What I learned co-founding Vox

Talent is scarce, training is hard, and the competition is smarter than you want them to be

New episode of Bad Takes is out about fossil fuel advertising in the media.

I mentioned recently to former Book Club guest Brad DeLong that I needed some fresh ideas, and he suggested writing about what I learned from my time co-founding and working at Vox.com.

To revisit that period of my life is to revisit a time when I learned an enormous amount about myself, business, friendship, and everything else, so much so that I can hardly conceptualize it. I’ve approached the subject with trepidation that anything I try to say will spiral into a sprawling epic the length of Moby Dick. But it’s a subject that’s been rattling around my head for a long time, and I recently gained some clarity when I mentioned offhandedly to a younger journalist that I thought I’d failed with Vox and she was surprised because Vox is still there, running articles and putting out podcasts and employing lots of people. And while I don’t love every Vox article, they are producing a lot of great stuff like Rachel Co…