a source of leverage, right? Like- Yeah... so tell me about how you think about the activations piece and putting that front and center, and also, like, what you wanna build, 'cause I think you can become basically... And maybe it's fine.

There's nothing wrong with being a marketing agency with, with a magazine. I think that's, that's, that's a fine... But how do you think of that? I think you're absolutely right to say that there's huge momentum behind races in the calendar, and a lot of our partners are thinking very strategically about how they wanna show up in certain geographies.

And, you know, F1 has been a traditionally pretty inaccessible sport, and so there's huge opportunity for us to go and create convenings on the sidelines of these Grand Prix to create moments for people to access the sport and access the brands that they might be, you know, not able to otherwise. And so I see not only the Grand Prix calendar as part of our tent pole moments, but also these broader industry moments as well, like Cannes Lion or Art Basel or Davos even long-term.

Because this audience of- Mm... the global traveling elite, you know, decision-makers, wealthy folk who are showing up in Davos, but also showing up in Monaco and also showing up at Art Basel, it's the same audience in all of these places. And s- you know, for us- When they're in one geography, in one concentrated location, it's a big opportunity for us to show up- Yeah... and activate and align with brands.

Me, you, Axios, Semaphore. Everyone else will be trailing after the global elite as they traipse around the world. I feel like that is our- The traveling circus. There's worse.

There are worse ways to make a living, I gotta say. [laughs] Yeah. Right. Because I was, like, struck, you know, by F1 here.

Axios had, like, a house. Bloomberg had a house. Axios executive asked me, "Will I see you in Monaco?" I'm like, "No."

[laughs] I go to CES. But, like, that is a big part of the media business. I keep going back. This is just a, this is just the United States alone, right?

Like- Right... there's, like, 300,000 Americans are now, like, have a net worth of over $30 million. That's, that's a lot. That's a lot of people.

That is. They have to spend their money somehow. I don't care about A1, uh, AI. Like, they're, they, they gotta spend their money [laughs] in some way, shape, or form.

And they like experiences. And F1 is a place to be seen, you know? Yeah. And F1 is a place to be seen, and it's a, it's a place to gather those once in a lifetime experiences.

I mean, I gotta take you to the paddock one day, Brian, but it's really- I'll go... unlike any other experience you've had in, in, in any kind of sporting event. I mean, it's multiple days long. Everything is taken to the nines.

It's prestige and luxury and wealth all come together, and it's a place to do business fundamentally. I mean, you'll- Yeah... as you just said, everyone is kind of in this traveling circus from one place to another, and F1 has found a way to put itself on that global calendar. And so for us, again, it's a, it's a huge opportunity to follow that audience where they are, and in 21 different countries around the world, and build a global brand off the backs of that.

Yeah. It kinda reminds me a little bit of Monocle model. Mm. I think there are some...

I did a, I did a podcast with Tyler Brûlé, I guess it was about a year ago or so, and I was like, I think there's some mini Monocles out there. You know, there's pe- there's people who are taking the model that you had, which was really build a brand first and foremost, have a really high quality magazine that is- Mm... the, I don't wanna say souvenir, but it's, it's the sort of the thing that orients the, the worldview. It is the calling card.

When you go into a major brand and you, you place a very well-done magazine in front of you and they smell it, you know? Right. They, that gives you credibility with them. Absolutely.

That when you can talk until you're blue in your face about your 150,000-person, like, email list, it's not gonna do the same [laughs] for, with the CMO, I don't think. Yeah, I mean, I think- But I do. Do you, do you, do you think, did you learn, did you take any notes from that? Or, like, how did you, how do you end up thinking about these kinds of models?

No, I'm, I'm glad you mentioned Monocle, 'cause I have a tremendous amount of respect for Tyler and, and what he's built with that brand. You know, there were a lot of things that we took inspiration from, and I think what you were just describing is exactly it. You know, Tyler did this fantastic job building the brand of Monocle and anchoring it in the print magazine. But what I think he's done so effectively is parlaying that ethos that he's built on a design side and on an editorial side to all of these creative partnerships.

