How Inc. and Fast Company are working together more

Tony Silber writes for Forbes.com about how the two business magazines — Inc. and Fast Company — owned by Mansueto Ventures are working more closely together under CEO Eric Schurenberg.

Silber writes, “He offers an example of cross-brand learning: Fast Company had been a sponsor at South By Southwest for nine years, but Inc. hadn’t. Part of the Fast Company program was the ‘Fast Company Grill,’ where the brand hosted parties and events. This year, when a neighboring restaurant became available, Inc. took it and modeled its activation on the learnings of Fast Company. And as a result, Schurenberg says, Inc. more than broke even in its first year with a ‘Founders House.’ In fact, he says, Inc.’s strategy was to limit the audience to entrepreneurs. They had to prove they had a company. ‘We promised sponsors 1,000 people,’ Shurenberg says. ‘Somewhere north of 5,000 people applied — 3,700 were vetted and we delivered 3,500.’

“Another area for shared ideas is in content marketing — Inc. had a robust custom-content business, but until recently, Fast Company only dipped a toe in it.”

Read more here.