Bill Simmons launching new website - and hiring writers

This venture will work because the hiring of Katie Baker proves that Bill has an eye for hiring talented writers. The fact that he doesn't connect with 20-year-olds anymore is exactly the reason he's launched this venture. He has to know that he can't continue to be relevant with pop culture when he hits his 50s, so he's starting a site where he can hire talented young writers who will be relevant.

 

Who's Bill Simmons?

 

On the podcast with Klosterman (the second part), Simmons said two of the writers are Chris Ryan and Molly Lambert. It sounds like they weren't friends or anything with Simmons, so it seems like he's definitely looking all around for people. He didn't announce others because they're still working on contracts.

Also on the podcast, they have some interestig talk about the website and what Simmons wants to get out of it.

And, now I feel proud about my Deford analogy as Simmons mentions The National several times. They start talking about the site at around the 20-minute mark of the second part of the podcast.

 

I'm not nearly famous enough for someone else to pretend to be me, and Google consistently reminds me that there are only a handful of people out there with my name.

Something I forgot to mention in my last post: Simmons has 1.3 million followers on Twitter, many of whom will check out anything he links on his Twitter account. Those 1.3 million followers are a significant reason why ESPN can't afford to lose him -- if he goes elsewhere, he'll take a lot of that audience with him.

 

I wonder if Bill received a call from Mr Lee with some friendly hiring advise.