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Austin Rief

COO at Morning Brew. Follow me on Twitter: @austin_rief

Austin Rief is a prominent entrepreneur and business executive based in New York City. He is currently the Co-Owner of Oceans, a company that specializes in hiring operational talent in Sri Lanka and matching them with startups globally.13

Career Highlights

Morning Brew: Austin's most notable role prior to Oceans was at Morning Brew, a new media company focused on delivering digestible business news. He served as:

  • Chief Executive Officer (April 2021 - Present)
  • Chief Operating Officer (January 2015 - April 2021)1

During his tenure, Morning Brew grew to educate over 1 million readers daily on business news ranging from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.

Oceans: In May 2023, Austin became the Co-Owner of Oceans, where he continues to work on connecting global talent with startups.1

Education and Early Career

Austin graduated from the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business with a Bachelor's Degree in Finance (2014-2017).1 His early career experiences include:

  • Investment Banking Summer Analyst at Moelis & Company (Summer 2016)
  • International Education Intern at StarTau Tel Aviv University Entrepreneurship Center (Summer 2014)1

Additional Information

Austin is also known for his presence on social media platforms. On Twitter (X), he describes himself as "Co-founder & CEO @MorningBrew | Investor @oceanstalent".2 He is proficient in both English and Hebrew.1

Austin Rief's career trajectory showcases his expertise in media, entrepreneurship, and talent acquisition, making him a notable figure in the business world.

Highlights

Sep 2 · linkedin

The best writing takes an idea that a community feels deeply but can't quite articulate, and finds the perfect words to define it.

Founder Mode (Paul Graham's latest blog post) did that for me.

The biggest mistake I made in scaling Morning Brew was over delegating.

After we saw hyper-growth in 2018 -2020, we couldn't keep up.

Everything was breaking.

Every day was the first time I had seen a company at that scale.

I asked a few "experts" what to do, and everyone said the same thing: hire execs.

So we did. And it was the right thing to do.

But how I managed them was wrong. As a first time founder, I was too passive and insecure.

When we disagreed, I usually went with their ideas....they were the "experts" after all.

The problem is on the most important decisions, I found they were often too risk-adverse and usually wrong.

Their ideas usually just copied from previous jobs.

That may work for the majority of decisions, but the most important decisions are usually unique to your company. You need to think them through from first principles.

"This is how it's always done" is one of the most dangerous phrases in corporate America.

I stopped making key decisions. For a while, I lost my voice.

Unwinding this was the most painful thing I've ever gone through professionally.

The lesson is simple: the day a founder stops serving as the head of product and key decision maker is the day you cease to be a start-up.

Aug 20 · linkedin

Wild: Alex Cooper just signed a $125m deal with SiriusXM for her podcast.

Related Questions

What inspired Austin Rief to co-found Oceans?
How did Austin Rief transition from Morning Brew to Oceans?
What are Austin Rief's key achievements at Morning Brew?
How does Oceans match operational talent with startups?
What challenges has Austin Rief faced in his career?
Austin Rief
Austin Rief, photo 1
Austin Rief, photo 2
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Location

New York, New York, United States