Five Questions with Phil Rosen of Opening Bell Daily

Q&A with Phil Rosen @ Opening Bell Daily

From Semafor to Sherwood, and Morning Brew to The Messenger (RIP), it can be hard to keep track of the media startups that have risen in just the past five years, to say nothing of older stalwarts like Politico, Axios and The Information. It’s a tumultuous funding environment – Buzzfeed is reeling on the public markets, and independent creators and AI have upended distribution models.

None of that stopped Phil Rosen and Anthony Pompliano from founding Opening Bell Daily, a financial-focused media company with eyes on newsletters, podcasts and more. Phil is a seasoned markets reporter who has covered just about every financial instrument out there.

“These days being a markets reporter means you're covering almost everything, since more than ever it seems like every story involves money and markets,” said Rosen. “I also cover the broader US economy, global markets and the Federal Reserve, from the nuts and bolts of what's going on to explainer pieces about how it impacts everyday life.”

We caught up with Phil to hear more about Opening Bell Daily, his content plans and why he’s so bullish on newsletters.

As always, we want to hear from you! Let us know your thoughts and feedback, and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and X. 

Five questions with…Phil Rosen, Opening Bell Daily

Tell us about Opening Bell Daily – what are you producing, who is your audience and what are your plans?

Opening Bell Daily is a new financial media outlet that delivers readers premium, original reporting at no cost to readers. My cofounder Anthony Pompliano and I wanted to build something for an audience of retail investors and financial professionals, as well as for the business news junkies out there. To my knowledge, no other financial media outlet offers original reporting and access to Wall Street without paywalls. 

We currently produce one morning column and news roundup, delivered in a newsletter and across socials. We're working to expand soon into audio and video content as well.

We’ve seen a ton of new media organizations pop up in the last few years – some to great early success, some not so much. Why start Opening Bell Daily now?

Newsrooms are doing layoffs seemingly all the time, so I wouldn't say it's necessarily riskier to strike out on your own versus staying in a legacy outlet. Opening Bell Daily is important to launch now for a couple reasons. First, information in financial markets and investing has arguably never been more critical. Everyday life is getting more expensive and markets are volatile, yet newsrooms increasingly hide this content behind paywalls. 

Meanwhile, in my view, the media landscape will continue to fracture. The days of just a handful of news giants are over. Independent operators and creators have cut into the attention game with great success. That's forced legacy publications to compete with startups and more nimble shops, and I don't see that trend reversing.

What do PR people need to know about working with you and OBD? Are you taking pitches?

I do take pitches on all things markets, economy, and financial coverage. I write about stocks and public companies, high-profile IPOs, the Federal Reserve and economic policy, and whatever else may fit in between those topics. The best place to pitch me is at phil@openingbellmedia.com.

Why start with the newsletter? Are you planning to move into longer form content?

I am super bullish on newsletters. I used to write Business Insider's daily markets newsletter too. 

Today, there have never been more examples of media startups that build sustainable, scalable businesses entirely on top of a newsletter platform, such as Beehiiv or Substack. It's straightforward, and with email, you own your own audience compared to relying on Google Search or social media followers. Part of what we're trying to build too is the morning habit of starting your day with Opening Bell Daily. That's something that is unique to newsletters. 

More content in the form of audio and video podcasts, as well as long-form stories are also in the pipeline.

And we like to end with a cerebral question: What are you reading right now?

I recently finished two excellent books, one non-fiction and one fiction. 

"The Smartest Guys in the Room," which is about the rise and fall of Enron, the fraudulent energy company that collapsed in the early 2000s, and "Table for Two," a short story collection by Amor Towles. He's my favorite living fiction writer, and it's a very New-York centric book.