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It’s a recent Wednesday afternoon, and the West Village coffee shop Cafe Minerva has a sleepy feel. “Dream a Little Dream of Me” plays softly in the background, while espresso machines whir and three plaid-clad baristas lean against the sun-drenched bar.
Tucked away in a back corner, two young entrepreneurs and business partners busily prepare for their 4 p.m. editorial meeting. Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg operate their e-newsletter business, the Skimm, out of the coffee shop and their apartment, which they share just upstairs.
The Skimm is a daily newsletter that summarizes a couple of news stories into CliffsNotes versions. It also suggests current-events-based conversation starters like, “What to say while at drinks.”
Almost a year ago, the two women ditched their editorial jobs at NBC News to pursue their own business after noticing a pattern among their friends.
Their group of girlfriends — who they describe as “smart, highly educated and leaders in their respective industries” — would turn to Zakin and Weisberg to keep them up-to-date on what was happening in the news.
“They would come to us as their two friends, whose jobs it was to know what was going on and ask, ‘Hey, what went on in the world today?’ Or, ‘I’ve seen a story and I haven’t really had a chance to follow up, can you fill me in on what’s going on?’ ” says Weisberg, 26, as she taps away at her laptop.
Weisberg, from Chicago, met Zakin, a New York native, while studying in Rome. They moved in together after rekindling their friendship while working at NBC after college — but never imagined they’d be starting a business out of their apartment one day.
“We loved our experiences in the news industry, but we really thought about how the industry was changing and, as friends and as colleagues in the same space, we would have brunch or drinks and talk about our career paths and what happens in five years, what happens in 10 years,” says Zakin, 27. “Do we need to go back to grad school? Do we go get experience in another industry? We each had those moments at different times. I think our bookshelf is a good indication of that — the GMAT and LSAT books.”
The two, who say they never thought of themselves as risk-takers, realized they were acting as “news concierges” to their friends and decided to take the leap and make it official — by starting their own business.
So they quit their jobs and set up a WordPress account — and the Skimm was born.
“Of course starting any new adventure — especially when it involves giving up a job you love and a paycheck — is scary but we believed so strongly in starting the Skimm that we had no choice but to give it a shot,” Zakin says. “We literally closed our eyes and jumped.”
Just a few days later, Zakin and Weisberg were back at NBC — on “Today” promoting their e-newsletter — and business has been booming ever since.
“The thing we’re most surprised by is the community that’s built around us,” Weisberg says. “We spent a lot of time thinking about how you create a community; it seems really abstract. And our users just kind of found us, and we’re so thankful that they’ve really welcomed us into their lives.”
Zakin adds: “And it’s been so organic. We haven’t spent a dollar on any p.r. or marketing at all.”
“Well, I spent $10 on a Facebook ad that we asked for our money back for,” she laughs.
The Skimm is free for readers and, for now, ad-free. They plan to start integrating sponsors soon to monetize the publication.
The women credit mentors and advisers for helping with the technology aspects, and they have a team of interns — but Zakin and Weisberg are the only two who pen the Skimm, which lands in readers’ inboxes at 6 a.m.
To meet that deadline, they convene at the coffee shop for a structured editorial meeting — a practice they learned at NBC — to discuss news stories they’ve researched during the day. They then divvy up writing and fact-checking duties. At dinnertime, they take a break to eat, regroup and talk about things other than the Skimm and sometimes squeeze in some social time.
Before bed, they do some more work and determine what time they’ll be setting their alarm clocks for the next morning, based on ongoing stories and breaking news. Then, after some sleep, they’re up bright and early to update the e-mail before sending it out at 6 a.m. They never arrange meetings before 9 a.m. so they can get a little more shut-eye before they start the process again.
“We liken it to a having a newborn. We really sleep in shifts,” Zakin says. “We do get the right amount of sleep each night, though. We strongly believe in a work/life balance. We are not trying to run ourselves down, because we need to live to continue the Skimm.”