I've been saying for a while now that for outside.in,
2009 has been the year of building platforms. We spent the first months
of the year building out our Outside.in For Publishers platform, which
is now used by more than a hundred news organizations around the
country. This fall, we brought our core site over onto a new, lightning-fast architecture that enabled true geographic search. And now, this
morning the Wall Street Journal is running the news that we've just
closed a $7 million B round that gives us a financial platform for the
next few years.
But the most exciting part of the announcement is the participation of CNN, who are both investing in the round and adopting the outside.in platform for their local coverage on CNN.com. Having such a respected news organization as a partner and investor is obviously a big deal for us. Specifically, it's a vote of confidence in the platform we've built at outside.in, but perhaps more important it's an endorsement of hyperlocal and the ecosystem model of news that many of us have been championing for years now. I've been hugely impressed with KC Estenson and the whole CNN.com team through this process; they really have a great gasp of what we're trying to do, and a wealth of experience that we have already begun to benefit from. I think it must be in their corporate DNA -- after all, they wrote the original book on entrepreneurial journalism and news aggregation thirty years ago.
Our CEO Mark Josephson and I have been working on this financing and partnership for five months now, so personally this morning is an exciting milestone for me. Having spent the year building a platform for the hyperlocal economy, I can't wait to see what gets built on top of that platform in 2010. If you'd like to help, we have a long list of open positions at outside.in that we are actively filling; the full list is here.
But the most exciting part of the announcement is the participation of CNN, who are both investing in the round and adopting the outside.in platform for their local coverage on CNN.com. Having such a respected news organization as a partner and investor is obviously a big deal for us. Specifically, it's a vote of confidence in the platform we've built at outside.in, but perhaps more important it's an endorsement of hyperlocal and the ecosystem model of news that many of us have been championing for years now. I've been hugely impressed with KC Estenson and the whole CNN.com team through this process; they really have a great gasp of what we're trying to do, and a wealth of experience that we have already begun to benefit from. I think it must be in their corporate DNA -- after all, they wrote the original book on entrepreneurial journalism and news aggregation thirty years ago.
Our CEO Mark Josephson and I have been working on this financing and partnership for five months now, so personally this morning is an exciting milestone for me. Having spent the year building a platform for the hyperlocal economy, I can't wait to see what gets built on top of that platform in 2010. If you'd like to help, we have a long list of open positions at outside.in that we are actively filling; the full list is here.
