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A crypto media network turned a trusted professional audience into a paid research subscription business.
“We don't care about all of crypto; we're only going to focus on translating what's happening in crypto to the old-school institutional capital markets crowd.”
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Jason Yanowitz and his cofounder Mike started exploring Blockworks as a side project in December 2017, then left their jobs and launched in May 2018. Their wedge was crypto coverage for institutional investors and professionals, rather than another broad publication for retail traders. The media business combined conferences, podcasts, newsletters, and news, monetized through sponsorships and advertising. Yanowitz reports revenue of $250K in year one, $2M in year two, $3.5M in year three, $12.5M in year four, and $25.5M in year five, without venture funding during that period. Once media cash flow and audience relationships were established, the team built Blockworks Research, an enterprise subscription product priced at $4,500 per year. In spring 2023, the company raised $12M at a $135M post-money valuation to expand the research product. The strategy was a narrow editorial wedge followed by a higher-value product for the same professional audience. The founder's “negative CAC” description refers to using the existing media relationship to acquire research customers without a separate marketing budget; it is a distribution thesis, not a disclosed customer-acquisition calculation.
For a crypto research publication aimed at institutional investors, the first customers are usually found in the places those buyers already trust: specialist conferences, investor podcasts, and a focused email publication.
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“…quit our jobs and launch May 2018 first year of business 250k of Revenue second year of business 2 million of Revenue third year of business three and a.”
24:58 · hear it in the videoData credibility: The revenue trajectory and financing terms are founder-reported by Jason Yanowitz in a podcast conversation. He gives annual revenue from Blockworks' first through fifth years and says the company raised $12M at a $135M post-money valuation in spring 2023. No audit, public filing, or third-party dashboard is cited. The $4,500 annual Research price is also founder-stated. The 0.1% audience-conversion figure is an illustrative scenario, not an achieved conversion metric.
For this model, the first dollar can arrive before a subscription platform exists: a sponsor buys a placement in a newsletter, podcast, or event that reaches a defined professional audience.
Blockworks' reported growth mechanism paired a cash-generating media business with an owned relationship to a specialist audience. Its media side used conferences, podcasts, newsletters, and news to reach crypto investors and professionals; sponsorship and ad dollars monetized that attention.
A niche media company can spend a long time earning trust before it has a dependable product business. Blockworks' founders began working on the idea in December 2017, launched in May 2018, reported revenue over its first five years, and delayed a product-led expansion until the media operation was producing cash.
Our read: Blockworks is a two-layer information product. The first layer is the media brand: conferences, podcasts, newsletters, and news for crypto investors and professionals. The second is Blockworks Research, an enterprise subscription that gives customers deeper analysis. The founder says the editorial focus began with translating crypto developments for traditional institutional capital markets, then broadened while remaining crypto-native. He describes a multi-million-person audience relationship, but gives no detailed breakdown of that audience in this conversation. The paid product was quoted at $4,500 per year. The strategic distinction is that the free layer earns attention and creates familiarity, while research sells a more specific job to firms that need analysis for investment decisions. A copycat should define the recurring decision first, then commission research that helps answer it; a content archive by itself is not a reason to renew.
Our read: the model combines advertising and sponsorship revenue around media properties with enterprise subscriptions for research. Yanowitz describes the early business as generating revenue from conference sponsorships, podcasts, newsletters, and news. He says the media business was cash-flow positive and had not spent on marketing for Research because Blockworks already owned a relationship with the audience. The Research product had a stated annual price of $4,500. Those streams have different sales motions: sponsors buy access to a defined audience and calendar, while research customers pay for recurring analytical utility. Keep inventory and editorial policy distinct so a sponsor cannot dictate coverage. A new operator should track revenue and renewal separately by product line, because a large sponsorship quarter can disguise weak subscription retention. The founder's negative-CAC framing is the strategic advantage he sees in the shared audience; it should be measured as acquisition cost and conversion rather than treated as a guaranteed property of media distribution.
Our read: operate the publication and research product as a shared distribution system with separate cost centers. Media requires editors, reporters, audio and video production, event operations, and sponsor sales. Research adds analysts, data access, product engineering, customer onboarding, and account support. Events can create high-intent relationships, but venue and production commitments make forecasting important. A paid research product can carry stronger recurring economics than ad inventory only when analysts produce useful work on a schedule and customers keep renewing. The interview does not establish specific software, payroll, gross margin, or event-cost figures, so a founder should build those assumptions from actual quotes and a small launch budget. Use a lightweight publishing stack first, keep research permissions behind the subscription, and avoid commissioning expensive coverage until buyers show recurring demand. Report contribution by line so a profitable media operation does not silently subsidize an unproven product.
Our read: copy the audience discipline, the sequence, and the route from free expertise to paid utility. Blockworks did not begin by trying to cover every crypto reader; it focused on professionals who wanted institutional-quality interpretation. For a new entrant, choose a narrow buyer group with a budget and a recurring information gap, then build the publication around that gap. Test sponsor demand while building a direct audience, and launch a subscription only after readers ask for deeper work. Change the industry thesis: crypto's growth and institutional adoption were specific tailwinds, not a reusable guarantee. Validate advertiser budgets by interviewing media buyers and checking where they already spend. The best adjacent opportunity may be a smaller field with fewer readers but clear commercial value. Keep the product modular so premium research can be sold independently, while the free publication continues to attract readers and introduce the brand.
Our read: the central risk is that the audience, sponsors, and subscription buyers all depend on the same sector. A downturn in crypto activity can reduce advertising budgets, event attendance, hiring, and demand for research at once. A narrow editorial niche can also become crowded, while a broader publication loses the expertise that made it distinctive. Trust is the asset: if paid placements blur into editorial coverage, professional readers may stop relying on the brand. Research subscriptions carry their own renewal risk if analysis is not timely, differentiated, or useful to an investment workflow. The founder's scenario of converting 0.1% of the audience is not a reported conversion result, so a new operator should validate paid demand with actual contracts before staffing a full research desk. Watch recurring revenue, sponsor concentration, renewal rates, event contribution, and the share of audience relationships the company controls directly. Dependence on social platforms or conference cycles weakens the distribution edge.
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