Local Media Engine

The platform powering modern, creator-led local media brands


Local media is being rebuilt from the ground up

The old model

Print papers, 2009-era CMS stacks, ugly websites, and banner ads no one sees.

The new model

Newsletter-first, social-first, AI-powered, audience-first local media brands.

Who it's for

Modern local media can be a legacy newsroom, a digital publisher, or a creator-led brand — but they all need the same infrastructure.

We are building the engine that powers this new generation of local media companies.


From "newspaper company" to modern local media company

  • Readers now expect local info in inbox + feeds, not buried on cluttered homepages.
  • Operators need a model built around email, social, AI, automations, events, and simplifying sponsorships.
  • Local Media Engine gives both legacy publishers and new creator-led brands a playbook and platform to run this modern model.

We're building the AI-first full tech stack for anyone wanting to capture a local audience; legacy local media plus the new model of creator-led local media brands.


Local media is either stuck in 2009 or duct-taping tools

Legacy outlets

Trapped in heavy CMS + ad systems designed for print-era workflows, 50+ person teams, and print layouts.

Newer operators

Creator-led brands are duct-taping Notion, Airtable, Beehiiv, Canva, and random social tools.

Nobody — at any size — has an AI-first, newsletter + social-first engine built specifically for local media companies.

Creators Expand The Market

Turn local creators into real media companies

When brand-building gets easy, the whole category grows.

The world is shifting to creator-led everything. Local has not caught up.

Most operators post as "Jane in Austin," not as a real brand with assets and ad products.

We give them the brand, playbook, and software in one place, so thousands more can start and scale local media businesses.


The engine behind modern local media companies

1

Content Engine

Turn local chaos (news, meetings, events, business openings) into email + social content with carousels, templates, and a fast builder.

2

Revenue Engine

Sell and fulfill sponsorships, ads, and deals with workflows that fit real media businesses, not $29 creator tools.

3

AI Engine

Agents that watch your city, summarize the important stuff, and draft what your newsroom or team should publish.

4

Network Engine

Multi-brand analytics, cross-market campaigns, and an "Uber for content" creator marketplace across cities.

One engine that can power a solo operator, a lean digital team, or a multi-city local media company.


Example workflows every modern local media team needs

Issue in 30 minutes

Start from an AI briefing, drag in cards and sponsors, and ship a polished newsletter plus matching social posts.

Sponsor live in 10 minutes

A local business or agency clicks a link, picks a product, pays, uploads creative, and gets clean reporting — without 20 emails and a PDF rate card.

Council recap in 5 minutes

The AI Engine watches last night's council meeting and turns it into a resident-friendly summary your team can publish and clip for social.


Old tools, enterprise prices, wrong era

Newspack

WordPress-based platform for digital newsrooms; minimum price of $750 a month per brand, plus dev/agency overhead. Built for institutional sites, not email + social-first workflows.

The Newspaper Manager

Heavy CRM + ad + billing suite for newspapers; sales-led "contact us" pricing, we believe it's around $80 per month per user, optimized for print-era ad ops. Textbook bloated legacy software.

TapInto

Franchise system that has 100+ franchisees, mostly buying into their tech stack, which is as legacy as it gets. They also offer it direct to non-franchise brands. No pricing available online, likely a minimum of $700 a month per location.

Local Media Engine is an AI-first engine priced like modern B2B SaaS — built to replace those stacks for both existing companies and new entrants.


We run the kind of media companies we're building this for

Operating experience

We already operate 15+ local newsletters and media brands across consumer and B2B audiences.

Real audience

We have ~130K subscribers and are already selling sponsorships, deals, and campaigns across markets.

Industry leadership

TJ hosts the leading podcast and newsletter focused on modern local media operators, talking weekly with both legacy publishers and new creator-led brands.

Local Media Engine began as the internal engine for our own portfolio; now we're packaging it for every modern local media company that needs to upgrade their stack.


From working MVP to the default local media engine

What exists today (MVP – "Local Newsletter OS")

  • Multi-brand dashboard
  • Content intake and management
  • Drag-and-drop newsletter builder
  • Beehiiv integration

Already powering multiple real newsletters inside our portfolio.

Next 12 months with funding (toward $500–$1K+/month ARPU accounts):

  • Content Engine core: multi-brand workspaces, card system, deeper intake, newsletter builder, social planner.
  • Revenue Engine core: ad products and inventory, advertiser CRM, self-serve advertiser portal, deals engine, and campaign reporting suitable for real media businesses.
  • AI Engine v1: daily operator briefing, inline AI helpers, and AI-generated social graphics and captions from cards.

Then:

  • Network Engine: multi-city analytics and benchmarks, cross-market ad campaigns, and a contributor marketplace across markets.

We're raising to turn a working internal product into the default engine for modern local media companies — the kind that can happily pay $700–$1,000+ per month for the stack that runs their business.

Working demo of current MVP