And that's where what I was saying earlier, I think really comes into play. How do we build so much trust with our audience that anything S's is already synonymous with a certain amount of taste, a certain amount of curation? And then we can then take that and offer that to our partners and say, "Okay, if you wanna show up in a space intentionally, if you wanna reach this audience that we've already built a strong relationship with, do it with S's, because they resonate with our storytelling.

They resonate with our approach to things." And that's given us a, a wide range to do everything from white label work, to custom publishing, to branded content, to events on the ground, to standard advertising. And so we've built a very diversified partnerships and revenue model off the fact that we have a brand that's synonymous with certain touch points and, and certain qualities, I think, that partners and readers are seeking. Yeah.

So you were part of the, the early team, like, at Semaphore. And- Mm-hmm... I think Semaphore is, is interesting for a few reasons, but, you know, one of which is, to me, it's, it's emblematic of... I gotta come up with a new term than front business.

People, people don't like the, the, the idea that [laughs] that has a little bit, a whiff of illegality to it. [laughs] Yeah. But, like, but that, I mean, like- There's some connotations there... yeah, there's connotations to front business.

But, you know, look, I, I, until I come up with another term, I'm just gonna go with it. You know, Semaphore is a front business for an events business, right? And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a better model in many cases, and a lot of publishers are backing their way into that model.

Better to start with that model so everyone's clear on what it is. How do you think about the role of the, quote-unquote, content in this kind of model? Well, I think, you know, I can't speak to Semaphore's current strategy. Of course, you know, I was an integral member of the founding team there, and I, I learned a lot from Justin and Ben and the incredible team that they've built.

But at S's, you know, we see events as part of a, a growth flywheel, and so every part of what we do feeds into this bigger ecosystem. So events are, yes, a important part of that, but the events also feed our subscription business, and then the subscription business turns around and feeds our advertising business. And so everything kind of fuels the business and propels it forward. And so we're not just a events company that produces a magazine.

We actually are an editorial brand first and foremost, and that editorial ethos comes to life through different activations and through different partnerships and through different mediums, and all of that feeds it onto each other. So when we think about- How we showed up in Miami, for example, we didn't just throw a block party. We grounded that in authentic storytelling about the history of racing and the history of car culture in Miami. So when you walked into our event and you saw the, the 1972 Scout II, you know, the person, the owner of that car was stood right next to it, interacting with guests, talking to them about their personal relationship and their personal history with that car.

And we had, you know, big 30-foot timelines around the venue talking about the history of car culture in the city and the evolution of racing in Miami and what it means for the Grand Prix to now come into the city. So storytelling is still very much at the core of what we do, and we don't necessarily see events as just, you know, the core to what we do, and the, the magazine is the front to it. You know, everything is integrated, and everything is part of this growth flywheel.

Mm-hmm. So you're quarterly with the magazine, yeah? Correct, yeah. And, and then you have a newsletter.

Weekly. Weekly. Okay. I guess what I get it is like, is like how...

When I say, like, the role of the, the content, I don't, I don't mean to say that the activations don't have content. Every activation- Yeah... has some kind of thing. But what I mean is what is the role of the sort of journalism in it, right?

Because I think one of the challenges I, I feel like within this industry is that in a lot of parts of it, the role of the journalism changes, right? Like, it almost becomes a feature of a larger thing, right? And that is different in a, in a lot of constructs. You're a little younger than me, I would just...

But, like, [chuckles] you know, the people who went to work for magazines, they were like, they worked for magazines, man. They was like- Right... they didn't wanna write for the internet. [laughs] Like, they're like, "No, no, no, no, I'm a magazine," like, right.

