In 2014, Nicholas Carlson was on book leave from Business Insider — where he’d been chief correspondent and global editor-in-chief — when he got the idea for his new venture, Dynamo. He was on Twitter (now X), watching NPR’s David Folkenflik break the news that The New York Times had fired Jill Abramson.
“Instead of writing an article, he used what we used to call a ‘tweet storm,’ a long thread of tweets that got tons of readership,” Carlson recalled. “I was sitting there thinking, he doesn’t need a website to share what he’s learned and tell a great story. And in the moment, I saw the future of journalism beyond where we currently publish — often, websites. You actually need to be where people are.”
Around the same time, “Ice Bucket Challenge” videos began circulating on social media to raise awareness of ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Carlson marveled at how popular and shareable they were and started thinking about video. His first practical experience in video journalism came in 2015 when Business Insider began producing auto-play videos for its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels.
“We made a big shift to YouTube in 2018 and began telling more sophisticated and cinematic stories,” he said.
Video became the foundation for his 2024 startup’s publishing proposition. Carlson serves as Dynamo’s CEO, editor-in-chief and production assistant.
“Video is the most evocative and effective — and, at least, the most popular — storytelling medium in human history,” Carlson said.
“There are publications and companies doing business journalism well on video,” he said. “I came from a shop that I’m proud of. They do a lot of great work at Business Insider, and so does CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and a bunch of others.” Carlson plans to distinguish Dynamo by the quality of the storytelling and by virtue of video being Dynamo’s exclusive focus.
“Our first series is called ‘Business explains the world,’ and each episode is 12 to 18 minutes long,” Carlson explained.
He offered one example of the types of stories they’ll produce: How ships navigate the tumultuous North Sea.
“Ships are able to go through 10-story waves. Why? How? It turns out there’s a lot of tragic history of death and destruction on the sea. But global innovation and trade — collaboration across the entire planet — made it much safer. … These are real-world observations about things people are curious about and are highly visual. We follow our curiosity to figure out why things are the way they are, and the answer is, pretty much always, because of business.”
Dynamo raised $3.5 million in seed money. “We are now spending it,” he said. They are planning to run lean, with a small group of full-timers, supplemented by freelance videographers, video editors and producers. Launching in Q2 2025, they’ll initially leverage YouTube and LinkedIn. Revenue will come from advertising — some direct sales but largely generated through ad revenue-sharing with the platforms. In time, they’ll likely move to a subscription model.
“When you’re building a startup, it’s like the Big Bang just happened. There’s a giant cloud that someday is going to be a solar system. Things swirl around and bang into each other, and eventually, it starts to become a coherent system that makes sense,” Carlson said. “That’s where we are. We’re turning into planets and moons, figuring out how everything works together. But we’re quickly moving forward making videos. We have a bunch in development already.”
Dynamo’s CEO added, “We want to deliver great sound, great cinematography, great rhythmic editing that elicits emotions and leaves you feeling educated — slightly, subtly, not boringly — educated.”
Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here