In a world advancing faster than ever due to AI, reporters could actually be the standout founders of a new era of businesses.

At first glance, journalism and entrepreneurship occupy conflicting ends of the workforce. But the truth is that journalists have essential skills that make them perfect for developing their own ventures, turning storytelling into sales.

Many have already made the jump successfully. Former journalists such as Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark, Social News Desk’s Kim Wilson, and Rob Fishman—who co-founded marketing-influencer platform Niche (acquired by Twitter)—demonstrate that journalism aligns with entrepreneurial success.

The first edition of our Storytelling that Moves Money series explores how a career in journalism can translate into startup success for reporters.

From WNYC to Startup: A Personal Journey

My journalism career was one of the most exhilarating phases of my life. I was steeped in news and books, energized by world debates and felt like I was making a contribution to the word. Two years in, I remained passionate but financial security became a bigger priority.

While I acknowledged that journalism was never a path to wealth, I began to feel that job stability was fading. Since 2005, more than 30,000 newsroom jobs have been eliminated. Today, a startling 34% of U.S. journalists are freelancers.

Working alongside successful founders to tell their stories opened my eyes and shined new light on the skills I had taken for granted. I realized that being a journalist had prepared me for the business world. All I needed was to bring everything together.

Pitching Stories vs Business

Landing a major contract was my biggest springboard to entrepreneurship. In doing so, I learned that sales and storytelling involved much of the same skills. In the newsroom, think you got a great story idea? Well you have to sell that idea to your editor in a pitch.

Pitching is a daily and perpetual exercise for journalists. Competing with endless stories in the news cycle, journalists mastered communicating the value of the story to the public in doing so quickly, bitesized, and in smart packaging.

Both journalists and founders are pitching machines. Founders pitch to investors, customers, and partnerships. They craft pitch decks, email pitches, and they pitch to reporters as well. They are constantly crafting tailored narratives designed to communicate or sell their value.

Every sale or pitch—whether for a story or a product—starts with research. Founders take on copious research to identify customers’ needs, market dynamics, and economic shifts, leveraging that data to craft a tailored message showcasing how their solution delivers value.

In the newsroom, journalists dig until they understand a story’s public impact: Will it affect people’s finances? Save lives? Set a lasting precedent? Imagine a reporter in a café, notebook open, asking probing questions about a breaking news event. Now picture a founder across town, talking with a potential customer to uncover pain points. Different contexts, same core skill.

Having Vision, Seeing What Others Miss

Founders are visionaries who spot patterns and untapped opportunities everywhere. They draw insight from casual discussions, industry reports, and on-the-ground realities, assembling these fragments into coherent business ideas.

This shared mindset of curiosity and continuous learning unites journalists and founders. Both recognize that value lies beyond familiar walls but in real-world experiences, shifting norms, and evolving needs. By staying inquisitive, observing closely, and connecting dots that others overlook, journalists uncover compelling stories and founders build companies that solve genuine, often unspoken, market demands.

As Sam Altman observes, successful founders must process complex information, recognize emerging trends, and make decisions grounded in practical, real-world intelligence. This ability to learn from daily experiences and translate them into viable solutions is how founders originate ideas and navigate inevitable challenges.

Journalists practice this same skill every day. They understand that the best stories don’t arrive on a silver platter; they must be discovered. A seasoned reporter will treat a cab ride conversation as a potential data point. Journalists turn routine interactions into investigations that drive meaningful narratives.

Great founders mirror this approach. They repeatedly ask “how,” “why,” "what if?” “why not?” And “for example?” Startup Bell puts it well: “Great founders view the world differently, constantly reframing challenges as opportunities.”

By embracing this shared mindset—valuing learning over assumptions and discovery over guesswork—journalists stepping into the startup world can leverage their natural strengths to become visionary founders.

People Are Everything

Great journalists understand that people are at the heart of every story. They're sources, experts, witnesses, and the key to understanding what's really happening. Journalists are also natural networkers, building vast systems of community. They are unafraid of small talk, banter, and above all listening. Journalists learn that every great story begins with quiet ears.

This people-person attitude translates directly to founder success.

For founders, being able to network, listen, and genuinely connect with people is nothing short of a superpower. When you listen with genuine curiosity, you open the door for connection and trust. People are more likely to share how they feel and what barriers they’re facing that your product can help solve. Plus, your openness will build trust which is the foundation of every business relationship, whether with a mentor, investor or partner.

Deadline Discipline

Here's where journalists have a huge advantage: they understand the value of action. Journalists thrive in deadline-heavy cultures and as such have developed systems for taking action and moving projects forward. They aren’t afraid to take action, to charge forward on pinning down a topic or idea, and it’s this sense of creating momentum that founders need in their playbook.

When co-founders and investors see you consistently meet targets, they know two things: you respect commitments and you can make good decisions with limited information.

Making the Leap

If you're a journalist considering entrepreneurship, you already have more of these essential skills than you realize. The jump is about applying the skills you already have to building business, product or service instead of stories.

We will be talking about this more in an upcoming webinar in June. Stay tuned!