When we launched 404 Media in August 2023, it was a leap of faith. We were leaving the world of big, corporate media — where we worked for years alongside exceptionally brilliant colleagues, but also under the constant turmoil of investor whims, executive decisions we had no say in, and " economic headwinds " that sounded a lot like excuses for lumbering, ineffective business models. When we each put in our notice and leapt into the unknown, we did so hoping we’d have support. People already knew what we were capable of: impactful, important, conversation-defining work. We hoped people would keep caring about the journalism we wanted to make, and would help us keep doing it. At the time, we wrote : “We believe that if we do this journalism well enough, you, our readers, will be willing to subscribe because you think it’s important, because you think it should exist in the world, and because you feel you’re personally getting value from it
