This week, The Loop talks to Jan-Willem Sanders, the publisher of Follow the Money, an investigative news outlet based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. FTM is mainly funded by its readers, and focuses on long-term, deep-dive investigations with impact that make change. It publishes stories about the political and financial decision makers and also investigates hidden forces such as lobby groups.

Jan-Willem talks about the business model of Follow the Money: how it combines its newsletter, a paywall and an app to convert its readers into subscribers. How does it keep its readers engaged with story pitches, and how do they prevent churn?

FTM’s main income comes from 45 000 members or subscribers. But it is not easy to convert someone from a trial subscription to a customer willing to pay for an annual subscription. This is a process that FTM has refined with success.

FTM today has a staff of 45 prople and publishes in both Dutch and English. Listen to the episode to learn how they grew from a 1-man operation and what they learned on the way.