Right, right. And I just think it's, it's different now, and also how you, how you end up investing in these kinds of businesses is, is different. And by that I mean it's like how you make your spending decisions. Because you'll be looking at a balance sheet and you, or you'll be looking at, you know, open up QuickBooks and you're like, "Oh, okay, like I'm making the majority of my money off of activations at the end of the day."

Yes, there's advertising that's part of it and we weave it in, it's all flywheel, et cetera. But, you know, I don't know, it's just a difficult balance because, like, at the end of the day, I'm pretty sure... Oh, how, tell me if I'm wrong here, but most of the revenue is gonna come from whatever you do around these, these, these different in-person activations. Well, I think actually the advantage we have is that we are a truly diversified model, and we haven't put all of our eggs into one basket in that sense with the events business.

Of course, they're an important part of our growth strategy, and we do generate revenue from them. But our direct-to-consumer business through our subscription is also rapidly growing and contributes significantly to our bottom line. Our content studio, you know, the branded content that we put out with partners, the custom publishing that we do is also a significant driver of our business. And so we do, when we look at the balance sheet, actually see parity across these different channels of our growth, and it makes it easy for me from a business decision-maker perspective to invest across the board and especially into the content, because that's ultimately what's building our brand.

That's ultimately what's attracting audiences to Esses, and that's what's building our credibility in the space. It's off the backs of the editorial product that we are able to convene and activate at these Grand Prix. So it's not that, you know, we're funneling all this money into our events business because the content is an afterthought. It, it's truly a, a, a growth flywheel.

And I know that's a bit of a, I don't know, a overused turn of phrase in the media industry, but it's something we're very intentional about and we've actually seen play out in our business model. Yeah. So how much of s- of the revenue is, is subscriptions then? I mean, you sell like quarterly at 30 and annual at 100.

100. For a niche, for a niche magazine, yeah, I, I don't think you're gonna get, like that's, you know, that's not gonna be the, the majority of revenue, I would guess. Well, there's 829 million Formula 1 fans in the whole world. It's one of the largest sports in the whole world in terms of fandom.

So I do see tremendous opportunity in building our subscription business. And we do know that 60% of new F1 fans want to consume a piece of F1 content daily. And when we see the subscription, you know, we're actually investing quite a bit this year to expand it beyond to, you know, beyond just being a quarterly magazine that appears on your doorstep four times a year. We're thinking about it as a true membership with touchpoints across our digital ecosystem, touchpoints across our events, and really something that people can participate throughout the year.

So I wouldn't discount the subscription as, as something that will actually be a real driver of our growth over time. A- another niche publication that I take a lot of inspiration from in this regard is The Golfer's Journal. You know, they- Mm-hmm... have built a brand around the golfing community, and The Golfer's Journal is a subscription-first business.

They have done an incredible job, you know, through their Broken Tee Society, building a robust subscription business that, from what I understand, is a eight-figure plus subscription business. So I think there is opportunity, especially when you're building around a niche and a highly engaged niche, to build direct-to-consumer revenue models, and that's something I think that we're doing and, and can be quite innovative in the long term. But, you know, right now our business is definitely biased- Okay...

towards our advertising- Yeah... side of the equation, but that's something I hope- Well, look, before, but you're, you're building the distribution. I mean, the thing with events is, like, y- revenue can get ahead of distribution with events. Most media- Right...

you have to build distribution The typical timeframe for launching a magazine to making a profit is a good four years. Like- Minimum... I mean, you have to, you have to burn through a lot of money with magazines to store. I mean, some of them, look at Portfolio, how much money they- Right...

burned through. [laughs] It's a blast from the past. But with events- Right... you can sort of, you know, you can flip that on its head.

I think the, the danger ends up being that, yeah, you become an events company with, with a magazine. Again, nothing wrong with it, just- Nothing wrong with that... depends on what you wanna build. But I think you have a stronger business, and I guess I, maybe me as, like, a content guy, I'm more, I'm more biased to, you know, if you can build out a...

