Meet Ted Williams: The mind behind Tiny Money
From Fuel Pizza to a company worth $5 million to his own newsletter.
The Craft
Ted Williams writes Tiny Money, a 1,000 word weekly newsletter read by more than 14,000 people who love business, entrepreneurship, and interesting ideas.
The Spark
Ted's craft started in college.
He wrote a humorous back-page column for the student newspaper before teaching himself how to build a website and launching "The Onion meets campus news."
One day he saw a random student sitting in the library, laughing while reading something he'd written.
"It was an electric feeling."
He was hooked.
The Jump
Before becoming one of Charlotte's best-known media entrepreneurs, Ted was delivering Fuel Pizza flyers door-to-door for extra cash and bounced between product management, startups, agencies, and newspapers.
"I was a worthless middle manager."
Ted spent nearly two decades building businesses around one thing: creating content people actually want to read.
He founded Charlotte Agenda, which Axios acquired in a deal valued at nearly $5 million. Ted then helped scale the company's local media model to 30 cities before Axios was acquired by Cox Enterprises in a deal reportedly worth around $525 million.
He stands by the statement, "media is simple."
The Now
Today, Ted writes Tiny Money, invests in and co-owns several local businesses, and continues telling stories about entrepreneurs, ideas, and the people building Charlotte.
His newsletter arrives once a week, but the work behind it frequently brings him to the newest openings in Charlotte. In case you ever want to "accidentally" run into him.
The Workshop
What’s a big misconception?
- People think media coverage is pay-to-play.
- "I've started and sold media companies for a lot of money, yet some still aren't sure whether I just say nice stuff about a restaurant because they gave me a free $12 appetizer."
What are you still trying to Master?
- Parenting.
- "Business is fun, but kids are wayyy more fun."
What do you attribute your success to?
- His wife, Lindsey.
- "I believe the quote, 'marrying the right person determines 90% of your life's happiness.'"
How much of the craft is talent vs. work?
- 60% natural ability
- 40% learned through doing