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INDIE IS A START-UP OF JOURNALISM AND TECHNOLOGY
INDIE is a trademark of Jornalismo INDIE Ltda. Copyright 2016-2026. All rights reserved. Created by Andrei Netto, 2016 INDIE INVESTORS BOOK Written by Andrei Netto Business plan: Jean-Baptiste Bouvier English version: Jen Smith Photography: Felipe Paiva, Alice Martins & Andrei Netto Editorial project: Mishmash
INDIE INVESTORS BOOK VISION, STRATEGY, BRANDING & BUSINESS PLAN 15 DECEMBER 2016
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May 2013, Istambul, Turkey: it was amidst the confrontation between policemen and demonstrators around Gezy park that the idea for INDIE came to life. In those protests against authoritarianism and repression, for democracy and more transparency, an uprising of contestations took shape. Walls filled with graffiti by the civil unrest awakened an insight:
INDIE NEEDED TO BE A MIRROR OF THAT “SPIRIT OF THE TIME”.
At a time of multiple and profound crises in Brazil, Latin America and the West — political, economic, journalistic crises — a unique window of opportunity is open to renew journalism and media, reinforcing their commitments to democracy.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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OUR VISION — AN INTRODUCTION TO INDIE
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THE BRAZILIAN SCENARIO
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PART 1 — WE ARE INDIE
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WHAT IS INDIE
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PROJECT ARCHITECTURE
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DISTRIBUTION: THROUGH ALL DIGITAL CHANNELS
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EDITORIAL LINE
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INDIE’S TARGET AUDIENCE
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SOCIAL PYRAMID IN BRAZIL
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TARGET AUDIENCE INDIE
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AUDIENCE POTENTIAL TARGET PUBLIC
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WHO IS INDIE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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PART 2 — FINANCING INDIE MORE THEN A NEW FINANCIAL MODEL: A NEW ORGANIZATION MODEL FOR JOURNALISM
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PART 3 — BRANDING INDIE
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BRANDING INDIE: THE “CHALLENGER” SPIRIT
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INDIE BRAND : DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT
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INOVATIVE FINANCING FOR INDIE
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COOPERATION: THE CORE OF THE PROJECT
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EXPLAINING THE NUMBERS
PAYWALL & SUBSCRIPTIONS
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REGARDING THE AGENCY
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I. COSTS STAFF BRAZIL
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II. REVENUES
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SYNDICATION
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BIG DATA
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FINANCING THE PARTNERS
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INDIE ROAD MAP
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A LONG TERM STRATEGY FOR INDIE
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B2B YEAR 1
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B2C+B2B YEAR 2
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B2C+B2B YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4
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INDIE: FUNDING STAGES
ANNEXE — IN-DEPTH BUSINESS
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Brazil, with its population of 200 million, is a burgeoning media market ripe for transformation. Its population is increasingly urban, with discretionary income and increasing demands for high quality information. But the traditional media offerings in the country are marked by:
INDIE MARKET: Lack of plurality and high concentration of media (less than 10 major groups) An approach that is socially conservative (legacy media usually backs traditional "right wing" politics) and technologically poor (no breakthrough digital media projects) A national context experiencing a multi-dimensional crisis: political; economic; social, with deep mistrust of legacy media; and journalistic, with an accelerated decline of the traditional journalism model (1.500 jobs cut in the last 1.5 years). XXXXX This scenario has opened up opportunities as never before – opportunities INDIE is ready to seize.
INDIE OBJECTIVES:
INDIE REVENUE STREAMS:
To create a completely new, native digital media in Brazil, supported by cutting-edge technology developed by an internationally recognized team with a proven track record in digital media in France and the US.
Subscriptions & pay wall, both on its own content and that of our partners; Syndication of foreign news coverage in Portuguese (inexistent today); Reader data monetization;
To be a hub for independent news websites already producing high quality content in Brazil, albeit with limited reach. To leverage the availability of highly skilled and renowned Brazilian journalists, at home and abroad, and deliver innovative journalism differentiated from other products in the Brazilianmarket by: High quality content, a unique editorial line and rigorous fact checking; Total customization to reader profiles and interests.
Tech services related to journalism for specific communities or business areas; Future extension of the model and technology to other markets with similar characteristics and needs.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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OUR VISION — AN INTRODUCTION TO INDIE
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According to Joseph Schumpeter, all economic sectors create, in the course of their existence, an “economic circuit”. In order to preserve their benefits and the status quo, they gradually dive into a process of “near stagnation”. Without openness to innovation and entrepreneurship, a business looses contact with its audience, becomes redundant, and prone to competition from more innovative companies. It thus goes through its last cycle, what Schumpeter called “creative destruction”. It was the case, for instance, of the music industry, that did not satisfy the “all digital” desire of the 1990s, and didn’t understand the power of the connected world. The same situation has repeated itself recently in other cultural industries, like journalism. Journalism as an industry was born from a technical transformation: the creation of press in 1450 by Johannes Gutenberg, a major renaissance event with economic, political, cultural and artistic impacts. This revolution’s influence was magnified by its industrial nature and its “reproductive” capacity, which reinforced the goods and cultural services market. One of its repercussions was the creation of the 20th century culture industry giants. The production of a cultural asset has depended since then on the industrial capacity of an entrepreneur. But the industrial era of communication is coming to an end. Information is no longer being delivered to the public by trafficking in printed paper, with its concomitant high production and distribution costs.
INDIE’s mission is to investigate, inform, and inspire by producing credible, independent, non-partisan information on Brazil and the world to an increasingly demanding and sophisticated Brazilian audience at a key juncture in the country’s rapidly changing media landscape. Its challenge is to seize this moment in Brazil and become an alternative to the country’s deeply discredited and old-fashioned media outlets. It would do this by creating its own editorial team and building partnerships with existing independent news producers to generate a steady stream of reliable, up-to-date content for a new, high quality media outlet, supported by an innovative technology and a unique journalism organisational model. By providing a significant alternative to mainstream media, INDIE aims to win the trust and loyalty of the ultra diversified, cosmopolitan, and nomadic Brazilian reader that is every more demanding of elected officials and concerned both with the country’s social advances and its economic performance. In doing so, INDIE can become a competitive, paradigm-shifting player in the ideologically homogeneous media landscape in Brazil, and an important part of public discourse nationally, reestablishing journalism’s social function as a reliable, ethical source of the kind of information that is essential for full, informed participation in a democracy. As Marshall McLuhan predicted, and geniuses such as Alan Turing and Tim Berners-Lee made reality, the reorganisation of society into networks has paved the way for the growth of a new type of media that breaks with the verticality that characterised print newspapers and relies on distribution by interconnetion, via a horizontal flow of information. This new technical revolution has opened doors to principles such as “collective intelligence” and “horizontal” communication tools, such as web forums, blogs, social networks. These new means of communication are symptoms of an open and increasingly global society. Meanwhile, the traditional journalism industry, which continues to produce content in a vertical manner, emblematic of a closed society, is becoming redundant.
HENCE THE NEED FOR INDIE
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A s a journalism and technology start-up, INDIE sees a journalism opportunity in the migration toward the increasingly multimedia digital environment. For this reason, the project will be at the forefront of the creation, development, and use of digital tools. INDIE will deliver its content on a platform conceived and developed specifically for this project, with excellent technological support and easy, intuitive navigation in any digital environment — desktop and notebook computers, IOS and Android [tablets and smartphones] mobile applications. By developing its own platform, INDIE will also create the tools to understand its audience and tailor its content to their interests. INDIE will introduce a unique design and aesthetic into journalism, with an emphasis on creative presentation of news stories, photography and video documentaries, and a commitment to using audiovisual resources in innovative ways to tell stories that matter. Its objective will be to record not only what goes on in the political and economic realms, but also to engage in broader societal debates with articles about lifestyle, social and cultural trends, as well as deeply reported narratives grounded in deep expertise or personal experience.
