MANSUETO VENTURES PRESS RELEASES

Mansueto Ventures In The News: Folio Magazine, July 31

Building the Big Idea
The magazine industry lives and dies on ideas-ideas combined with strong execution. And typically the second part-the execution-is measured around mid-year, around now.

That's when publishing companies assess their performances for the first half, plan for the second half and especially, plan in a strategic sense for the coming year. All kinds of questions get asked: Are we hitting our numbers? If not, why not? How will we make it up? Have we budgeted enough for this initiative? That initiative? Are those the right priorities for our business? Is our organization structured correctly to accomplish what we want to do? How must we change? What are the key competitive and internal impediments to success?

The following seven pages are dedicated to answering those questions. We called this report "Building the Big Idea," and we asked 12 of the industry's most creative thinkers-from all sectors-to tell us what their Big Idea is for the second half of 2007 and into 2008. We wanted to know what two or three big, strategic priorities these top executives are communicating to the enterprise-and how they're marshalling their resources to get the job done. And we asked them to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that surround those ideas.

In the pages that follow, you'll find some of the same things you've been struggling with, as well as what you perhaps should be struggling with-and, finally, some creative solutions.

John Koten
CEO, Mansueto Ventures

John Koten, CEO of Mansueto Ventures, which publishes Inc. and Fast Company, doesn't think 500 is such a big number anymore. The Inc. 500, an annual list of the fastest-growing private companies, is about to be blown out ten-fold. Koten is banking on the new list having a quadruple effect of becoming the nexus of the entrepreneurial community, extending the brand's reach, achieving multiplatform status, and offering a product that competes with online data providers such as Hoover's and Dun & Bradstreet. The Inc. 5,000 will make its debut this September at the list's annual conference.

"The Inc. 5,000 is a lot more than just trying to assemble a list and to bring attention to these companies and make it an editorial project," says Koten. "It's something that we're going to be trying to build much of our business around."

The top 500 companies will still be known as the Inc. 500, but the complete list of 5,000 will exist online as an ever-growing, user-generated database. Koten is investing over $1 million to cover outreach efforts and a build-out of the Web platform to host the full database.

The expanded list is expected to offer greater opportunities for business and editorial development. For starters, the Inc. 5,000 will supercharge the list's database. "Even after doing the list for 27 years, we've got data on about 7,000 companies in total," says Koten. "But [the new list] lets us collect information in a virtual community online for 5,000 companies a year and allows us to build up a much larger database and information network about private companies, which offers a variety of commercial applications beyond traditional media."

Eventually, Koten sees the Inc. 5,000 as a standalone brand that exists as a sort of Facebook for the entrepreneurial set. Private companies, outside of the context of the list itself, will be able to create their own profile at any time. Those that make the list will have access to more enhanced features. The network that results will offer a database of private companies on par with the products Hoover's and Dun & Bradstreet offer. The difference is the Inc. 5,000 will be primarily user generated, but with a policing mechanism in place.

STRENGTHS
"We're already experts at identifying fast growing companies through the Inc. 500. We have built a lot of expertise and good partnerships in this area."

WEAKNESSES
"It's a huge expansion of the list, and an ambitious and costly undertaking. It also involves trying to monetize the list in new and as yet not fully proven ways."

OPPORTUNITIES
"To strengthen and solidify our position as the premier authority on growing entrepreneurial companies."

THREATS
If Inc. doesn't move to an even more commanding position as the premier private company compiler, someone else will.