UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In the latest episode of Invent Penn State’s Dare to Disrupt podcast, host Ryan Newman interviews Joe Pulizzi, founder of content creator education site, The Tilt. Pulizzi also founded Content Entrepreneur Expo and the Content Marketing Institute, which he successfully exited in 2016.
He is the bestselling author of seven books, including "Content Inc." and "Epic Content Marketing." Pulizzi has spoken over 400 times in 20 plus countries on content marketing, the creator economy, and entrepreneurship. He graduated from Penn State's College of the Liberal Arts with a master's degree in communications in 1997.
In this episode, Pulizzi shares his experience building the Content Marketing Institute, the failures he endured along the way, his strong commitment to goal-setting, and his association with the color orange.
Pulizzi also shares his insights around the difference between content creators and content entrepreneurs, and why he believes it's an important distinction.
"I like to use ‘content entrepreneur’ instead of ‘content creator’[...] because anybody is a content creator who posts on social media," said Pulizzi during the podcast interview. "A content entrepreneur tells me you are a business, and your business approach is to build an audience."
Listen to this interview to learn more about Pulizzi’s journey.
At the end of the episode, current Penn State student Riley Auer joins the conversation. Auer is the founder of Bootleg Boomerangs, a company which sells hand-made wooden boomerangs and has a large focus on content creation, with over 31,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Auer talks through some challenges he faces in growing his business with Pulizzi, who gives advice regarding placing ads in video content, finding the true "super fans" through exclusive giveaways and experiences, and striking the balance between being a business and being a place for fun content.
Students can apply or be nominated to be on the show here.
About Dare to Disrupt
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Dare to Disrupt is a podcast from Invent Penn State about Penn State alumni who are innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders, and the stories behind their success. The podcast is hosted by alumnus Ryan Newman, a graduate of the Smeal College of Business and a Schreyer Scholar alumnus who is now a managing director at Goldman Sachs.
Past episodes of Dare to Disrupt include interviews with Matt Brezina, David Rusenko and Jess Weiner. New episodes of "Dare to Disrupt" release monthly. Learn more at invent.psu.edu/dare-to-disrupt.
Invent Penn State is a commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation and student career success.