Today, I had the pleasure to meet Steve Brauner, Editor of soon to be launched, Crain’s Manchester Business, a weekly tabloid aimed at business reader covering Greater Manchester. Steve is a veteran journalist, having previously edited North West Evening Mail, Barrow-in-Furness, Liverpool Daily Post and North West Business Insider. The new tabloid aims to capture a circulation of 15,000 with profitability by year 3. According to Steve:
“The arrival of Crain city publications is the most exciting thing to happen to the UK regional media in my lifetime and I am thrilled to be part of it. Even better, it is happening in my home city of Manchester. Our goal is journalism which will enhance an already vibrant community and make Greater Manchester an even better place to do business.”
According to Publisher, Arthur Porter:
“We’re delighted to have Stephen join our team here. His knowledge of Greater Manchester and his business journalism background make him the ideal choice to lead our journalists.”
Great, but what does this means to StartUp community in Greater Manchester? I requested Steve to allocate half a page every month to cover the technology startup scene in Greater Manchester. I also requested him to compile Greater Manchester’s Top 25 Web 2.0 StartUp companies. Now this is a huge challenge, given that I can only count less than a handful. My list so far: Yuuguu, edocr, Meecard, Clipstar and now Vagueware. The problem is that only Yuuguu and Vagueware are based in Greater Manchester. In this respect, it perhaps need to be North’s Top 25 Web 2.0 Startups rather than concentrate on Greater Manchester.
I also plan to piggy back on startup news carried by the tabloid and I hope Steve will also pick up one or two stories from this blog.
Let me know any thoughts you may have of how to fill the half page on monthly basis.