Gimlet's Challenge

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Lore & Background

Gimlet was founded in August 2014 with the launch of its flagship podcast StartUp hosted by Alex Blumberg. Originally billed as the American Podcasting Corporation (APC), Blumberg was eventually convinced to change the company's name. After working with Lexicon Branding, Blumberg and Lieber chose the name Gimlet Media. The company raised $1.5 million in seed funding at a $10 million valuation. After raising most of its initial capital from investment firms Betaworks, Lowercase Capital, and Knight Enterprise Fund, Gimlet invited the listeners of its shows to help raise the last $200,000 through equity crowdfunding. The company was estimated to bring in $2 million in advertising revenue in 2015. In December 2015, Gimlet closed a Series A round of funding that raised $6 million at a $30 million valuation. In July 2015, Gimlet announced it would add the option to pay for membership, a decision motivated by a desire to diversify revenue streams to include more than advertising. Members were given early access to pilots for new Gimlet shows, a Gimlet T-shirt, and access to the company's Slack channel. Gimlet then hired Blumberg's spouse and former Rachel Maddow Show producer Nazanin Rafsanjani to explore other ways to diversify the company's revenue. Rafsanjani spearheaded Gimlet Creative, a wing of the company that, it said, 'creates highly produced narrative audio in partnership with brands.' On August 2, 2017, Gimlet announced it closed a $15 million Series B investment round, led by Stripes Group. Emerson Collective, Graham Holdings, Betaworks, and Cross Culture Investors also contributed to the round. In September 2017, British advertising firm WPP announced it was investing $5 million in Gimlet for a minority stake in the company. On February 6, 2019, Spotify announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gimlet for $230 million. One month later, 75% of staff at Gimlet Media went public with their union campaign, signing cards and seeking voluntary recognition. In April 2021, the employees ratified their first collective agreement. It would last 3 years, with minimum base salary of $73,000 for Gimlet producers. Absent was any provision over worker ownership of content. In the summer of 2022, Lieber left his role as president but remained an advisor to Spotify. In November 2022, Alex Blumberg also departed Gimlet and Spotify. On June 5, 2023, Spotify sent a memo to staff announcing that Gimlet will be merged with Parcast into a single Spotify Studios division, as part of a restructuring that also included the elimination of 200 jobs.

In Their Own Story

Alex Blumberg, a radio journalist, producer for This American Life, and co-founder of Planet Money, came up with the idea of a for-profit podcast network after the success of a T-shirt fundraising campaign for Planet Money. He chose to document the foundation of Gimlet in the first season of StartUp, the company's first show. Gimlet's co-founder, Matthew Lieber, holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, is a former radio producer at WNYC, and worked as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. Lydia Polgreen was managing director until she left for The New York Times. Shows produced by Gimlet include Science Vs, Heavyweight, Crimetown, Every Little Thing, The Pitch, Mogul, Uncivil, Story Pirates, Chompers, Without Fail, Conviction, Motherhood Sessions, The Two Princes, and The Journal. Science Vs was originally launched and produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as part of ABC Radio's First Run digital-first podcast program, before Gimlet announced in October 2015 the podcast was moving to and relaunching on their network in 2016. The Pitch was originally launched as an independent podcast in July 2015 and joined Gimlet in 2017. The show returned to independent production in 2022. Story Pirates was originally launched independently in October 2013, later joining Gimlet in 2017. Heavyweight was cancelled by Spotify in December 2023. Goldstein has stated he hopes to find another production partner to continue the podcast. Heavyweight relaunched in 2025 with Puskin Industries. Every Little Thing premiered on April 17, 2017, as the successor to Surprisingly Awesome. Every Little Thing was cancelled and aired its final episode on October 11, 2022. The Pitch returned to independent production in July 2022 following Muccio's buyback of the show from Spotify. Uncivil's premiere episode 'The Raid' won a 2017 Peabody Award for News, Radio, Podcast, and Public Service Programming. This was the first Peabody award for Gimlet Media. Chompers is the first Gimlet-produced podcast that is directly integrated into an Amazon Alexa Skill. The show debuted on March 1, 2018. On February 4, 2019, Gimlet released the first season of its investigative true crime series Conviction. All seven episodes of the season were released together. The first season was released in partnership with The New York Times Magazine and Type Investigations.

Reader's Guide

Success in mining missions depends on completing extraction quotas while managing resources like ammo and health. Players must identify key veins or objectives marked by glowing minerals or specific mission markers.

Failure occurs if the team is wiped out before extraction or if critical objectives are missed during the retreat window. Completing these tasks advances the player's rank within the Dwarven Space Initiative, unlocking new equipment upgrades and cosmetic items for the dwarf.

Did You Know?

• Gimlet was originally named the American Podcasting Corporation (APC) before Blumberg and Lieber worked with Lexicon Branding to choose the name Gimlet Media.
• The company raised its last $200,000 in seed funding through equity crowdfunding, inviting listeners of its shows to invest.
• In September 2017, British advertising firm WPP invested $5 million in Gimlet for a minority stake in the company.
• Uncivil's premiere episode 'The Raid' won a 2017 Peabody Award, the first Peabody award for Gimlet Media.
• Chompers was the first Gimlet-produced podcast directly integrated into an Amazon Alexa Skill, debuting on March 1, 2018.