And look, it doesn't have to be content, but, like, membership is, like, a really powerful thing. I think Golfers Journal is a great, great example of that. Yeah, I mean, they're, they're a great bunch and, and definitely someone we, we take inspiration for. But yeah, I mean, the business has been growing at a fast clip at, at S's.

You know, we're projecting to be in the multiple seven figures of revenue this year. We're actually profitable in Q2 this year, and we're hoping to be profitable on an annual basis in 2027. And so we've seen that the fundamentals of this business are quite strong and quite secure, and that's something that I'm very excited about as we look to accelerate our growth significantly- Mm-hmm... over the next 12 months.

Multiple seven figures, that means two million is [laughs] I won't share any specifics, but we're, you know, we can, we can say it's higher than, than two million. Because if it was three million, it would be mid-six, mid-seven figure. [laughs] I don't know, you know, you know, there's a bunch of different ways you can contextualize these things, but yeah, you know, I'm not at liberty to, to share any specifics. But, you know, we're really proud of where we are as a business.

So who are the ad partners? Like, who are you target- You're not targeting, like, I don't... I would guess you wanna get into the luxury sort of high-end, but it, it seems like you got logos from a lot of different, like Cash App and lots of different people. Yeah.

So we've been able to kind of run the gamut of, you know, consumer brands like Cash App, but then also high-end luxury fashion brands as well. So TAG Heuer is one of our advertisers. You know, we worked with JP Morgan Private Bank. You know, we've also hit some core B2B verticals like DP World, which is a freight forwarder that sponsors the McLaren team and also- Oh...

sponsors the DP World Golf Tour in Europe, advertised with us. And so I think because we have this very unique audience of high net worth individuals, you know, who are decision-makers, but also people who are curious about culture, we've been able to actually bring a very wide net of folks into our umbrella when it comes to partnerships and advertising. So does that make it harder? 'Cause there's not, like, is, what is the endemic advertiser?

Is it just these are people who have already determined they're already spending on F1, right? Like, or are they not? Yeah. So we, so we have basically put advertisers into two different buckets.

Either there are brands like TAG Heuer who are already spending big in Formula 1 and are looking to plus up their activations in Formula 1 through media, through storytelling, and through activations, or there are brands who are not yet in F1 but are looking for ways to align with the sport. And typically, you know, you either throw your logo on a car, you have a personal sponsorship with a driver, or you sponsor F1 writ large, and those are very, very large, you know, talking 10, 20, 30 million plus dollar deals.

And so for brands looking to align with the space, you know, dipping their toes into F1, S's also provides a slightly more accessible opportunity for them to do that, you know? I think about the, the Gucci announcement that came out two days ago where they have just been announced as the new title sponsor for the Alpine Formula 1 team. I mean, that's rumored to be $150 million deal. So the barrier to entry for brands can be quite high in F1 if you produce, if you, sorry, follow the traditional routes.

And I think that's, again, the opportunity that we have as a media player because we're, we're a true first mover in this space. I mean, there's no one else, Brian, who's building for this audience in the way that we are, and that's bringing the sophisticated media operation to the table. And so brands are actually coming to us saying, "Hey, we've been looking for places to advertise in F1," or, "We've been looking for places to expand our partnership that's already existing with F1, and you guys are the only media property in order for us to do that."

So we've been able to capture a real first mover's advantage in that regard. Yeah. And I feel like with a lot of these categories, you can be more, you can be, like, a more accessible entry point for- Exactly... you know, for, for some brands.

'Cause it do- like you said, like, particularly with F1, like, everything, everything gets super expensive. Like, I think the, like- Very expensive, very fast... clubs in Miami start to sell, like, bottle service for, like, $10,000 or whatever. 10 grand, yeah.

I know that's a lot. [laughs] No, no, I, I, I've never bought bottle service, but I know it's cheaper than 10 grand most weekends. But during F1 Miami or F1 Las Vegas, I mean, you see, I mean, a, a great anecdote is in 2023, Las Vegas hosted both the Super Bowl and the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, and I think the Super Bowl generated somewhere between 6 to 700 million in economic impact and revenues for the city of Las Vegas. But F1 put out data suggesting that the Grand Prix generated north of $1 billion in economic revenues and benefits for the city.