A COMMITMENT TO INNOVATE
A LONG TERM VISION C Considering the possibilities offered by new technologies, INDIE sees itself as an initiative created by and for citizens of the world. That is its natural vocation, and INDIE sees its implementation in Brazil as a pilot program with various expansion options. First, its syndication model would open the door to publishing content in other Portuguese speaking countries such as Portugal, Mozambique and Angola, which together comprise a population of more than 267 million. Most importantly, it will generate the necessary expertise to expand the platform into other media markets that are also in need of plurality and information freedom. That is, the Brazil outlet would serve as a development lab for a new business model and for new technology-based journalism tools. Once consolidated, this model could be replicable in different countries through INDIE franchises, as has been the case with American media outlets Vice or Slate. This could lead to offshoots such as INDIE.fr or INDIE.es, for example, that would exist in different languages, but with high content synergy.
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THE BRAZILIAN SCENARIO
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Freedom of the press in Brazil is severely curtailed by violence, media concentration, and a lack of plural perspectives.
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This situation has only gotten worse in recent years: in its 2016 report, the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF, in its French acronym) claimed that “continuing conflicts of interest in the Brazilian media and a very disturbing level of violence against journalists have caused Brazil to fall another five places in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index. The problems resulting from the concentration of media property are long-standing. In 2013, an RSF report called Brazil as “The country of 30 Berlusconis,” a reference to the country’s highly concentrated media market, which is dominated by 10 hegemonic families with close ties to the country’s political and economic elites. This leads to tremendous conflicts of interests, a lack of diversity of opinions, and self-censorship; furthermore, it means journalism is often used to further private interests. Additionally, there is a serious financial crisis threatening Brazil’s traditional media companies. Their business models, based on the old mix of advertising income + subscriptions, have been heavily impacted by advertising’s growing disinterest in print newspapers, and by the loss of readers who are increasingly dissatisfied with the content. This is, of course, an international crisis; globally, it has only worsened over time. In Brazil, this crisis has affected almost all of the medium to large outlets, which are now undergoing extreme restructuring, resulting in mass layoffs: in 2015, 1.433 journalists lost their jobs nation-wide. It is becoming increasingly clear that there is nowhere else for these organizations to cut without significantly undercutting their business models and their product.
THE BRAZILIAN PRESS
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It is becoming increasingly clear that there is nowhere else for these organizations to cut without significantly undercutting their business models and their product
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A NEW WORLD IN BRAZIL’S INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
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The paradox is that even as sales of print newspapers continue to fall, digital audiences have only increased. In Brazil, as elsewhere, there is a clear migration of readers toward online platforms. This is good news.
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The second piece of good news is that, amidst this hostile and dispiriting environment, a new generation of journalism start-ups are emerging in Brazil. These new organizations are 100% digital, native and independent. They are micro or small enterprises or collectives of reporters, photographers and videographers, often relying on experimental business models. They represent a new frontier for journalism, and together, they have already drawn positive attention from beyond Brazil. Harvard University’s Nieman Lab noted this new independent scene, saying that “dozens of journalists are leaving traditional newsrooms and creating new niche media startups online”. Agência Pública, one of the most successful projects, created a Map of Independent Journalism in Brazil that captures this scene. The emerging media landscape it describes reveals the increasing preoccupation of Brazilian journalists with innovation and the consolidation of a professional alternative to mainstream. Despite their dynamism, the financial solidity and public acceptance of these new media outlets is limited. For the
time being, they are niche enterprises acting in a non-collaborative, non-coordinated way. In isolation, they are promising and often of great quality, but have poor infrastructure, unstable financing and uncertain business models. Therefore, they are still not able to produce hard news in real time, nor achieve relevant national and international coverage. All this makes them currently unable to compete with the legacy media. On the other hand, these start-ups appear more resilient than one could imagine, given their shortcomings. In an article published by LinkedIn, journalist Sergio Lüdke analyzed the longevity and maturity of digital ventures in Brazil. The result was startling: although most outlets were launched in 2014 and 2015, 51.5% of companies started their activities before then. “And there is a meaningful number of long-living operations that have been active for more than 5 years,” he reported. “The survival of these businesses is an encouragement for those starting up”. Moreover, the media start-ups in this independent scene have a similar social-political profile: they
are social-liberal, espousing a free market philosophy, and zealous of their non-partisanship and freedom of speech. Their common denominator is a classic vision of journalism, with declared respect for journalism’s essential role in a democracy, for the independence of content and for the integrity of its editorial structure. Their funding is private or public, or a mix. They want continuity and audience, but also financial sustainability and future positioning within the journalism market. Amongst these initiatives, Agência Pública, Ponte Jornalismo, Nexo, Fluxo, Lupa and Aos Fatos stand out. They all have a well-organized organized financial structure, a clear editorial line and a good positioning on social networks. INDIE would take advantage of these energetic, bold new initiatives. It would identify and contact potential content partners among these promising new outlets, after a careful assessment of their professionalism, their editorial lines, the integrity of their funding and their means of production. It would then serve as a news hub and platform, distributing and eventually syndicating its own content along with the content of its members, and presenting the reading public with a steady stream of daily, high-quality, reliable content that could compete with mainstream media.
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PART 1 — WE ARE INDIE
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WHAT IS INDIE INDIE is a Journalism & Data for-profit start-up, with a profound sense of ethics and social responsibility.
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It is both a journalism and a technology project specialized in [1] content production and [2] in data grouping and analysis. Its objective is to bring together journalistic expertise with data developer know-how to pursue financial self-sustainability. INDIE will aggregate and publish on its unique website and mobile applications content produced by its own editorial staff, TEAM INDIE, and by its PARTNERS, selected from among Brazil’s independent journalism start-ups. That is, INDIE will be the core of the independent journalism constellation in Brazil, its first market. INDIE is committed to using multiple and creative ways to convey news, including but not limited to photography, documentary photography, raw videos, short-docs, documentaries, podcasts, graphic reporting, data-supported journalism, editorials and commentary.
INDIE’s journalism will follow a formula that is unprecedented in the Brazilian market, and rare in worldwide journalism: it won’t be another daily newspaper or weekly magazine, but a daily digital magazine. It will cover on daily basis the most important topics of the week, but not as hard news, which aim simply to update the reader on the latest developments. Instead, it will produce pieces that focus on relevance, context, interpretation and analysis. Instead of being another outlet giving readers the news basics – the who, what, when, why, where – INDIE articles will aggregate value, engaging readers with articles that explore what the news of the day means, why they should care, and how it impacts their lives, the country, the world. INDIE is founded on the belief that journalism serves a social function; it aspires to contribute to a better society. Transparency and drastic independence from governmental and financial interests is a cornerstone. INDIE aims to be an open publisher in an open society.
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TEAM INDIE
INDIE’s own editorial staff is at the heart of the project. These journalists will produce the text, audio, photo, video, graphics and other features, and will revise, verify and edit the work of partner news organizations.
PROJECT
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INDIE PARTNERS
A network of existing, successful, high-quality independent publishers that would share content with INDIE. This commitment would be voluntary, and the content would respect INDIE standards of reliability, independence, and business ethics. Partner publishers would be remunerated for their contributions according to criteria set out in the business plan [more later].
A network of existing, successful, high-quality independent publishers that would share content with INDIE. This commitment would be voluntary, and the content would respect INDIE standards of reliability, independence, and business ethics. Partner publishers would be remunerated for their contributions according to criteria set out in the business plan [more later].
INDIE NETWORK
INDIE IDEAS
If INDIE is the journalistic center of the project, INDIE DATA is the project’s intelligence unit. Using the plethora of data produced by INDIE journalists and readers, INDIE DATA’s mission will be to aggregate, structure and interpret information about political, economic, social, and other tendencies by carrying out webanalyse, media, CRM, and back-office, amongst other services that will allow our clients to offer a better performance in the digital environment.
