It's so interesting that the news industry has been doing subscription model for many years now, while retention/churn became a focus recently. And still not enough people talk about subscriber lifetime value, acquisition cost and LTV/CAC ratio. They are designed as a bundle.

We know how many attempts have been made or failed before us. We still try. We don't take our existence and results for granted. Every day, we don't dare to be optimistic AND we also don't dare to be pessimistic. Knowledge can be a curse, so you have to be "The Greater Fool."

Knowing HOW HARD to make something happen vs. WE NEED to make something happen are often two different things at Banner. Need that "self-delusion" or "ego" from that quote to succeed in these two questions. That allows you to take a deep breath after stress, and then solve it.

I often say two big reasons people join Banner: 1. a non-profit startup trying to preserve journalism in a community that has a legacy local news owned by people they are concerned about. 2. a local news is willing to put financial sustainability at the heart of its existence.

You may think Banner seems heading in the direction to be "okay" because we have these two types of people. Not wrong. But importantly, we have a culture where the two types of people can co-contribute and even learn from or think for each other. Don't take that for granted.

Happening now: The Baltimore Banner reporters who partnered with The New York Times to cover our city's drug problem — and revealed that it was the worst overdose crisis of any major American city in U.S. history. Ask us anything. reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment…

There’s usually one game and one QB that can represent your college years, still giving you goose bumps years after graduation. For me, it’s that Rose Bowl game and Sam Darnold.

A power outage has been reported at Johns Hopkins Hospital’s east Baltimore campus and the campus is using generators. thebaltimorebanner.com/community/loca…

USC this season: always finding a way to lose.

This still hasn’t changed yet for USC. Same for LR.

Have been hoping for a Detroit vs Baltimore Super Bowl for past couple of seasons. I don’t feel that will be possible after this year’s chance.

Geez, fourth time running into this issue in three weeks from four different platforms: For a number type field, value ZERO and null/undefined/invalid value are completely two different things. Value “0” is an actual value that shouldn’t break the code.

Couple weeks ago: finally, there will be a new team in Super Bowl this time. Ravens? Lions? Vikings? And somebody is going to kick this Chiefs team out in playoff. All these sound so exciting and beautiful. Now:

A thread I wrote one night a year ago more relevant today, especially this part.

Nah.. The quality stopped at gpt-4o....

Baltimore Banner wins Pulitzer Prize for coverage of overdose crisis thebaltimorebanner.com/community/loca…

This has been on my mind lately because it’s broken a norm I’ve followed for the past three years. I’m self-aware enough to know this has a 50% chance of being thought-provoking — and a 50% chance of being laughed at. medium.com/@kaidiyuanruby…

It’s pretty crazy to think Sam Darnold will probably be USC’s last home-grown lifetimer quarterback, given what happened to transfer portal after his class. Do not want to jinx it, but his NFL journey has truly reflected “Fight On”.