The AMO Show

Paul Miller, CEO of Questex, leads a B2B media-and-events company focused on life sciences, healthcare, wellness, tech, and hospitality. He discusses why Questex is cutting events to focus on quality, the mixed media-and-events model, M&A timing and strategy heading into 2026, vertical organization and growth areas like life sciences and streaming, plus balancing scale with intimacy at events.

Devin Emery, President of Morning Brew and media operator with video and streaming roots, recounts steering a newsletter into a creator-led multimedia business. He discusses restructuring creative teams and launching Morning Brew Daily. Conversations cover creator partnerships, monetization, first-party data, profitability, and the path to $100M.

Episode SummaryJacob sits down with Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of Firecrown — a media holding company built around legacy print brands including Flying, Boating, Trains, Model Railroader, and Astronomy, alongside the B2B data powerhouse FreightWaves. In a candid, wide-ranging conversation, Craig pulls back the curtain on the bruising lessons of rapid M&A, the founder's rock-bottom moment that changed everything, and why he believes owning audiences — not renting them — is the ultimate media business model.What We CoverHow Firecrown was born — Craig's journey from launching FreightWaves as a venture-backed freight data company to spinning out its media arm and rolling it into a print magazine empireThe 2025 reckoning — What happened when Craig did 20 acquisitions in 3 years and the infrastructure cracked under the weightThe marine business miscalculation — How buying Active Interest Media's marine portfolio the week before a 20% revenue drop forecast exposed deep operational blind spotsGoing "founder mode" — The Saturday Craig didn't get off the couch, and how a podcast with his dad snapped him out of itThe $9.2M cost cut — How Craig got ruthless from July onward and slashed nearly $10M in expenses in the second half of 2025Why salespeople tied to brands — not companies — is a massive problem in media roll-upsThe Sonar data business — Why FreightWaves is "the Bloomberg of freight" and what it will take to get to a $50–100M ARR exitThe "Bloomberg Option" — The clever deal structure that keeps FreightWaves media and data separate but reversible for future buyersPath to $1B in revenue by 2030 — The compounding math behind Firecrown's acquisition strategy and why Craig's family office financing is a cheat codeAI in media — but not where you think — Why the real opportunity isn't content generation, it's back-office automationVibe coding as an operational superpower — How Craig's team built an internal contributor management app in a week using Replit, saving $1.8M annuallyThe secret teaser: a "Landman for trucking" — Craig hints at a Hollywood-style freight drama series in the worksKey TakeawaysOn acquisitions without a playbook: "We were opportunistic, but we didn't have a system for buying businesses and integrating them. We let these businesses run on their own. That creates a lot of cultural problems and resentment."On working in vs. on the business: "All too often we work in the company and not on the company. You're afraid of admitting your business has problems. You have to get outside of it and realize it."On AI and media: "Everyone talks about AI replacing editorial. I don't think that's where the opportunity is. The opportunity is in the back office — the operating systems that encompass all these technologies."On the unit economics of scale: "At $2M in revenue, the best case is you pay yourself. You don't start to get economies of scale until about $10M top line."On patient capital: "The limitation is ultimately: can we execute, and can we finance it? Those are the only two things that hold any business back from growth."About Craig FullerCraig Fuller is the founder and CEO of Firecrown, a media holding company that owns enthusiast print and digital brands across aviation, marine, trains, and astronomy. He is also founder of FreightWaves, a B2B freight data and media company often called "the Bloomberg of freight," and its flagship data product Sonar. Craig has built Firecrown from $9M to $60M in revenue in roughly two years through aggressive M&A, and is targeting $1B by 2030.Links & ResourcesA Media Operator — amediaoperator.comFirecrown — firecrown.comFreightWaves — freightwaves.comSonar (FreightWaves data product) — sonar.freightwaves.comFlying Magazine — flyingmag.comTimestamps00:00 — Introduction: Craig's origin story and the FreightWaves pitch that started it all02:06 — What is Firecrown? The print roll-up thesis explained06:32 — 2025: The year the wheels came off08:46 — The marine business acquisition that went sideways immediately12:14 — Going founder mode: Craig takes a no-prisoners approach to costs14:04 — The M&A trap: inheriting old problems plus your own16:58 — Consolidating sales teams and why individual brand-tied reps kill efficiency43:23 — The emotional toll: "It was a brutal year"45:41 — Lessons from Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel on founder control47:18 — The FreightWaves / Sonar split explained56:07 — The "Bloomberg Option": structuring a reversible transaction01:05:07 — How Sonar built its proprietary freight data moat01:08:23 — Sonar's exit path: why $50–100M ARR is the target01:10:36 — Firecrown's path to $1B: compounding through M&A01:11:03 — AI in media: the back-office opportunity nobody's talking about01:17:02 — Vibe coding: how Craig's team built a $1.8M savings app in a week01:23:50 — Founder advice: working on your business, not in it01:28:36 — The big tease: a Hollywood freight drama seriesBecome an AMO Pro member for deeper analysis and access: amediaoperator.com

My guest this week is Tagg Henderson, co-CEO of BNP Media, a b2b media company operating in a variety of different niches. In this 40 minute conversation, we talked about how the business got its start, the 90 day pivot from print to digital that happened during 2020, the various revenue streams including advertising, events, research, and continuing education, the new agency that they brought on about a year ago and how that helps the business, and where he sees the business going from here. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Phillip Jackson, co-founder and CEO of Future Commerce. In this hour long conversation, we talked about how the brand got its start, the various revenue streams across advertising, subscriptions, learning, insights, and events, why they can accomplish all of this with a very lean team, and where he sees the brand going from here. Future Commerce is doing things differently than other b2b media companies, but I think that is to their advantage. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

My guest this week is Curtis Cord, the founder and editor in chief of Olive Oil Times. In this 35 minute conversation, we talked about how the business got its start, its expansion into launching the NY World Olive Oil Competition, its education business where it holds sommelier courses in New York and London, and why he feels so passionately about making sure his various websites load as quickly as possible. This episode was a reminder to me that there are possible media niches in all places. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

Eric Hoffman, CEO of Hoffman Media, discusses the company's growth strategies, revenue streams, and adaptation to digital transformation. They emphasize the importance of niche audiences, diversified income sources like subscriptions and events, and outsourcing for resource management. Eric also provides valuable advice for growing media businesses during digital transformation.

My guest this week is Kat Craddock, the editor-in-chief and CEO of Saveur, a publication that she acquired from Recurrent Ventures a little over one year ago. In this episode, we dove into how the deal happened, how she financed it, why they reintroduced a print product, and so much more.

My guest this week is Richard Lander, Director at Citywire, a UK-based media company that serves the asset management and wealth industries. In this 40 minute conversation, we talked about the various parts of the business, why the pandemic ultimately killed the print business, their events model, the various ways they generate revenue from licensing, and an interesting intent-based product they call Goldmine. I hope you enjoy this discussion.

This week we have a special edition of the AMO Podcast with Todd Handy, the chief revenue officer at SEBPO, a leading global outsourcing partner that serves the advertising, media, and technology industries. In this discussion, we dig into how companies should properly think about outsourcing, the scale, save, and succeed framework, how to overcome or avoid the common mistakes and fears in outsourcing, and why media companies need to be thinking about dual transformation. I hope you enjoy this discussion.