INDIE DATA
ARCHITECTURE INDIE AGENCY will be the syndication service charged with selling the reproduction rights of the content produced by INDIE and INDIE PARTNERS to other media outlets in Brazil and abroad. The recent cuts to editorial staff at mainstream newspapers have left significant gaps in coverage of Brazilian and foreign news. These information gaps represent an opportunity and a significant source of potential funding for INDIE and INDIE PARTNERS, once they are operating as a unified agency with journalists throughout Brazil and relevant world cities.
INDIE PRESS AGENCY
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INDIE is a digital-native publisher designed for readers that are increasingly digital-native. The digital environment, with all its multimedia potential, represents a journalistic opportunity INDIE is ready to explore and develop. INDIE will be paper-free, devised from the start to suit a variety of digital devices. As Jeff Jarvis points out in his article Death to the Mass, in a not too distant future, online publishers like INDIE will become content providers for big global information platforms, yet to be created. This model is already starting through tools such as News (Apple), Instant Articles (Facebook), Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP, Google), amongst others. It is a reality that will decrease start-up costs for new content producers, allowing groups of journalists to create brands and produce content that is published directly to readers, in a simple and rapid process. For now, however, an efficient distribution requires a website and mobile applications. Here are some of the tools that will distribute INDIE’s content:
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DISTRIB THROU ALL DIG
1 2 3 A responsive, adaptive website with fluid templates and interfaces that are adaptable to user capacity, taking into consideration the characteristics of the devices and navigators that are used.
Native applications IOS and Android for smartphones, tablets and smartwatches — and in a second phase, po streaming TVs — that offer a better navigation quality and more resources than web app projects that use HTML5, CSS3 ou JavaScript.
An active presence in tools such as Instant Articles, by Facebook, News, by Apple, and Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which in the case of IA, guarantees 30% profitability on income generated by Facebook’s embedded advertising.
To build this technological infrastructure, INDIE will count on its own team of developers, led by a head of product specialized in designing and developing digital media. This team’s expertise in the media sector is widely recognized in the European market, especially for its work in France’s leading newspapers.
BUTION: UGH GITAL CHANNELS 29
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High-quality, independent journalism is essential for full, informed participation in democratic societies. Solid media enterprises stimulate public political awareness, which is in turn reflected through economic growth and fairer societies. For this reason, journalism that is focused on fulfilling this social function is crucial at a time in which democracy is living an unprecedented crisis in the West. Civil society is increasingly demand more direct and radical forms of democracy to address representative democracy’s deficiencies, is one of the 21st century’s trends.
EDITORIAL LINE
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Over the past two decades, hundreds of thousands of citizens took to the streets all over the world, demanding an active say and greater participation in how their economies, governments and society are run. These movements have been diverse and widespread, starting in Seattle in 1999, but including the Arab Spring, the Indignados in Spain, the 2013 uprisings in Turkey and Brazil, and Occupy Wall Street. These acts of collective revolt did not converge toward a specific ideology, but shared a common antiauthoritarian tone, prizing openness, engagement, horizontality, and transparency. What INDIE offers is journalism that is line with these demands: it aims to be a non-ideological anti-authoritarian outlet build around solid journalistic values and in line with
growing demand for credible, useful, accessible information that helps readers make sense of and engage with a rapidly changing world. INDIE Brazil, the model on which others could be based, will have an editorial line that is unique in the country, based on independent, non-partisan journalism, with a liberal philosophy, a progressive social outlook, and attention to sustainable development. By providing readers with critical information, it will help counter authoritarian practices, injustices, prejudice, and violence. INDIE aims to stimulate social engagement, to make political structures more permeable, and to increase direct participation by civil society, resulting in more citizenship, more dialogue, more collaboration – more democracy.
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EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT
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RATIONAL ENGAGEMENT
INDIE’S TEAM INDIE
INDIE PARTNERS
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Today’s youth is often typecast as apathetic and disengaged, but research indicates that 18- to 29-year-olds are more likely to engage in social activism and express their political opinions in a creative way. INDIE will target this young, active audience, with greatest emphasis on 35- to 44-year-olds (Brazil’s Gen X, a population of 20.7 million) and 25- to 34-year-olds (Brazil’s Gen Y, a population of 15.3 million)
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As a group, they are career focused [75%], are university graduates [73%], wish to live abroad [66%], are connected [94% have a mobile phone]. INDIE sees its audience as cosmopolitan, intellectually engaged, curious and open to the world – very much as Brazil’s Gen X and Gen Y see themselves. INDIE’s audience will largely live in cities of more than 200K inhabitants, but particularly in centers with more than 500K people. Contrary to legacy media, which is largely focused on the
TARGET AUDIENCE INDIE DATA
INDIE AGENCY
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Rio-São Paulo-Brasília axis, INDIE will use its digital outlet status to connect with readers across the country. Breaking this mainstream parochialism will provide INDIE with another competitive advantage. INDIE will appeal more to families that earn 5 to 10 times the minimum monthly wage, but will make a deliberate effort, in a country marked by inequality, to also target an audience that earns 2 to 5 times the minimum monthly wage.
In sum, INDIE wishes to conquer the wide slice of the Brazilian public who took part in the June 2013 protests —a broad reaction against corruption, misplaced government priorities, and business-as-usual, which is perceived as going against the interests of the average Brazilian. This audience specifically rejected traditional media outlets and political parties, in addition to demanding a more inclusive economy, a fairer society, and new ways of doing politics.
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This audience, in a conservative estimate, could include 20 million Brazilians.
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D
A B C 2 - 3,4
16 %
32,96 %
46 %
Relative population 4% doesn’t answer
94,76 %
Total population estimate in millions
Household income x1000 R$1 = 4
- 1,3
1,3 - 2
3,7 - 6,7
9%
18,54 %
20 %
6,7 - 13,5
4%
8,26 %
41,2 %
15,5 +
1%
2,06 %
SOCIAL PYRAMID IN BRAZIL
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CONSERVATIVE RIGHT & FAR RIGHT
45-54 ANS [X]
+65 ANS [TRADIS]
10-17 ANS [Z]
55-64 ANS [BABY BOOMERS]
BAC
18-24 ANS [Y ET Z]
LIBERAL RIGHT
TARGET AUDIENCE
MASTER, DOC, POST-DOC
35-44 ANS [X]
RADICAL LEFT
FONDAMENTAL
SUPÉRIEURE INCOMPLETE
SUPÉRIEURE
25-34 YEARS [Y]
SOCIALLIBERALS
INSTRUCTION
CORE AUDIENCE
AGE
POLITICAL CONVICTIONS
TARGET PUBLIC
XXX
JUSQU’A 2 SMIC [BR]
ENTRE 2 A 4 SMIC [BR]
+ 20 SMIC [BR]
ENTRE 4 A 10 SMIC [BR]
ENTRE 10 ET 20 SMIC (BR)
REVENU
A
SÃO PAULO, RIO ET BRASÍLIA
MINAS GERAIS
OBJECTIF 50%/50%
CENTRE-OUEST ET NORD
NORD-EST
BAHIA
D/E
C
SÃO PAULO
INDIFÉRENT
PARANÁ, RIO GRANDE DO SUL, SANTA CATARINA
B
GEOGRAPHY
GENDER
SOCIAL CLASS
JUSQU’A 50 K
ENTRE 50K ET 200K
ENTRE 200K ET 500K
+ 500K HAB
DEMOGRAPHY
MUSULMANS
EVANGELISTES
KTOs
ESPIRITAS
EVANGELISTES NONPRATICANTS
ATHÉES, AGNOSTIQUES, JUIFS, KTOs NON-PRACTICANTS
RELIGION
TARGET AUDIENCE INDIE
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AUDIENCE POTE BRAZIL HAS ABOUT 20 MILLION SOCIAL-LIBERAL ELECTORS 38
FOLHA DE SAO.PAULO HAS ABOUT 20 MILLION POTENTIAL READERS THE MAIN NEWS MAGAZINES HAVE ABOUT 16,5 MILLION READERS
IN AP TARG OF R IN
ENTIAL TARGET PUBLIC
NDIE HAS POTENTIAL GET PUBLIC 15 TO 20 M READERS N BRAZIL
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WHO IS INDIE
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ANDREI NETTO
JEAN-BAPTISTE BOUVIER
ASLHDAKSFH ALLAJSDL
founder & publisher
co-founder & CFO
co-founder & CTO
Andrei Netto is a journalist and writer who is passionately committed to producing work with a positive social impact. Paris-based foreign correspondent for Estado de Sao Paulo, one of Brazil’s leading national newspapers, he has reported on politics, economics, culture and human rights from more than 40 countries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Based on his coverage of the Arab Spring, he wrote Bringing Down Gaddafi – On the Ground with the Libyan Rebels [Palgrave Macmillan]. Born in Ijuí, Brazil, he holds a B.A in Journalism and a M.A. in Theory of Communication at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica [PUCRS, Brazil]. For the last ten years, he has been studying the turmoil in the creative industries. Economic Vertigo – Cultural Industries, New Technologies and New Ethics in Digital Societies (2011), his Ph.D. thesis in Social Sciences at the Sorbonne, was awarded the highest possible grade (Très honorable). He speaks Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.
