Hardware Podcasts

VICE: Suroosh Alvi

How I Built This · 10 Oct 2016 · 35m

What this episode covers

Suroosh Alvi, co-founder of VICE Media, recounts how he launched a small alternative magazine in Montreal after recovering from heroin addiction, eventually growing it into a multi-billion dollar media company. He details the early bootstrapping phase with co-founders Gavin McInnes and Shane Smith, including a pivotal $250,000 investment from Richard Solwinsky that allowed them to move to New York and expand into fashion and e-commerce. Alvi explains how the dot-com bubble burst forced the company into bankruptcy, leading to a dramatic buyback of the company for pennies on the dollar, and how they pivoted to video content to survive and thrive in the modern media landscape.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
VICE Media, AutoDesk, LaPress, MTV, CNN, Viacom
Products
Voice of Montreal
Also
Richard Solwinsky, Gavin McInnes, Shane Smith

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