So it really is a engine unlike any other. I mean, the Super Bowl is the largest sporting event in America, and to think that the first Grand Prix, the first year in Las Vegas outstripped the Super Bowl really puts it into context how much money is flowing in this ecosystem. What, what are other sort of media brands that, I mean, as like a first-time founder, like who, what other media brands do you sort of take inspiration from or notes from? Well, we've, we've talked about a few of them already.

You know, the Golfer's Journal- Mm-hmm... Monocle, Racket magazine. You know, I thought it was very interesting how BDG has also relaunched the print issue of Nylon and is bringing print back with that brand. But ultimately, you know, where I take a lot of positive inspiration from other folks, I think what we're doing is novel in many ways and innovative.

And so I try to think about where I want the brand to be in 10 years and, and use that as a role model for myself today to think about how we can grow this and how we can push the envelope. But I have a lot of respect for different founders in the industry, you know, and it's worth mentioning again how much I learned from the team at Semafor as well during my time there. You know, Justin is a very innovative media thinker, and I think his specialty is really in building robust global events platforms, and that's something that I learned a lot from and absorbed a lot from working with him.

But yeah, I'm, I'm very proud of what we've built, and I, I hope that, you know, we can inspire a new generation of media leaders through what we're doing as well, because the industry is changing rapidly and it's changing with every day and, and I think we can't just take what folks have done in the past and assume that'll work in the future. Yeah. So how many pe- like, do you... I'm just wondering what the kind of KPIs are for this kind of business.

Like, 'cause like, for me, like I, I track very closely, like audience activation rate. Like, how many people- Mm-hmm... in the audience end up taking an action and, and becoming participants, come to a mixer- Right... come to a dinner, et cetera.

Do you... How do you think about that? I think audience activation rate is one of the central KPIs for us. I think also beyond just their activation to showing up to one of our events in person, I think about how many people moving through our funnel eventually subscribe to the magazine.

That's another big KPI for us. I also think about our partnership slate, and I think about where we're showing up with partners, how we're showing up with partners, and what kind of brands that we attract. But, you know, when I talk to investors, the two things that they're most interested in is really understanding how many subscribers we have, where those subscribers are located, who those subscribers are, and also, you know, who our partners are and whether we're able to build recurring relationships with them, you know, and truly think about year-long or two-year-long campaigns where we're integrating- Yeah...

ourselves into their F1 strategy broadly and not just, you know, getting a one-off partnership here or a one-off partnership there. Yeah. So you raised a little bit of money, right? Talk to me about that.

Yeah, we did. What, you know, a little bit of a checkered history of media companies raising money, but you didn't raise just a crazy amount. Yeah, we didn't, we didn't raise a, a boatload of money. You know, we started the company with a friends and family round, you know, a very modest sum, and we actually bootstrapped the company through 2024 and 2025 off the backs of that friends and family round and the revenue that we had generated.

But in Q1 of this year, we raised a major financing round. We had some big strategic investors come in from the motorsport world and also from the media world as well. Again, I, you know, don't wanna dis- you know, disclose any specifics, but you can say it's in the multiple seven figures, and you know what that number means. [laughs] She'll keep going back to multi- [laughs] Yeah...

multiple seven figures. Exactly. I'll have to, I'll have to bug Anonymous Banker to see if I can get more color out of you. [laughs] Well, that's good.

I mean, so do you think that that's the only, like... 'Cause, I mean, you mentioned being profitable in Q2. One, one, at one point, Jo- I laugh because, like, Jonah Peretti, I remember one time, like, doing a podcast with him. He's like, "We were profitable at one point last year."