Jean-Baptiste Bouvier holds a MBA in International Affairs from HEC Management school, in France (graduated in in 1990). He is currently CFO of a multinational music instrument manufacturer headquartered in France. Before that, Jean-Baptiste worked as a CFO for various multinational industrial groups, in activities ranging from automotive to retail, in the US, Brazil, Sweden, China and France, with a special focus on restructuring activities in crisis and turning them profitable. He has been engaged as a CFO in various LBO’s (“Leverage Buy-Outs”), and has coached various Start-Up projects. Overall Jean-Baptiste spent 15 years abroad, of which almost 10 years were in Brazil, where he also participated in social projects beyond his professional activities. In this moment of political turmoil in Brazil (and abroad), he believes that new information technologies can be part of the solutions that will help surmount these challenges. He speaks French, English, Spanish and Portuguese, and can tell some good jokes in Swedish.
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MARIO CAMERA
DEBORAH BERLINCK
LUCIANO SPINELLI
co-founder
cofounder, editor-in-chief
co-founder
Mario Camera is a Brazilian independent journalist based in Paris. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1980, he graduated in journalism at Faculdades Integradas Hélio Alonso. He started his career in 2003 as editor for Spanish news agency EFE. Based in the French capital since 2005, he has worked for Radio France Internationale (RFI) and was correspondent for the Brazilian outlets Terra and Rede TV!. In Europe, he has covered presidential elections in France and Spain, the conclave that elected pope Francisco, in 2013, and the terrorist attacks in January and November of 2015 in Paris. He has collaborated with BBC, O Globo, Folha de São Paulo, O Estado de São Paulo, SBT, CBN and Bandeirantes. He is currently working as independent producer for Globo News. Mario speaks Portuguese, French, Spanish and English.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Deborah Berlinck is a Swiss national. She received a BA in Journalism and Communication and holds a Master in International Relations from the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, in Geneva. She was also granted a Ford Foundation scholarship to study U.S. policymaking process at the University of Maryland. For over 20 years, she was the European correspondent of O Globo, a leading Brazilian newspaper. She is currently an independent journalist, writer, moderator and contributor to Folha de São Paulo and O Globo and RFI Brasil. She has covered key historical events worldwide — from conflicts in Bosnia and Libya and the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to economic summits and trade negotiations. Reporting in about 30 countries has given her a life lesson in human behavior. Deborah is currently experimenting with new forms of media. She speaks Portuguese, English, French, Italian and Spanish.
Luciano Spinelli is a photographer and videographer from XXX who has been based in Paris since 2005. He holds a Ph.D. in audiovisual communication (Universidade Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona) and in Sociology (Paris Descartes Sorbonne), and his work focuses on urban communication and the metropolitan way of life. He has written several articles on the theme and organized the book called Uma Cidade de Imagens. Outside the academic world, his work as a photographer focuses on architecture, tourism, news and documentaries, for news outlets such as Casa Vogue, ArchDaily, Domus Design, FHM, Elle, Vice, Carta Capital, and Financial Times. He also produces video documentaries, working mainly with Globo and Globo News TV chains from Paris. His images, produced since 2001 when he first started photography, have already formed part of individual and collective exhibitions in Brazil and various European countries.
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PART 2 — FINANCING INDIE
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The first lesson of the news industry crisis is perhaps the fact that mainstream media still sees itself as an industry — and because of this, struggles to adapt. Media is quickly becoming the first big post-industrial sector amongst what used to be called the “cultural industries”. This should be the guiding principle for the organization of any new journalism start-up.
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As Chris Anderson, Emily Bell and Clay Shirky explain in the essay Post Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present, “the newsmakers, the advertisers, the startups, and, especially, the people formerly known as the audience have all been given new freedom to communicate, narrowly and broadly, outside the old structures of the broadcast and publishing models”. News organizations that still consider themselves as part of an industry are working hard to conserve both working methods and hierarchy, even as their business models are collapsing. If the old business model no longer serves, new media outlets need to devise a new organization structure. INDIE believes that this model will
be based on the collaborative economy, relying on peer-to-peer value creation to produce content. This model requires a new way of working: instead of a pyramidal and vertical industrial enterprise, based on the work of thousands of paid employees and subject to the decisions of a management committee, we would be looking at a galaxy. This galaxy would be a series of start-ups connected through networks that orbit around a nucleus, a digital platform: INDIE. This network-based work structure would allow for a more flexible and horizontal way of producing content, but it is not anarchical. Each start-up would keep its team of journalists, establish its editorial focus, its work routine, its area of operation. Then,
it will connect to the digital platform, INDIE, which will produce its own content and also aggregate, edit, factcheck and publish, then disseminate, the content produced by its partners. INDIE will also be responsible for generating revenue that will be redistributed to peers. This strategy brings together independent and autonomous start-ups in a bigger initiative, with a clear objective: to amplify their reach and scope, and enable them to compete with mainstream media outlets in Brazil’s information market — all while giving a voice to people and themes that do not appear in mainstream.
MORE THEN A NEW FINANCIAL MODEL: A NEW ORGANIZATION MODEL FOR JOURNALISM
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INOVATIVE FINANCING FOR INDIE
INDIE, as a journalism and technology project, intends to fund its journalism endeavor with a mix of traditional and innovative revenue strategies: [1] subscriptions; [2] syndication – reselling of content with copyright ownership; and [3] aggregation, analysis, big data and technology services.
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Our vision for this project is that it remain ad-free. Including direct advertising as a source of funding is a delicate matter in independent media, with potential gains and losses. First, giants such as Google and Facebook are currently hegemonic in the online publishing market; furthermore; the current journalism model, based on direct sale of advertisements, is in decline and increasingly subject to ad blockers. Independent journalism also wants to avoid the historically-rooted dependence of mainstream journalistic companies and corporations — a relationship that often leads to self-censorship and explains the imbalance between criticism of the public sphere, such as government
agents and elected officials, which is intense in the news, and of private power, which is bland and complacent. Since INDIE’s model is based on the idea of not only being a content producer, but also a mediator and distributor of content produced by third parties. For this reason, its funding model needs to take into account the fair remuneration for the start-ups that participate in the hub. In the next pages, we will analyze in detail these two important points: [1] INDIE’s capacity to add value and grow in an organic and sustainable way and [2] the remuneration model for the hub’s partner start-ups. One of INDIE’s essential, non-negotiable tenets is an absolute separa-
45 tion between its funding sources and the content it produces. Every potential investor that joins the project must be aware of this impregnable wall. Its funding model must also reflect and contribute to this independence. Since there is no clearly defined model to fund a journalism start-up, INDIE will make use of existing successful strategies, but will also commit to searching for other forms of innovative and ethical financing. With that in mind, let’s talk a bit more about subscriptions, syndication and data management – and then go on to how INDIE intends to instrumental in the sustainability of its partner start-ups.
