The Great Media Arbitrage: How Craig Fuller Built FreightWaves

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9M ago 1:56:49

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Craig Fuller is the Founder and CEO of FreightWaves, a media company and data provider for the global supply chain. He’s also the CEO of Flying Media Group, which he founded in 2021 to acquire Flying Magazine, the largest US-based print magazine for the aviation industry. This conversation is split into three parts: a crash course on logistics and supply chains, how to build and run a media company, and finally all things print magazines.
Topics discussed include:

(00:00) Intro
(02:39) Why logistics is the most important industry no one talks about
(04:23) The rise of deglobalization
(11:07) How Colombia benefits from US manufacturing
(14:52) Why Craig’s watching US onshoring and Mexican nearshoring
(18:18) How the supply chain function is changing
(28:59) The US labor availability problem
(32:40) Why AI will never fully replace humans in media
(34:56) The early days of FreightWaves
(41:04) Predicting recessions months before it shows up in data
(48:51) Why logistics is the best barometer of the global economy
(52:44) Taking 12+ months to raise FreightWaves first venture round
(59:24) Surviving COVID with only two months of runway
(01:05:20) How FreightWaves accidentally became a media business
(01:08:15) Why the best startups make low risk, high upside decisions
(01:13:27) Why media business are the arbitrage opportunity this decade
(01:15:55) Getting 200%+ IRR’s buying print magazines, starting with flying
(01:17:50) Building his own airport and flying community
(01:30:16) Almost failing to turnaround his first magazine acquisition
(01:39:06) His non-intuitive lessons from building media businesses
(01:43:39) Craig’s favorite media businesses
(01:48:50) How to build a brand in media

Referenced:

https://www.freightwaves.com/

https://www.flyingmag.com/

Where to find Craig:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FreightAlley

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/incab

Where to find Turner:

Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

Banana Capital: https://bananacapital.vc

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