Kaizar Campwala recently join Al Jazeera in San Francisco, where he is launching a new, audio-focused media brand later this year. He came to Al Jazeera from CALmatters, which he helped develop from an idea to a fully-funded operation as president and co-founder. CALmatters is a Sacramento-based reporting venture focused on explaining the policy and politics of California state government. Previously, Campwala was the director of content and partnerships at Stitcher, then the leading independent mobile podcast app, and managing editor of NewsTrust, a news aggregator focused on crowdsourcing authoritative journalism. He began his career developing communications solutions for the city of New York. He stays involved in local news as a board member at the San Francisco Public Press, and helps to cultivate entrepreneurship in news media as a mentor at the accelerator Matter. He earned an A.B. from Brown University in political science, and a master's from UCLA.

1. Or what the success of AJ+ can
teach us about being humble
and succeeding in distribution
A Tale of Two Startups

3. Brain

4. Idea
The “standard” model
Product
Market
Fit

5. $$$

6. Intermission

7. Audience
Scale
Open Future

8. The “AJ+” model
Product
Market
Fit

9. Authentic
Experimental
Fast

10. Example

11. The Challenges and Opportunities for AJ+
• User data is limited Owned platform (e.g.,web/app)
VoD?
Audio• Little audience retention / brand loyalty
• Over-dependence on platforms

12. Thank you
(And please come talk to me. I’m hiring)