COOPERATION:
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THE CORE OF THE PROJECT
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INDIE will grow and earn in tandem with its partner start-ups: the bigger INDIE’s reader base is, the greater the revenue, and the larger the start-ups’ remuneration. INDIE’s success will depend on the success, but will also fuel the success, of its partners.
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In this way, INDIE intends to restore the economic value of independent journalism. Instead of working in isolation, for start-ups with limited audience and little capacity to invest in journalism and in content promotion, they will unite under a unique peer-to-peer hub — an example of a polished collaborative economy.
Together, INDIE and its PARTNERS will have the following objectives: [1] build the biggest possible subscriber base [2] progressively increase the value received by syndication in a transparent fashion, through product qualification —offering more premium content, such as documentaries, for instance, that have more added value. The objective of this collaborative equation would be to increase the royalties paid by the hub to the independent outlets in a horizon of three to five years, until the breakeven point is reached.
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PAYWALL & SUB SCRIPTIONS
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In the Philosophy of Money, German sociologist Georg Simmel explains that to maintain economic value, an object must be priced within its audience’s reach: not so low as to not generate desire, but not so high so as to be unreachable.
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For a commodity — even an immaterial one, such as information — to have economic value it must have an exchange value. Without any obstacles to obtain the object, the exchange value does not exist, and the economic value is lost. INDIE believes that journalism will no longer be sustainable if it gives up the economic value of information. The best way to guarantee journalistic independence is direct funding from a solid reader base that is willing to pay for content. Even today there are examples of mainstream companies that are doing this successfully, like The New York Times. And most importantly, there are also examples of thriving start-ups that have succeeded in conquering readers and convincing them to pay for content. Mediapart, in France, and De Corres-
Reference newspapers in Brazil such as Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S.Paulo charge more for their subscriptions than The New York Times – R$ 32.90 and R$ 29.90 per month, respectively, versus the equivalent of R$ 26.60 [6.50 euros] per month charged by the American newspaper. INDIE would charge less that these mainstream news sources, but draw from a larger reader base – much like the successful principle behind music streaming. In this sense, the monthly subscription fee for INDIE should not exceed R$ X.XX. One strategy would be to offer the first year subscription for R$ X in order to bring in readers and promote loyalty during the company’s first year.
pondent, in Holland, are two of them. INDIE holds them as a reference in terms of attraction and reader loyalty. INDIE will operate on a paywall and “freemium” subscription system (EXPLAIN FREEMIUM) that will guarantee unlimited access to its content amongst all digital platforms: computers, smartphones, tablets and other future applications. But, contrary to current practice in Brazilian press, INDIE believes that access to information should be as ample as possible.
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COMPETITIVE VIEW
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We have already described the impact of the global journalism industry crisis in Brazil. In 2015, 1.433 journalists were laid off in the country. Most international news in big Brazilian outlets comes directly or indirectly from foreign news agencies, since the vast majority of Brazilian news outlets have no correspondents or freelancers abroad. Folha de S.Paulo and O Globo, two of Brazil’s three main newspapers, have no correspondents outside the Americas. No Brazilian outlet has correspondents in the far East. In short: the trend, at home and abroad, is to reduce staff and give work to third parties. INDIE regrets the sheer dimension of the worldwide crisis and its impact, but sees in it a motivation for this project and an opportunity for sustainability. INDIE AGENCY will seize this opportunity. The agency will group together all the content produced by TEAM
INDIE and INDIE PARTNERS. INDIE AGENCY will oversee the project’s business-to-business exchange, reselling part of its content to newspapers, websites, radio stations, and any national and international cable TV channels acting in Brazil and willing to pay for our syndication service. Its role is to close the gap created by the cuts in editorial staff in Brazilian mainstream outlets by offering access to exclusive, high-quality content. In exchange, INDIE will gain sustainability. One the differentials that will set INDIE AGENCY apart from the competition is the international content produced by TEAM INDIE, which will include the largest number of foreign correspondents of any Brazilian journalism outlet. This means producing exclusive high quality content in different languages – text, photography, audio, video, data, graphics – that will be used in coverages, documentaries, special documentaries, multimedia specials, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, data specials, short and long documentaries, and in a second phase, periodic programmes for TV, web-TVs, radios, web-radios, also bearing in mind the Brazilian law that created quotas for the airing of national content on paid TV.
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Through syndication, INDIE AGENCY also intends positively impact the journalism employment market by valuing the intellectual property of those who create the content — the journalist. INDIE could also, in the future, offer practical and logistical support to independent professionals doing fieldwork, such as life insurance, for example.
SYNDICATION
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BIG DATA
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In their piece Post Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present, Chris Anderson, Emily Bell e Clay Shirky remind us of a historical reality: “Good journalism has always been subsidized”. This is a fact: unraveling vast corruption schemes, investigating criminal organizations, and covering location that are remote, unsafe or otherwise difficult to access such Syria under armed conflict or the depths the Amazon requires time and money.
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Alongside resources obtained through subscriptions or syndication, INDIE envisages a third branch of business that can aggregate and analyze data for its own use and for use by non-governmental organizations, entrepreneurs, and public as well as private initiatives. These actions will reinforce INDIE’s financial sustainability and independence. INDIE DATA will be INDIE’s big data strategy agency. Apart from being a business opportunity that generates resources and enables investments in news stories, INDIE DATA is a necessity since no 21st century journalism company can survive without mastering technology. Let’s explain. Journalistic publishers gather huge amounts of information (text, statistics, audio, video, photography, graphics) and social media relations with every article they publish. Readers, simply by choosing to read an article, produce a data point that reveals their interests. If a journalism company has the technology to gather and analyze this information in an effective manner, it can recycle it not just into new high quality articles but also and mainly into funding for their activity. Developing this technology will be useful beyond journalism and the internal management of the project. For this reason, INDIE DATA trusts that the technology that collects and analyses data in an ethical and transparent way will be used as a source of income to be applied back into journalism, through the production of on demand reports regarding
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a variety of trends, and the sale of digital expertise acquired by INDIE and its partners for public and private NGOs. Because INDIE will develop a substantial database (OF WHAT? READER INTERESTS?) it will be able to evaluate its performance, setting targets and developing strategies to engage readers, get more visitors and increase its subscription base. By using data intelligence, INDIE and its partner start-ups will be able to follow performance statistics in real time, and follow the increase in payments, a tool that will allow forecasting and help keep the journalism sustainable. Data management will also allow the project to invest in growth hacking and ad hoc marketing towards specific targets, reducing costs and increasing the effectiveness of the project promotion. Additionally, performance analysis will give INDIE and its partners a better Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capacity and better content analysis.
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FINANCING THE PARTNERS
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To function effectively as a hub for existing journalism start-ups, INDIE needs a solid, fair and efficient system to reward its partners.
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INDIE’s first challenge is to capture subscribers within a reader base. As exposed in the previous chapter, this base will be composed of [1] subscribers that pay for the service and navigate through all content available on the website and applications and [2] subscribers that don’t pay for the service, but use the “freemium” model to surf unpaid open content, which isn’t protected by paywall. All of INDIE’s audience – paying and non-paying – will generate digital data as they navigate. This will be collected (with previous authorization) and interpreted, becoming a marketable product in itself. In short: subscriptions, data analysis, and syndication will add up to guarantee INDIE’s sustainability and the generation of royalties that can be distributed to partner start-ups.