I was like, "Which day, Jonah?" [laughs] But, like, do, do you... Because I think the way you build these businesses is, is different now than before, and, you know, it's not like going from, necessarily from Series A to Series B to Series C and, and, and that. Like, how do you think about financing the business?

Is, is the goal get as self-sufficient as quickly as possible? I think, I think profitability is something we're absolutely building towards, and we wanna build a sustainable and fundamentally healthy business. You know, we don't wanna pursue growth at all scale where the fundamentals are so upside down that we constantly need to be injecting capital into this business for it to remain viable. That being said, you know, I wouldn't be doing my job as a, as a founder and as a leader to this company if I didn't go where the strategic needs of the company lead us.

And so we're not- Yeah... closing ourselves off to anything in the future, nor are we saying we're gonna raise money at this time at this date, because ultimately, it really depends on what the needs of the business are at that time and whether an infusion of capital will help us accelerate growth or whether it will just hamper growth. I do think there will be a time in the future where we will raise additional money as the company continues to grow and accelerate its growth, but for me, it's about timing that in the most strategic way possible.

Yeah. And I think that's one of the things with an activations business, and tell me if yours is different, it's like you gotta put up a lot of money to, like, get [laughs] like, before you get money. You can co- collect the money usually, I hope you do, before you actually- Yeah... put on the event, but you still got massive out- outgoing before you have incoming.

It's absolutely- I'm thinking about the canned mixer. [laughs] Yeah, yeah. I've already paid for all these cocktails and canapes- [laughs]... and it's a lot of freaking euros, I gotta say, but go on.

No, it's true. I mean, every event comes with a significant production cost and, you know, one thing that I've been very deliberate about is building these events with the margin in mind. So with every single activation, we've been profitable against that activation. You know, we'll never do an event in the red because that's not how you build a sustainable, and that's not how you build a healthy business.

Yeah. So, you know- Just what kind of margins do you look for? Do, what, what do you... Because I think it, it's totally different from B2B to B to S- B2C.

Like, I, I'm always surprised 'cause people always wanna talk about events at, at our salons and mixers and whatnot and, and dinners and breakfasts, and there's such a divide between... And that's just the sectors. That's why I like B2B is, like, the B2B margins on events are l- are way higher. They're, like, triple what people w- would be getting on the lifestyle side.

100%. I mean, B2B margins are definitely much higher than margins on the B2C side, and I think that's comes down to ultimately the production footprint. You know, B2C events require a much higher production lift, and oftentimes the partners that you're working with have very sophisticated standards for how their brand want, you know, is to show up in the real world. You know, they have very particular ways that they want to engage consumers.

And so naturally there's, there's higher fixed costs associated with those kinds of events than a thought leadership summit, you know, where you're throwing a journalist on stage in conversation with someone else. So it's really a case-by-case basis for us. You know, we think about the geography that we're activating in. Some are more expensive than others.

You know, when we're in the countryside in the UK activating around Silverstone, that's- But you can, you can, you can give me a blended rate. It's okay. We'll, we'll do that. That's all right.

So our blended margin a- across our events business is typically 35 to 40%. So, you know, we optimize- Okay, so that's better. That's better than, than I, I was hearing at these, these breakfast forums. Yeah.

You know, we... We're really, really proud with how we've built this business, you know, and again, it comes down to, to fundamentals. You know, we're not building this as a vanity project. You know, we're building this as a healthy, sustainable business at its core, and so that's something we've been very mindful for at the, at the get-go.

All right. So final thing is what are, w- what are your priorities for the rest of the year for S? So we've got a couple exciting things coming up down the pike. I think as I was mentioning to you before we started recording, we're launching issue six of the magazine next week.

We've got Arvid Lindblad, who's an up-and-coming rising star in the F1 paddock, on the cover. We shot him in Tokyo. We've got issue seven coming out in the fall and issue eight coming out in the winter. I won't disclose who we got on the covers for those, but just know we've got some big names from the F1 grid on those covers too.

