The truth about building a media business in 2025 ft. Stefan von Imhof

This week on the Creator Spotlight Podcast we're joined by Stefan von Imhof, co-founder of alts.co, an alternative investment newsletter, community, fund, and platform. Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/stefan-von-imhof __ Alts Website: http://alts.co Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alts_co/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpmgk4gzQ56QvpyegBJJVQA Stefan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanvonimhof Substack: https://substack.com/@stefanvonimhof __ Follow Francis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zierer/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/FZierer __ Timestamps 00:00 Introducing Stefan 02:05 An alternative revenue breakdown 06:54 The biggest challenges of community building 15:02 How a side project becomes a business 22:44 Demonstrating the value of your content 27:33 Leveraging audience segmentation 31:21 Decentralised due-diligence 33:56 The art of buying and selling newsletters 37:10 A bearish perspective on the newsletter economy 40:54 The power of events as a community business 47:17 The playbook for newsletter acquisition 49:39 Newsletter remix concept 53:16 A love for physical media 56:55 Where is the creator/business owner tipping point