Matt Voigt is the founder of saambaa, whose product enables media publishers to publish local information and entertainment content, publish it to a mobile app and derive additional revenue.  Saambaa is already working with 25 media companies, including Hearst, and a variety of local newspapers. Knight invested in a seed round for Saambaa via the Knight Enterprise Fund. This article is cross-posted with permission from the Newspaper Association of America. Five Answers is a weekly series that features a member of the newspaper industry answering five questions. If you’d like to participate, email [email protected].

Matt Voigt is the Chief Instigator at saambaa, which is supported by the Knight Enterprise Fund. Saambaa enables newsrooms to publish local information and entertainment content on a branded mobile app that helps them generate revenue and connect with a younger audience. 

Matt presented at NAA mediaXchange in March during the inaugural Accelerator Pitch Program

1) How do you read the newspaper – print, online and/or mobile?  I haven’t read a printed newspaper since March of 2009. I consume news 90% on mobile and 10% desktop. I can’t share stories on print, and I share 20-30% of the stories I read with friends and family. I’m also always on the go, and it’s kind of hard to fit a newspaper in my pocket. 🙂 

2) What’s the most exciting thing going on at your company?  We have tremendous momentum and user growth right now. Aside from landing major partners like Tribune and Hearst, each month our platform grows by many thousands of users, with more than 50% logging in multiple times per month. We’re helping people find interesting things to do, which is a great vertical to be in. I mean, it’s not like we’re building accounting software here – this is fun stuff!

Additionally, we’re seeing all of our media partners grow mobile revenue month-over-month. It’s fulfilling to know that you’re helping people enjoy their lives while simultaneously helping partners improve their business every day.  I’m motivated to wake up each morning. 3) What is your primary business objective for the next 12 months? Why? To continue helping our partners grow revenue. We started out as a “social app” (which Apple featured on the front page of the App Store!), but we didn’t have a real plan for revenue.  We are now 110% focused on driving revenue for our partners and ourselves.

Mobile is a new paradigm – you can’t just apply the old “advertising model” to it – this is a multi-dimensional device with abilities to extract revenue in ways never before conceived. I spend nearly every free moment thinking about this, and our partners will testify that we continue to be innovative – I email them every day with ideas. You should never stop being clever. 4) If you could change one thing about the newspaper industry, what would it be? The speed at which it moves. Period. The readers of tomorrow are plugged in and using platforms that change by the month. If newspapers can’t innovate fast enough, they will lose those readers forever. Modern day media companies need to be speedboats of innovation – there is no other way. 5) What do you see for the future of the newspaper industry? These are obviously challenging times for the industry on a structural level – there is no sugar coating it. However, with adversity comes opportunity. I see a lot of young, smart people who want to work at newspapers BECAUSE of the challenges; they want to be a part of the change. Young over-achievers are geared towards problem solving. It’s satisfying to know you were smart enough to fix a big problem, you know?