We're relaunching our website and our newsletter in the next coming weeks and really expanding our content footprint digitally. Later this summer into the fall, we'll be launching a podcast as well with our editor at large, Tony Cowan Brown. That's something we're very, very excited about because we're really building a podcast that is different than every other podcast in this landscape, and we're really extending our editorial strategy into the podcast realm by weaving together voices from inside F1, outside of F1, culture, fashion, technology, to create a lineup of guests that I think people will be really excited to hear from and to see.

And then we're gonna be expanding our events platforms. You know, last year in Austin, we had a tentpole event called S' Bazaar. This year we'll be doing that again. We'll be expanding it to a multiple day platform, so we'll be activating across all three days during the Grand Prix.

It's gonna be a big moment in Austin. Definitely something if you're in town for the race, I would encourage you to come by. And then, you know, we're looking to 2027 and, and international expansion beyond that. I mean, already we have S's readers in 81 different countries, and we've done events on five out of the seven continents, but I just wanna expand the energy, and I wanna really channel our growth internationally.

I mean, US is an incredible market for us, but Asia, there's also so much opportunity for us- Yeah... there in Europe, in the Middle East, in, you know, the Spanish-speaking world, in Central and South America. So I really see S as a global brand, and I think the next 12 months will be about really cementing those global bonafides. But you're not, you're not shipping to these 81 countries, are you?

Oh, yeah, we are. Oh, wow. Yeah. That must be a complicated thing.

We've... [laughs] Yeah. The, the duties, the duties and taxes behind that is definitely complicated. But yeah, we have subscribers in 81 different countries around the world.

I don't even think Monocle has it figured out after, like, 30 years or so. I mean, they're, they're, like, sending... I got, like, an issue that it came with a little QR code. It's like, "Tell us, tell us when you got your, your issue," 'cause [laughs] I think they're just worried- [laughs]...

sure it gets shipped from somewhere in Switzerland or something, and very difficult. And also getting stocked. I mean, the reality is there are not that many magazine stores anymore. Now, I, I think that the New York City, like, should...

You should have to cover a certain amou- have a certain amount of media products in your, quote-unquote, news kiosk. It literally says news kiosk- Right... on these sidewalk things, and they don't have any printed material whatsoever. Take the sign off.

It's been- Take the license from them. [laughs] Right. It's interesting. I mean, the, the traditional magazine distribution industry has really been decimated in so many regards.

I mean, the economics of distributing your magazine, how you make money off of a newsstand, I mean, it's a dying business. And so for us, we don't necessarily think about newsstand first when we think about distribution. We really focus on being in the curated boutique stores- Right... like the Casa magazines as a trade.

You gotta be in Casa though. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Yeah, yeah. [laughs] You gotta be in Casa.

Yeah. We love- That's all you got, like, in... But in Europe they've got more. They've got, like, you know, coffee- Much more...

and magazines, mag culture. Mm-hmm. They got all these- Mm-hmm... little twee...

Milan alone has, like, a few that I've gone to. I mean, I guess Puck now is operating some through airmail, which is kind of funny- Right... 'cause airmail never did a magazine. Well, they have the, the retail storefronts, so.

Yeah. No, but it's been very exciting to see the global growth. I mean, we, we have a subscriber in, in Hong Kong even, you know, and I just, I just always get so fascinated to think about how that person discovered our magazine and, and it does take a while for S's to get shipped to Hong Kong, but it, it does make it there and- Yeah... there's so many tools that we can leverage now, you know, e-commerce tools, pieces of software that help streamline the global distribution and global logistics process.

So, you know, we're, we're very lucky to be running this business in, in 2026 as compared to 2006. All right. I just... Well, thank you for this.

I hope, I hope to, to see you in a, in a paddock at some point- Absolutely... and, and see these activations. Well, I hope to see you in Cannes, and I, I hope to see you at our next S's event. But thank you for having me and, and really enjoyed the conversation today.

Yeah. It's great. Thanks. Thanks.