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Feb 10, 2021 · 15m · founders-journal

Audience Building 101

Alex Lieberman · 14m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Morning Brew co-founder Alex Lieberman explains why building an audience is a vital 21st-century superpower for career leverage and business growth. He breaks down the audience journey using a three-tier framework: rented, owned, and monetized distribution channels.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Alex holds 99.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Alex as informed peer 0.0 Guest teaching 0.0 Guest disagreement 0.0 Alex pushing back 0.0
05100:0010:000:51–6:58 · Alex as informed peer 0/10 Defining Audience and Its Value for Non-Media Professionals This is a solo monologue segment where Alex Lieberman explains what an audience is and illustrates its career value using Sahil Bloom as a case study. Because it is a monologue without dialogue or an active guest, all scores remain zero.6:58–9:06 · Alex as informed peer 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 1 – Rented Audience Alex delivers a solo explanation of Tier 1 of the Audience Funnel: rented audiences on third-party platforms like Twitter and Facebook. With no interactive interview dynamic, all scores are zero per monologue scoring rules.9:07–11:25 · Alex as informed peer 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 2 – Owned Audience Alex breaks down Tier 2 of the framework, covering owned audiences such as email lists and podcasts, and explains Morning Brew's owned-first strategy. As a monologue lecture, all conversational dynamic metrics are scored zero.11:25–13:55 · Alex as informed peer 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 3 – Monetized Audience Alex details Tier 3: monetizing audiences directly through premium products, courses, or career leverage. The segment is entirely solo host narration, so all scores are zero.0:51–6:58 · Guest teaching 0/10 Defining Audience and Its Value for Non-Media Professionals This is a solo monologue segment where Alex Lieberman explains what an audience is and illustrates its career value using Sahil Bloom as a case study. Because it is a monologue without dialogue or an active guest, all scores remain zero.6:58–9:06 · Guest teaching 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 1 – Rented Audience Alex delivers a solo explanation of Tier 1 of the Audience Funnel: rented audiences on third-party platforms like Twitter and Facebook. With no interactive interview dynamic, all scores are zero per monologue scoring rules.9:07–11:25 · Guest teaching 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 2 – Owned Audience Alex breaks down Tier 2 of the framework, covering owned audiences such as email lists and podcasts, and explains Morning Brew's owned-first strategy. As a monologue lecture, all conversational dynamic metrics are scored zero.11:25–13:55 · Guest teaching 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 3 – Monetized Audience Alex details Tier 3: monetizing audiences directly through premium products, courses, or career leverage. The segment is entirely solo host narration, so all scores are zero.0:51–6:58 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Defining Audience and Its Value for Non-Media Professionals This is a solo monologue segment where Alex Lieberman explains what an audience is and illustrates its career value using Sahil Bloom as a case study. Because it is a monologue without dialogue or an active guest, all scores remain zero.6:58–9:06 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 1 – Rented Audience Alex delivers a solo explanation of Tier 1 of the Audience Funnel: rented audiences on third-party platforms like Twitter and Facebook. With no interactive interview dynamic, all scores are zero per monologue scoring rules.9:07–11:25 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 2 – Owned Audience Alex breaks down Tier 2 of the framework, covering owned audiences such as email lists and podcasts, and explains Morning Brew's owned-first strategy. As a monologue lecture, all conversational dynamic metrics are scored zero.11:25–13:55 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 3 – Monetized Audience Alex details Tier 3: monetizing audiences directly through premium products, courses, or career leverage. The segment is entirely solo host narration, so all scores are zero.0:51–6:58 · Alex pushing back 0/10 Defining Audience and Its Value for Non-Media Professionals This is a solo monologue segment where Alex Lieberman explains what an audience is and illustrates its career value using Sahil Bloom as a case study. Because it is a monologue without dialogue or an active guest, all scores remain zero.6:58–9:06 · Alex pushing back 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 1 – Rented Audience Alex delivers a solo explanation of Tier 1 of the Audience Funnel: rented audiences on third-party platforms like Twitter and Facebook. With no interactive interview dynamic, all scores are zero per monologue scoring rules.9:07–11:25 · Alex pushing back 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 2 – Owned Audience Alex breaks down Tier 2 of the framework, covering owned audiences such as email lists and podcasts, and explains Morning Brew's owned-first strategy. As a monologue lecture, all conversational dynamic metrics are scored zero.11:25–13:55 · Alex pushing back 0/10 The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 3 – Monetized Audience Alex details Tier 3: monetizing audiences directly through premium products, courses, or career leverage. The segment is entirely solo host narration, so all scores are zero.

