How Industry Dive grew into an $80 million business

Sean Griffey

William Turvill of the Press Gazette profiles Industry Dive and interviewed its founder, CEO Sean Griffey, about its growth.

Turvill writes, “Of course, time and patience weren’t all that was required to establish Industry Dive’s titles across numerous sectors.

“When the company started out, Griffey says he and his team focused on creating websites that would work well on mobile (a relatively new issue at the time) and have strong newsletters attached. Industry Dive also attempted to differentiate itself with content and website design.

“‘If we do something different, we’ll stand out,’ Griffey says, explaining how Industry Dive attempted to create ‘our wedge as new entrants.’.

“‘If we have great design in business markets, we can stand out. If we’re mobile-friendly, we’ll stand out. And we always believed in email – that was a big part of our backgrounds and the rest.’

“Industry Dive’s initial content mantra was to create ‘concise pieces that told stories quickly.’ But this approach changed over time, says Griffey.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.