Two alternative models for paying the participating start-ups are under consideration. In either model, INDIE will not intervene on human resources, nor on the criteria set out by each of the partner start-ups for human resources. [A] the creation of an Independent Start-up Association [ASI], that would integrate XX% of INDIE’s capital. The association’s management and the fair distribution of resources would be the association’s responsibility, without INDIE’s intervention. This approach does not exist in Brazil, but is inspired by a system widely used in France (for example, the Société des Redactors du Monde or the Société des Journalistes et du Personnel de Libération). [B] the adoption of a system similar to the one used by musical streaming start-ups such as Spotify and Deezer.
This second option [B] for remunerating INDIE’s partners would assume that 70% of income obtained via subscriptions would be paid in form of royalties for the content created by partner start-ups. The remaining 30% would be kept by INDIE to pay its staff and to re-invest in technology and upkeep of the digital platform. The distribution of royalties would require an adaptation of the streaming model. While Spotify or Deezer pay the record label and the artist every time a customer listens to a sound track — i.e. at every click —, the remuneration model for journalism should not stimulate sensationalist “click bait” articles, which could deteriorate the quality of the product and the credibility of the outlet. INDIE’s system would be a hybrid that would unite [1] objective, quantifiable data, such as: audience [clicks per article], true readership [how much
53 of the article was actually read] and engagement [sharing on social media]; and [2] subjective data like relevance [prominence of the article on the website]. To establish this mix, INDIE would commit to creating, developing, and testing the necessary algorithms for estimating remuneration so that it could be done automatically, streamlining the royalty distribution process to PARTNERS and reducing the administrative burden. Beyond the automatic remuneration criteria, if an article is extraordinarily successful, receiving awards or having positive social impact, the start-up would be rewarded internally. This impact could be measured by effective social, political and economical transformation, like the fall of a corrupt politician, for example. Any royalty sharing system must be transparent, in order to build trust
between the different parties. Thus, the distribution of income by INDIE to partner start-ups would be demonstrated by statistics originating from the platform itself and available for consultation at any moment. Each partner start-up would have a complete dashboard on INDIE’s website, with real time statistics, and a data management page that would allow them to follow their progress. Using this metric, each project start-up could analyze the audience for its content and its performance on social media, which would improve process management and editorial choices. This is one of INDIE’s fundamental commitments: to provide partner start-ups with all of its financial management data, in total transparency, and to make feedback on their performance available so they can also learn from the process. INDIE would not adopt the royalty
rate model adopted by music streaming services. This system values artists according to their notoriety. It is controversial, since it generates inequality between record labels and artists. INDIE prefers a model which gives the same initial weight to all partner start-ups, differentiating the value of each article’s remuneration by the success and quality criteria laid out: audience, true readership, engagement [repercussion], and prominence of the article reached on the website. In this way, each time a reader clicks on an article on INDIE’s website, a payment will be generated for the start-up that wrote the content. Each time the reader reads 70% of the text, for instance, this will generate a new payment, and each time the reader shares it on social media, this will trigger a third payment. The more the text stands out on INDIE’s main screen, the bigger the bonus.
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INDIE ROAD MAP
INDIE tem um primeiro objetivo claro: criar um hub de veículos de mídia independente. O segundo objetivo de INDIE é transformar-se e uma nova franquia de jornalismo na paisagem de mídia internacional, a exemplo de cases de sucesso no jornalismo digital como Vice, Slate, Vox ou Politico.
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INDIE optou por escolher um primeiro mercado, o Brasil, para desenvolver o produto e pesquisar e desenvolver meios inovadores de financiamento, de forma a encontrar uma equação econômica sustentável que possa ser reproduzida em outros países. Esses dois objetivos estão descritos neste road map, que explica a evolução do projeto INDIE ao longo de seus primeiros cinco anos de existência. O primeiro gráfico traça o panorama geral do projeto e seu shift programado de empresa B2B para empresa B2C. Em cinco anos, as metas fixadas são:
[1] a criação de INDIE AGENCY [Correspondente, b2b]; [2] a criação de INDIE [b2c]; [3] o início da expansão internacional do projeto, com a abertura de uma primeira franquia fora de seu mercado de origem, o Brasil.
STRA O segundo gráfico descreve as etapas de criação de INDIE AGENCY, ocorrida entre novembro de 2015 e janeiro de 2017. A agência tem como objetivo dar início às operações e lançar as bases do primeiro pilar financeiro do projeto, o de syndication [venda de direitos de publicação de uma parte do conteúdo produzida pela redação de INDIE. Essa etapa exige o levantamento de ¤ 150 mil em fundos angel. O terceiro gráfico descreve a estratégia de criação do new media outlet INDIE, que acontecerá no YEAR 2 do projeto. Os primeiros passos já estão em curso, junto com os últimos passos do YEAR 1. O quarto gráfico traça as linhas gerais da estratégia ao longo dos YEARS 2, 3 e 4, focando em metas de conteúdo, tecnologia, tráfego e renda. Essas três etapas do projeto exigirão um investimento da ordem de ¤ 1,5 milhão. O desenvolvimento a partir do YEAR 4, que prevê a expansão de INDIE, exigirá segundo as estimativas traçadas outros ¤ 7,5 milhões em investimentos. Ao termo, INDIE já existirá como novo veículo de mídia internacional.
A LONG TERM ATEGY FOR INDIE NATURE
B2B
B2C + B2B
TIMELINE
YEAR 1
YEAR 2
YEAR 3
YEAR 4
YEAR 5
PERIOD
2016/2017
2017/2018
2018/2019
2019/2020
2020/2021
OBJECTIVE
CREATION OF CORRESPONDENTE, THE INDIE AGENCY
CREATION OF INDIE, THE DIGITAL PLATFORM FOR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM.
FUNDING
150 K €
1.5 M €
7.5 M € *
STAGE
READY TO GO
FUNDING
TO BE FUNDED
FIRST LABORATORY MARKET: BRAZIL
INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION: CREATION OF THE FIRST INDIE FRANCHISE.
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DONE
STEPS
STATUS DONE
Beginning of documentation (proposal)
DONE
Beginning of the business plan
DONE
First contacts with investors and clients
DONE
Branding
DONE
End of the documentation and business plan
DONE
End of the businessplan
150 K € NEEDED
FUNDING
Brain storming with clients and conception
CREATION OF CORRESPONDENTE, THE INDIE AGENCY
ONGOING
Application to incubators
ONGOING
Funding and negotiations with clients
NOVEMBER 2015 - JANUARY 2017
B2B YEAR 1
OBJECTIVE
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Ready to launch
–
–
150K €
4 journalist in Paris 10 foreign correspond.
INVEST.
HUMAN RESOURCES
STAGE
FUNDING
Done
Done
STAGE
2 weeks
Questionnary on the hypercore [100]
1 week
Definition of size and market profile
CALENDAR
STEPS
OBJECTIVE
2017/2018
1 market
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2 weeks
Qualitative interviews on the hypercore [20]
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–
2 mounths
Qualitatif study on the hypercore [1000]
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1 research. 2 develop. 1 designer 1 market + journalists 1 research. 2 develop. 1 designer 1 market 1 market 1 developer –
FUNDING
1.5 M €
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–
Crowd funding
50K € Design agency
3 mounths
Iterations
10K €
–
Soft launch
1 months
Number zero
2 months
Iterations
2 mounths
Brainstorm & prototype
Design sprint
FIRST LABORATORY MARKET: BRAZIL
CREATION OF INDIE, THE DIGITAL PLATFORM FOR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM.