speaking balance: gold is Alex, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Alex 99.9% · guest 0.1%0:00 · Alex 99.9% · guest 0.1%3:00 · Alex 100% · guest 0%3:00 · Alex 100% · guest 0%6:00 · Alex 100% · guest 0%6:00 · Alex 100% · guest 0%9:00 · Alex 100% · guest 0%9:00 · Alex 100% · guest 0%12:00 · Alex 99.7% · guest 0.3%12:00 · Alex 99.7% · guest 0.3%15:00 · Alex 100% · guest 0%15:00 · Alex 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 1:25 Preempting Skepticism on Audience Building

In a solo monologue format, this represents the closest analogue as Alex preemptively counters anticipated listener skepticism regarding why non-media professionals should care about audience building.

 Hardest push from Alex ▶ 8:10 Warning Against Platform Algorithm Reliance

Alex challenges the conventional reliance on rented social platforms, forcefully highlighting the vulnerability of having distribution controlled by tech algorithms.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:10 Simplifying Complex Finance Topics

Alex shares the educational insight from Sahil Bloom about masking financial jargon as accessible content to teach retail investors.

 Alex holds their own ▶ 10:15 Explaining Morning Brew's Core Moat

Alex leverages his direct entrepreneurial experience at Morning Brew to explain why building an owned audience first creates sustainable media business value.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicAlex as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementAlex pushing backWhy
Defining Audience and Its Value for Non-Media Professionals 0000 This is a solo monologue segment where Alex Lieberman explains what an audience is and illustrates its career value using Sahil Bloom as a case study. Because it is a monologue without dialogue or an active guest, all scores remain zero.
The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 1 – Rented Audience 0000 Alex delivers a solo explanation of Tier 1 of the Audience Funnel: rented audiences on third-party platforms like Twitter and Facebook. With no interactive interview dynamic, all scores are zero per monologue scoring rules.
The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 2 – Owned Audience 0000 Alex breaks down Tier 2 of the framework, covering owned audiences such as email lists and podcasts, and explains Morning Brew's owned-first strategy. As a monologue lecture, all conversational dynamic metrics are scored zero.
The Audience Funnel Framework: Tier 3 – Monetized Audience 0000 Alex details Tier 3: monetizing audiences directly through premium products, courses, or career leverage. The segment is entirely solo host narration, so all scores are zero.

Statements from this episode (6)

Insight
Audience Building Is a 21st-Century Superpower for Professionals
“No matter what you do in life, if you are a professional that is trying to grow your company or grow yourself, understanding how to build an audience is a 21st century superpower.”
Alex Lieberman Feb 10, 2021 ▶ 0:31
Assertion Supported
Sahil Bloom Grew Twitter Following From 500 to 136K in 2020
“So in just 12 months, Sahil has gone from 500 Twitter followers. That was how many followers he had on January first of 20 20 to 136,000 Twitter followers on January first of 2021.”
Alex Lieberman Feb 10, 2021 ▶ 5:08
Insight
Building an Audience Creates Options That Make Professionals Dangerous
“An audience creates options and options make you dangerous in your career or as a company.”
Alex Lieberman Feb 10, 2021 ▶ 6:46
Insight
Rented Platforms Enable Rapid Growth But Carry Distribution Risks
“It is the ease of sharing on these platforms and discovering new content and users on these platforms that makes it so exciting for you and I to start by building our audiences here because it's the easiest place to build an audience quickly, but it is also th…”
Alex Lieberman Feb 10, 2021 ▶ 8:44
Disclosure
Morning Brew Prioritized Owned Audiences Before Expanding to Social Media
“Morning Brew was founded on the premise of building an owned audience first. We started in the middle of the funnel. No big technology company can take that audience away from us. And now that we have such an intimate one-to-one relationship with our subscribe…”
Alex Lieberman Feb 10, 2021 ▶ 10:46
Disclosure
Morning Brew is Developing a Paid Business Education Product
“Using Morning Brew as an example, we're building a paid business education product that we will then market to our three million subscribers and listeners across Morning Brew, Founders Journal, Business Casual, et cetera, who will hopefully act as our initial …”
Alex Lieberman Feb 10, 2021 ▶ 12:45
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