Nieman has an article on a nonprofit local news startup in Wichita. It’s failing quickly, and the reasons are not mysterious.
1. The Wichita paper was a branch of a more successful paper in KC, and the management in KC thought they should be handled the same way. I’ve lived in both cities. Wichita is The West, KC is The East. Wichita is oil, wheat, and aircraft, strongly connected to other oil and wheat cities. KC is NYC. No local connections, historically interested in finance and art** and culture, now turning to high-tech. You can’t handle both places the same way.
2. The management was focused on pleasing the venture capitalists and foundations who provided the startup grants. They didn’t need customers, and didn’t do anything to gain and keep customers. They didn’t even want employees, and drove the best employees off.
Gaining and keeping customers is equally non-secret. Offer a product people want. RESPECT the customers. If they have complaints, ASK them what’s wrong, LISTEN to the answer, and try to improve the product or the sales method. “Journalists” have failed all of those steps for 40 years. They’re incorrigible. They deserve to fail.
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** Art: KC’s iconic industry is Hallmark Cards. Wichita’s iconic industry is Boeing.
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