Media Innovation Matters

by: Adreana Young

When Corey Ford first came to Silicon Valley, Calif. eight years ago he learned one thing—the importance of failure. Ford took that lesson and is now applying it to Matter, a San Francisco-based media start-up accelerator.

Matter partners traditional and distinguished media organizations with start-up entrepreneurs to create better, more efficient journalism.

The lesson Ford learned in Silicon Valley: To fail forward; meaning, to be willing to show unfinished work, good or bad, and to collaborate with partners and colleagues to generate better ideas and products.

However, in media, Ford said failure wasn’t an option.

“Even the word failure in the media industry makes people cringe. Nobody wants to show their work until it’s finished, (but) sharing imperfect hypothesis and prototypes is the key to success,” said Ford, who serves as managing partner of Matter.

It is that key that is opening doors for Matter and the start-up entrepreneurs it supports.

In February, Matter announced four new media partners, The Associated Press, The McClatchy Co. and A.H. Belo Corp. who joined founding partners KQED Public Media for Northern Calif., the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Public Radio Exchange. According to a press release, for each selected company, Matter provides seed capital of $50,000 and an intensive, five-month program at its San Francisco headquarters for budding entrepreneurs to refine their business plans, develop prototypes, work collaboratively with other entrepreneurs, and learn from leaders in media and technology.

Matter puts promising media start-ups in front of news organizations to brainstorm, fail and succeed together. This is why A.H. Belo decided to partner with Matter, said Jim Moroney, chairman, president and chief executive officer for A.H. Belo Corp. and publisher of The Dallas Morning News.

Moroney said media companies have to be innovative today, and Matter gives Belo, a company that has been around since 1842, first-hand experience with entrepreneurs who are developing ways for consumers to engage with journalism.

“I am a big believer in trying to stay with your core competencies and when other competencies are needed, you look for partners,” he said. “We need both a greater culture of innovation and a way to get more closely acquainted with what is being done with technology and its interaction with journalism. Partnering with Matter gives us both of these.”

Since Matter first started two years ago, Ford said they have always focused on the entrepreneurs, and the media companies have come to them. He said that their media partners are the ones in the industry who are embracing the changes in today’s media and “leaning heavily into this experience.”

Although Matter’s growth has been very bottom-up, Ford said, it’s been organic. He fully expects to bring in more media partners and believes the company will only continue to grow.

For more information, visit matter.vc.