Sure. It's funny. I almost ended up doing something in this space (mix of content and monetization). If it weren't for Andres pushing me + attending startupweekend, i'd be doing something here instead of Cloudomatic. Some verticals I identified:
- Casual geeks. People who want to know what we know, but just don't have the time + know geeky tricks.
- Urban demographic. It's valuable and something overlooked in the tech space. Why do you think all of those things trend on twitter with weird hashtags? It's because of the urban demographic.
- Family living. People want tips for better family living. It's also a valuable demographic.
- College focused. Do .edu email addresses only and segment by city. This is how facebook got started and college humor spread. It's highly viral and highly valuable. Think financial companies paying for a dedicated email to 100k college kids with good editorial content.
- Male fitness. Sort of mens health meets GQ. Fashion, sex, fitness,money,etc. Women often get all the love here when it comes to content online, but this is a gaping hole. If you've ever picked up a fitness magazine, you would know advertisers spend a ton here.
I think there's more. I'd start with either the first one or last one. If you end up doing one of those, I'd love to help in some way possible.
Do you think there is room for something targeting the entrepreneurial demographic? (if there is such a thing) I'm not talking just startups but small biz types of which there are many. The problem is that the group is heterogeneous but would seem to be valuable to advertisers if there was content the group valued.
On another note, I've heard newsletters by some big established media outlets, Forbes, Fast Company, etc charge $250 per thousand subscribers. Seems absurd but what we were quoted once for an ad placement in of their newsletters.
Small-medium sized business owners are worth a lot of money. I think there's a ton of room there. I've thought about that demo as well. You'd really have to keep it tight.
In our experience, once you hit above 50k subscribers it starts to get the attention of advertisers. Also important is how long you have been doing it for, it takes time to build up trust.
Great post with some really great points in the comments as well. There are a TON of upstarts in this space and some already target the areas you've mentioned. Of particular note is Startup Digest (www.thestartupdigest.com), which already has thousands of subscribers and an established presence in tons of cities. At the moment, they send out a weekly newsletter with startup events in each city. Definitely worth subscribing to if you're an entrepreneur.
- Casual geeks. People who want to know what we know, but just don't have the time + know geeky tricks.
- Urban demographic. It's valuable and something overlooked in the tech space. Why do you think all of those things trend on twitter with weird hashtags? It's because of the urban demographic.
- Family living. People want tips for better family living. It's also a valuable demographic.
- College focused. Do .edu email addresses only and segment by city. This is how facebook got started and college humor spread. It's highly viral and highly valuable. Think financial companies paying for a dedicated email to 100k college kids with good editorial content.
- Male fitness. Sort of mens health meets GQ. Fashion, sex, fitness,money,etc. Women often get all the love here when it comes to content online, but this is a gaping hole. If you've ever picked up a fitness magazine, you would know advertisers spend a ton here.
I think there's more. I'd start with either the first one or last one. If you end up doing one of those, I'd love to help in some way possible.