WaitWhat, co-founded by June Cohen and Deron Triff—two people who helped conceive of and build the TED digital media empire—describes itself as a "media invention company" that produces podcasts and other content. Its portfolio includes Masters of Scale, Meditative Story, Spark & Fire and Should This Exist?, and it has seen about 70 million total downloads to date. Meditative Story is downloaded roughly 750,000 times per month, and an entrepreneur training course tied to Masters of Scale was downloaded 10,000 times in its first eight weeks. The company plans to continue producing proven formats while investing in technology and R&D to develop new formats beyond podcasting. Specific experiments mentioned include a storytelling-driven physical-wellness format integrated into workouts, intergenerational (parent/child) experiences, and an early-stage television series. The founders emphasize habit-driven content ecosystems and aim to build a portfolio of premium IP focused on fulfilling human potential. WaitWhat is a digital content production company that creates podcasts and other media properties. The company dubs itself a 'media invention company' and is the production engine behind Reid Hoffman’s Masters of Scale. Founded and launched in January 2017 by former TED executives June Cohen and Deron Triff, WaitWhat focuses on premium, format-expandable audio content. It plans to use the new funding to create additional media properties across a variety of mediums, including podcasts; it is launching Should This Exist, a podcast hosted by Caterina Fake in partnership with Quartz. The article situates WaitWhat within a broader podcasting boom, noting industry growth and recent M&A such as Spotify’s acquisitions of Gimlet and Anchor. No company revenue or user metrics are reported in the article.

Total raised

$16M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Jun 2021