Jack Rivlin, CEO of The Tab: Starting a company at 19, going global, and learning on the job

The Balderton Podcast: Tech Investment | Venture Capital | Startup Funding

The Tab's CEO and Founder Jack Rivlin talks to Ben Goldsmith about all of the 'first-times' he's encountered since founding student media company The Tab with a group of friends at Cambridge University. The first time Jack hired people outside of the founding team, the first fund-raise, the first time that The Tab decided that they were going to launch in New York... 0014 Without pausing for breath, Jack starts the episode by sharing the news that The Tab recently smashed one of their own traffic records. 0135 Jack talks about Babe, The Tab's very recently launched new title for a female readership. 0200 Why launch Babe? Jack discusses how a lot of media aimed at women is patronising, and heavily product and celebrity focuses. The 'Babe' team want to change that. 0240 The subject of 'firsts' - as a 19 year old founder, Jack has had to go through a lot of complex, important and often high profile experiences at a comparatively early age. 0325 What was the first story published on The Tab? 0450 When did The Tab first gain the attention of the national media? 0550 When was the firs time that The Tab got into hot water? 0640 Jack talks us through the first apology issues by The Tab... which is now taught on journalism courses. 0710 What was the mission of the business when you first launched The Tab? As I'd imagine it wasn't "we want to build a media company that gets funded by VCs in 7 years time!" 0830 When was the first time you did something wrong? 1040 Jack talks about achieving a blend of serious journalism and more frivolous stories 1220 Why do you do 'the fun stuff'? 1350 Jack explains how what The Tab is doing is different, and why it is good for young people to have a publication like The Tab 1430 How did you make your first hires outside the original team? 1600 Jack talks about finding their first sales person... at Glastonbury. 1745 When did The Tab stop being the fun publications that a group of friends set up at Cambridge, and become a business? 1950 When did you decide to take The Tab to the USA? 2250 What's next for The Tab?