CLIENTS

It all started on July 4th, 2022. Jake was with his friends and family celebrating the holiday when he started talking about potential business ventures with his friends. Having always been an avid news follower, and believing it to be an important part of his routine, Jake encouraged his family and friends to stay up to date as well and wished there was an easy way for everyone to know what was going on in the world and stay informed. The feedback he received was that it was too difficult, too time consuming, and ultimately not worthwhile. Little did he know this feedback would drive him to start Current2, a news platform that sends a daily 2 minute audio message summarizing the most important news of the day to make staying informed accessible and efficient. Today, we share how Current2 has evolved, difficulties encountered, and some advice Jake has for prospective and new entrepreneurs.

Since starting two years ago Jake has made significant steps in advancing the brand. He has built a team to help with day to day operations, worked on graphics and content, and plans on expanding through the creation of a platform for journalists to come on and create streams in different categories, such as sports, business, entertainment and more. For Jake, it's all about scalability- about growing the business. So far, he’s accomplished this by generating revenue via sponsors and creating strategic relations with journalists on and off the University of Michigan campus. While running Current2, Jake has learned how to network, market his site, and even technical coding skills. He also has ideas on how to help the dying local journalism industry and believes this avenue is a potential future market for Current2.

The biggest challenge in getting Current2 off the ground was having it run solely by Jake for the first year, from research to writing to recording, and not having the team it has since built. His goal was always to build a platform and build an audience alongside it, and even though the concept of Current2 was founded 2 years ago, Jake believes it really turned into a business venture over the last couple months when Current2 expanded from only being a news recap to being a platform for journalists and numerous industry topics.

Being an entrepreneur himself, Jake’s first piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is that networking is more than meets the eye and is a key piece of success. When you go the extra mile to really get to know someone, you are able to derive much more from the relationship. Business is about more than just pretty words and slideshows, but who can execute and build an organic audience. After meeting with past entrepreneurs, Jake learned to create his own personal brand on Linkedin- something he urges every aspiring entrepreneur to work on. You also always have to be ready to learn; keeping a notebook by his side at all times in order to take quick notes throughout the day, the business is constantly developing. Lastly, there is an understanding that building a business is hard, but having a passion for what you are doing will keep you moving forward; or as Jake put it, “You gotta walk a bit further to see a bit farther.”