B2C+B2B YEAR 2
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1 research 4 develop. 1 prod manager 1 designer 1 market + journalists
200K € Marketing
–
Hard launch
PERIOD
2017/2018 INDIE Brasil: main themes 1 («Power»)
CONTENT
Correspondente (own production) Partners definition / pilot
2018/2019
2019/2010
INDIE Brasil: main themes 2 («Power, Culture»)
INDIE Brasil: large themes («Power, Culture, Future»)
Correspondentes (own production)
Correspondentes (own production)
Partners v1 (2 or 3 regular traffic)
Partners v2 (5 or 6 regular traffic) Indie Ideas
Own CMS CMS Open Source v1
TECHNO
Responsive Site v1 Appli mobile v1
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Responsive Site v2 with Partner application
Appli mobile & other devices V2 Developments for Data (internal use / monetization)
Subscriptions: 30.000
Subscriptions: 100.000
Subscriptions: 200.000
Free traffic: x coeff 1 ?
Free traffic: x coeff 2 ?
Free traffic: x coeff 3 ?
Crowdfunding cheap subscriptions
REVENUES
Responsive Site v3 with Partner application
Appli mobile v2
OBJECTIVE
TRAFFIC
CMS Open Source v2
Normal subscriptions Local Syndication (no double count w/ Agency)
Subscriptions
Subscriptions Local Syndication
FUNDING
1.5 M €
STAGE
FUNDING
Local syndication, customized production Embedded services: Education products, Indie Campus, Data monetization
B2C+B2B YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4
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INDIE’s creation will follow Lean Startup principles. This means a clear vision, a consistent strategy, a realistic business plan, and above all, a thorough business creation philosophy, based on a talented, agile and lean structure. Thoroughness, however, is not enough to forgo external funding. INDIE plans to secure resources in four stages, with clearly defined targets. These stages are described below. The sequence that can be adjusted according to the project’s evolution, and are inspired on start-up success stories such as Mediapart and Les Jours, in France, and De Correspondent, in Holland, and include classic and innovative capitalization methods. They are:
STAGE 1 STAGE 2 T O PUBLISHER CONSTRUCTION
BUILD-UP OF THE SUBSCRIBER BASE
There are two priorities in phase number 1 : [A] the financing of the brand, which will reflect brand image; and [B] the construction of the technological infrastructure of the digital publisher, as represented by the responsive website [front and back end] and by mobile applications for smartphones and tablets adapted to operational systems IOS and Android. This structure will be designed to suit INDIE, and will include a system of subscriptions and payments, and an algorithm capable of automatically generating the fee to paid to the PARTNERS. This stage of fund raising will be carried out in Europe by equity crowdfunding in the following way:
Once Stage 1 shares have been sold, INDIE will enter the design and development phase. In parallel, the company will begin to attract subscribers, who will feed the first of the three pillars of sustainability for the project: PAYWALL & SUBSCRIPTIONS. For this, INDIE will crowdfund via Catarse in Brazil, the biggest national collective funding platform. After introducing its editorial line, its vision and strategy, its PARTNERS and its design, INDIE will start selling subscriptions at a promotional cost, so as to bring in an initial base of subscribers. The objective of this phase is to generate interest and then, loyalty. It will drive the brand, and promote the publisher with readers and the partner start-ups. The crowdfunding target will be to sell 30.000 annual subscriptions for an introductory rate of R$1 [0.25€] per month or R$10 [2.50€] for the year – generating a minimum total of R$ 300.000. The subscribers will have access to freemium content [free + premium] for 12 months. At the end of this period, the subscription fee will go to its normal value, presumably R$ 9.90 per month.
> Sale of X x XX.XXX € shares > Total value collected: XXX.XXX € > Each share is equivalent to X% of the company > Total shares for sale: XX% > Final capitalisation: XXXXXXX
SHAREHOLDER DESIGN PERSPECTIVE
At the end of stage 4 funding, INDIE will have consolidated a balanced shareholder. Even as it relies on the necessary external resources to take the project to break even point, INDIE will be managed throughout by journalists, the founder and co-founders, which will ensure the project’s editorial autonomy.
STAGE 3 STAGE 4 O A TEAM INDIE AND INDIE DATA
MEDIUM TERM SUSTAINABILITY
Once the two first stages of collective funding are achieved, via equity crowdfunding in Europe and via crowdfunding in Brazil, INDIE will have enough money to build its brand and its basic technological infrastructure, while working toward achieving loyalty among its reader base. This means that, even before its first round of investor searches, INDIE will already exist as a publisher in the Brazilian media marketplace. INDIE will then initiate Stage 3 of its financing, aimed at building its own team of journalists, TEAM INDIE. They will staff its “Brazil” and “World” newsrooms, based in Rio de Janeiro and Paris respectively, and will be responsible for curating and editing PARTNER content as well as producing content that fills identified information gaps. INDIE AGENCY will then begin to commercialize TEAM INDIE and PARTNERS’ content via SYNDICATION, the second of the three pillars of project funding. To finance TEAM INDIE, INDIE will carry out its first search round for a foreign investor with the necessary resources to consolidate the project, without interfering in content production. In an ideal scenario, this investor would bring data analysis skills to the table, becoming a preferential partner for the third pilar supporting the project: INDIE DATA, the big data branch, responsible for for content production and B2B consulting.
Apart from facilitating the start of INDIE’s editorial activities in Brazil and abroad, Stage 3 of the funding project initiate big data’s activities, which are expected to drive the project’s long-term growth. But journalism requires large and immediate investments. To meet this need, a fourth stage of funding is expected, and its objective will be to guarantee INDIE’s medium term viability - until its break even point (BEP) is achieved (expected at 3 years post-launch.) Phase 4 intends to attract a Brazilian associate. The criteria for this associate is subjective: we are looking for (a person? An organization? ) with a public and a republican spirit, an attachment to freedom of expression and freedom of press, an awareness that it is necessary and desirable to support independent journalism and foster a plurality of voices in the media landscape of a big country such as Brazil. It is assumed that the associate will not interfere in INDIE’s editorial lines, as it is important that the project remain independent. The resources brought in by this last associate will guarantee TEAM INDIE’s sustainability and INDIE’s technological, administrative, and marketing upkeep in the 36 months leading up to the break even point.
> Estimate : XX% of the capital > Intended value : X XXXXX € > Final capitalisation : XX XXXXX €
> Estimate : XX% of the capital > Intended value : X XXXXX € > Final capitalisation : XX XXXXX €
INDIE: FUNDING STAGES
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PART 3 — BRANDING INDIE
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INDIE wants to represent an idea: the INDIE spirit. For that reason, its image must match its praxis. It must be legitimately and drastically independent, in its administrative, funding and journalistic practice. And being independent also means being rebellious.
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Using as an example Nike, which has mastered this concept, the INDIE brand must revive the archetype of the idealist journalist who is concerned with the social impact of his/her work, and who wishes to change the world. This is in line with the project’s goal: to rescue the social purpose of journalism, as a profession that has social impact and the public good as its focus — in contrast to the opacity of mainstream industry interests, and the cynicism of many contemporary journalism businesses.
To this end, INDIE’s branding will rely on strategies that highlight this sense of swimming against the tide, of overcoming challenges. The brand will reflect this rebellious and “outcast” streak, with its evocation of drastic independence and freedom of speech, and as such will appeal to Brazilians who are looking forward and outward, searching for a new ways to live, work, play and engage with the world. INDIE must be to mainstream media what Apple was to Microsoft in 1980’s and 1990’s.
INDIE is not an NGO, and yet, it aims to reach the same level of identification and engagement with its public as NGOs like Amnesty International, WWF, Greenpeace, Oxfam or Médecins Sans Frontières have achieved.
To do this, INDIE will have a refined, simple, ergonomic and functional graphic design that makes creative use of its extensive multimedia resources — text, videos, illustrations, graphic elements, documentary and art photography. Its brand and interface will convey a contemporary, innovative, cosmopolitan and connected fee
The first mockups for INDIE were designed around 30 months ago. There is a clear preference for a flat design, a regular grid, and a simple logo. Its icon will have three predominant colors - INDIE black, white and red.
