Melinda Wittstock

My grandmother told me I was 'disruptive' when at 5 I launched my first business. I'm an entrepreneur and award winning journalist who's driven traffic and revenue across TV, radio, print and web.

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States
Member since March 26, 2012

I love disrupting industries with innovative 'outside the box' solutions - spotting trends and behavior changes early and acting fast, nimbly and thoughtfully to drive high-growth and efficiencies. That, and working hard to figure out every day what I don't know - and to meet, befriend and work with the most interesting, agile and funny people around. Quote_down

About

Investor interests

Type of investor	Early stage VC
Typical investment size	Under $25,000
Typical investments in a year	1
Credentials	None

I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I want to change the world.

My favorite startups:

Airbnb, LinkedIn, Evernote, Pandora, Instagram

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Reward and frustration are two sides of the same coin. No one ever said being an entrepreneur and pioneer was easy. I love being able to put my prescience and vision into practice, and being ahead of the curve is empowering if at times a little lonely. You need superhuman strength from within, the stamina to stay the course and humility to know when to change course. I love iterating to create a product people want to use - something that can improve lives. And working to build the great team of 'A' people you need to succeed.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Either surrounding themselves with 'yes-men' and b-listers, or failing to identify and plan for the 'what if's'.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

1. There are things you cannot control, and success is measured by how you respond and learn from challenges. (Or, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".
2. The team is everything. Bring in people smarter with different perspectives and expertise. Hire A people.
3. Don't expect to raise money until you have a great product people are using and paying for.

What do people misunderstand about being an entrepreneur?

They think it is easy and glamorous.

What investors, angels, VCs, do you most admire and why?

At NewsiT we see our investors as partners in growing an exciting, scalable and game changing business. We admire angels and VCs who work with management to grow valuable businesses. These are investors - not speculators!

Full bio

NewsiT Founder Melinda Wittstock is a serial entrepreneur and seasoned executive who has done just about every job possible in the news business: Creating web and mobile products, driving ratings and traffic, creating award-winning content, developing new cost-efficient models for news creation, and winning awards for her print and broadcast journalism.

Her grandmother was the first to tell her she was "disruptive" when she earned her first $100 in revenue from her first business launched at age 5. Other businesses followed, including the creation of a Montreal entertainment listings newspaper at age 19.

She joined the London Times aged 22 as a business and media correspondent where she broke major exclusives and interviewed many media and technology titans (including Steve Jobs) before moving into television news (BBC, CNBC, ABC and others) where she has produced, anchored and created highly-rated news-magazine programs.

NewsiT is her second business: She was the founder CEO of Capitol News Connection, an award winning producer of localized political news content from Congress for 200 public radio stations, local TV outlets and newspapers. With CNC she created an efficient business model for news that enabled 5 FTEs to produce more than 3,500 highly produced long-form radio reports in a year, all highly customized for client stations. At CNC she created the groundbreaking www.askyourlawmaker.com and the award-winning segment 'Power Breakfast' for which she secured sponsorship by CSX and Raytheon. CNC won the Joan S Barone Award for Public Policy Journalism up against CNN's Hurricane Katrina coverage and several Edward R Murrow Awards.

Melinda was educated at McGill University in Montreal (B.A. Honors Political Economy).