Latest news with #Featured
Business Journals
22-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Help a Reporter Out returns: Scottsdale tech firm to revive journalism tool
Scottsdale-based Featured has just acquired an online media tool that once connected media members with subject matter experts. The firm's CEO said now is the perfect time for the tool to make a comeback. Story Highlights Featured acquires Help A Reporter Out from Cision HARO set to resume daily email newsletters Featured CEO says HARO is coming back as "AI floods the internet with generic content" Scottsdale-based Featured is reviving Help A Reporter Out after recently acquiring the online media tool from Cision, a global public relations software company headquartered in Chicago. Featured, which connects publishers with subject matter experts to create content, announced closure of the deal on April 15. Initially launched as a Facebook group in 2008, HARO was an online service that connected journalists with expert sources via daily email newsletters. HARO was acquired in 2010 by Vocus Inc., which later merged with Cision. In 2024, Cision discontinued HARO to focus on its other tools for PR and communications customers, according to the company. 'This is the perfect time to bring HARO back,' Brett Farmiloe, founder and CEO of Featured, said in a statement. 'As AI floods the internet with generic content, journalists need credible, human sources more than ever. Our goal is to preserve what made HARO great, while modernizing it for today's media landscape.' Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Farmiloe's decision to acquire HARO was prompted by the online service's alignment with Featured's mission of making expert knowledge more accessible to the media. 'Essentially, it was a great way for us to get more people featured in the media and at the same time help reporters get connected to sources to create incredible stories," he said. "It was a kind of a no-brainer to pursue.' HARO is free to use for journalists and subject matter experts. It will be supported via newsletter advertisements, Farmiloe said. Under Featured's ownership, HARO is returning to its original format of delivering daily email newsletters beginning April 22, Farmiloe said. 'The goal here is to look at the demand on the reporter side and determine how many newsletters we actually send out,' he said. 'Initially, it'll probably be once a day, but our goal is to get back to where it was before — at three times a day.' Featured has raised $2 million since inception Farmiloe launched Featured — then known as Terkel — in 2022 after incorporating the company a year earlier. The company created a two-sided online marketplace that helps publishers connect with vetted experts. The company rebranded to Featured in 2023 to better communicate the company's value proposition to its customers, the Business Journal previously reported. 'A publisher is able to post a question and get a full-length article for their website, so that they could drive incremental revenue through ads or commerce content,' Farmiloe told AZ Inno in a 2023 interview. 'Then, marketers are able to answer a question and get it featured in articles on the publisher's website. That helps them build up visibility, promote themselves and their brands, and really get their name out there.' Featured works with more than 1,000 publishers and companies, some of which include GoDaddy, American Express, Fast Company and the University of Arizona. It has a network of more than 50,000 expert sources signed up to answer questions on its platform. Featured has raised a total of $2 million in capital from investors that include Stout Street, Sonoran Founders Fund and Great North Ventures — the latter of which also backed the company's HARO acquisition. Featured will continue operating independently, with both its platform and HARO's revival "rooted in the belief that everyone's an expert at something,' Farmiloe said. 'The fact that we were able to negotiate this deal from here in Phoenix and bring HARO back is incredible,' Farmiloe said. '… I think a HARO revival wasn't on a lot of peoples' bingo cards, but I think it's a welcome addition to what this year brings. And it brings back a really important tool for people to utilize.' Sign up here for the Phoenix Business Journal's free newsletters, and download our free app for breaking news alerts.
The Independent
08-04-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
British BMX star Kieran Reilly out to give Newcastle another title to celebrate
British BMX rider Kieran Reilly is determined to follow in the footsteps of his beloved Newcastle and lift silverware at Saturday's inaugural Red Bull Featured event in Manchester. Reilly, who won Olympic silver in the BMX freestyle in Paris last July, had to miss the Magpies' Carabao Cup success over Liverpool at Wembley last month due to a training block in Costa Rica. The 23-year-old is no stranger to medals, having been crowned world and European champion in 2023, but has a different challenge on the horizon with Featured, a BMX competition in which 16 riders will perform major tricks without being penalised for a fall by judges. 'I was absolutely buzzing to see Newcastle win the cup. Massive for the city and a moment we've all dreamed of for so many years,' Reilly told the PA news agency. 'I managed to catch the game at the airport in Costa Rica as I've been training out here for Featured and I just couldn't believe it. Such a top performance from the boys. 'Let's hope that I can bring another title to Newcastle when I go to Featured in April.' There was little respite for Reilly after his second place at the Olympics, with focus quickly shifting to September's European BMX Championships, where he won gold. While the Gateshead rider feels he has been afforded 'more respect' since the Paris Games, what has not changed is his trademark mullet and his determination to inspire more children to pick up a bike, especially ahead of the Los Angeles Games in 2028. Reilly said: 'To be honest, I can't see us getting rid of it (the mullet) any time soon. I've typecast myself now. Everyone expects the hair out of the back of the helmet. 'We'll see if it holds on (for LA). 'The people in BMX love the sport and want it to grow. We understand how that happens and it is from targeting kids and the next generation. 'I went to a skate park, saw the older kids do a lot smaller trickers than what will happen at Featured and then I decided I wanted to do this. I hope we get that at Featured and, with the content that comes from it, kids will see it and hopefully they pick up a bike.' A key feature of BMX competition is consistency and avoiding mistakes, which is why Reilly is thrilled about the concept of Featured, with riders encouraged to go all out without fear of missing the mark. 'I have got some big plans,' Reilly revealed. 'I am pretty much going in with a list of tricks that I know will win the event. 'That kind of mentality I gained from Paris, where it is bittersweet when you don't go all in and don't get what you want, so this time I am laying it all out there.'