The responsive website and mobile applications for smartphones and tablets will share a graphic design that allows ample space for images - photography, video and graphics -, matching a clean text and simple typography, with ample use of white spaces, in a design that contrasts with the visual pollution found in other journalism websites.
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BRANDING THE “CHALLENGER” S
Since INDIE will fight for a fairer society, it will stimulate not only the idealism of its internal staff – journalists, designers and developers— but also inspire its external audience. Inspiration generates loyalty, and by investing in this relationship with its audience, INDIE will also build a solid audience base and ensure its growth.
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Research shows that the perception of “brand personality” determines the extent of audience engagement. By conveying an independent, cheeky and fierce image, INDIE will capture audience appreciation, engagement – and funding. These two elements, credibility and cheekiness, will be key to convincing a reader to support a project that, at its inception, will not have the same resources as competitors.
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It is therefore essential that INDIE’s core values and social commitment come across from the very first connection. As Apple did in the 1990s, the entirely of the project must convey the impression that it is a challenger, defying the mainstream.
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67 INDIE will not have distractions such as flashing or scrolling advertising, or excessive links hinting at other articles. The idea is to offer a design focused on content, so that the reader can concentrate on reading.
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INDIE: SPIRIT
INDIE’s look and feel feeds off minimalist aesthetics from design, architecture and fashion websites, not journalistic ones that attempt to replicate old-fashioned print press designs.
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Below are some representative samples of the project’s design. Among them are website cover projections, articles presented on a notebook or desktop and on a tablet or smartphone.
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The fundamentals of INDIE branding are expressed in the design: this is a bold, idealistic, sociallyengaged project, that is also worldly, elegant, simple and functional.
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ANNEXE — IN-DEPTH BUSINESS
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EXPLAINING THE NUMBERS
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This Business Plan has been prepared according to the three main steps of the project development, as described in the Road Map [in the next page]. Each of these steps represent an intermediary stage of the INDIE project, with specific revenue goals matched by resources [human & technical] need to reach these goals.
72
R
Revenues from sources other than subscription, including on-demand products for media syndication and private businesses, embedded services, data monetization or technology syndication, have not been valued in this business plan at this preliminary stage, although they are as central to the project’s long-term revenue stream as subscriptions. In addition, these additional revenues could be enhanced by the same teams and resources already build into the BP, with the exception of specific marketing resources; consequently we believe these revenues could be reliably profitable in the future. The length of each phase is not fully pre-determined at this stage, since it is dependent on many factors, most particularly on the start-up’s capacity develop an efficient technical platform, and attract influential partners. So, in order to offer a meaningful visualization of the BP in a meaningful way, we present it in on:
> Full year basis: financial simulation of each step in a stable situation during 12 months. > Calendar year basis: financial simulation of the progressive evolution from one step to the other, reaching the milestones of each step at the end of the 12th month. Cost related to international team (France) have been allocated 50% to INDIE (and 50% to INDIE Agency). Depending on the estimated costs for certain resources possibly scarce in the Brazilian market, such as technical developers, and on FX rate hypothesis, Pay-Back of the project is estimated between 3,5 and 4,5 years.
Principle & phasing
Costs
T
A
Revenues
Perspectives
The Agency will work on maximized variable cost principles. The business plan is based on the assumption of a weekly production and distribution of around 30 pieces, all formats included, with a stable team of 10 foreign correspondents. > A small central team of 4 people, plus administration and finance support; > A team of foreign correspondents, 100% paid on a variable basis.
A
A detailed pricing by type of piece will be established. For the BP model, a 50% margin on selling price has been estimated (100 euros invoiced generate 50 euros margin contribution to fixed costs).
Agency costs are composed of: > A central staff consisting of four people and overhead, which are allocated 50% to INDIE Agency project and 50% to INDIE project in Brazil; > Overhead (offices, administration and finance support) representing globally 125 K euros yearly; > Travel (12 K euros monthly); > Cost of a fixed team of 10 foreign correspondents (close to 40 K euros monthly); salary levels are estimated based on existing levels, and could be subject to adjustments locally.
I
Income tax has not been modeled in the BP, which focuses on the initial phase of INDIE and the steps to reach break-even, during which INDIE would not generate taxable profit. > A subsequent up-date would introduce this calculation. > We estimate break-even can be achieved when 50% of load is obtained (contracts for 15 to 20 pieces weekly).
REGARDING THE AGENCY
73
FX rate
3,25
R$ / $
4,00
R$ / â‚Ź
Headcount Mile 1
Mile 2
12M cost (K R$) Mile 3
un. cost
Mile 1
Mile 2
Mile 3
Journalism: Chief Editor
1
1
2
273
273
273
546
Field journalists
10
10
15
109,2
1092
1092
1638
Free Lancers
3
5
15
54,6
164
273
819
15%
229
246
450
Travel costs & others Technical development:
74
Tech. Dev. Manager
1
1
1
273
273
273
273
Tech. Developpers
3
5
10
109,2
328
546
1092
200
350
500
218
218
437
100
100
200
Material & out-sourcing Marketing: Mkt mngr & relations w/ sites
1
1
2
218,4
Marketing Fees Admin. Functions & OH: CFO & Admin. Manager
1
1
1
218,4
218
218
218
Assistant
0
1
2
54,6
0
55
109
Office rental
100
100
100
Supplies & fees
50
50
50
117
146
281
2 566
2 948
5 132
Overheads - local
796
992
1 581
Agency allocated costs
742
817
898
4 105
4 757
7 612
Other Costs: Travels (2 int / month) Total Costs: Total Headcount:
Total
20
25
48
Salary ref list - K$ per month (gross) Chief Editor
5,0
Field journalists
2,0
Free Lancers
1,0
Tech. Dev. Manager
5,0
Tech. Developpers
2,0
Other Dept Managers
4,0
Assistant
1,0
% employer charges
40%
75
I. COSTS STAFF BRAZIL
II. REVENUES Mile 1
Mile 2
Mile 3
Mile 1
Mile 2
Mile 3
Subscriptions : New Subscriptions at step-end:
R$ / month
promotional
15 000
5 000
5 000
1
normal price
15 000
65 000
95 000
9,9
Total
30 000
70 000
100 000
Total Subscriptions at step-end:
76
12M step-end revenues - TTC 180
240
300
1 782
9 504
20 790
1 962
9 744
21 090
12M step-end revenues - NET
promotional
15 000
20 000
25 000
148
197
246
normal price
15 000
80 000
175 000
Vat rate
1461
7793
17048
Total
30 000
100 000
200 000
18%
1 609
7 990
17 294
promotional
12
16
21
normal price
122
649
1421
Total
134
666
1441
Monthly Turnover Target by Step:
INDICATIF Step average vs step-end target:
Calendar Year revenues - TTC
promotional
80%
80%
80%
144
228
288
normal price
50%
50%
50%
891
5 643
15 147
1 035
5 871
15 435
Total
12M step-average revenues - NET promotional
118
187
236
normal price
731
4 627
12 421
Total
849
4 814
12 657
Mile 1 Other Products Brazil:
Mile 2
Mile 3
Mile 1
Mile 2
Mile 3
Data Monetization & Services
Revenues Calendar Year
10 %
of total turnover
Costs Calendar Year
20 %
GM in step 3
1 406 281
Revenue Reversal to Partners: Yearly average - % of Traffic generated by Partners: on total (paid & unpaid)
% reverse 0%
20%
50%
70%
Yearly reverse - NET Full Year basis 0
1 119
6 053
Yearly reverse - NET Cal. Year basis 0
674
4 430
Calendar year
849
4 140
8 227
Full Year basis
1 609
6 626
9 912
-3 256
-617
896
Revenues Net of Reverse:
Profit / Loss Perspective on 12M basis: Calendar year Full Year basis
3 910
Capex (Paris - K â‚Ź) Technical Platform (outsourcing)
150
100
100
Material, Marketing & others
100
50
50
Total
250
150
150
77