Quartz co-founders Kevin Delaney and Jay Lauf, along with New York Times veteran Erin Grau, are launching a new media and services company called “Charter” that focuses on the future of work, the companies said. founders at Axios.
Why is this important: “There are other media companies that write about this topic — some occasionally and some more frequently, but it’s one of many topics they do,” Delaney said. “It’s a priority for us.”
Details: The company, which for now is self-funded, will have three main sources of revenue: sponsorships, subscriptions and services, Delaney and Grau told Axios.
- So far, Charter has slowly launched products under the name “Reset Work”, named after Delaney’s newsletter, which it launched late last year. “Rebranding the company reflects our greatest ambitions,” Delaney said.
- The free newsletter, which has 20,000 subscribers, tracks trends and provides analysis on workplace issues related to the pandemic and its recovery.
- The team has already sold sponsorships around the newsletter over the past few months to companies like Goldman Sachs and Citrix.
What is happening: On Tuesday, the company will officially announce its new name and new mission during its inaugural summit on returning to work, sponsored by McKinsey & Company, TIME and EgonZehnder.
- Over the coming months, it will launch more events for return-to-work experts to discuss and plan for the post-pandemic months ahead.
- The company has already started developing some of the services it plans to offer businesses to help them navigate the future of work, including a new online course and digital certificate on hybrid work management which he co-created with Nomadic, a B2B training company.
- It currently has eight employees who for now are all working remotely. Going forward, the plan is to develop a hybrid working model as the outlet grows. Its headquarters will be in New York.
The big picture: The future of work has long been a hot topic for media companies like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, especially in the conference space. Dozens of others have pushed to cover the job more aggressively with special briefings and newsletters amid the pandemic.
Be smart: Charter hopes to differentiate itself from other work-focused companies by providing services in addition to content and working with partners in a consultative manner. Courses are the first product of this line of business.
- “Organizations we work with should have better employee retention and engagement,” Grau said. “They should live this moment better.”
What to watch: The company plans to introduce a subscription service later this summer.
