Recently, we sat down with Taproot Edmonton’s publisher, Mack Male, to discuss his experience launching Taproot alongside co-founder, Karen Unland, during Edmonton Startup Week. Back in 2016, they began as an outlet that published longform stories prompted by questions submitted by members. They’ve since grown into a source of curiosity-driven original stories, curated newsletters on various topics, and locally focused podcasts, all in the service of informing Edmontonians about what is going on in their community. Taproot Edmonton is the flagship publication of Taproot Publishing. Read on to see Mack’s advice for this year’s Launch Party honourees. 

What does Edmonton Startup Week mean to you?

Edmonton Startup Week is an opportunity for the community to come together to celebrate all the innovative and transformational work being done in our city. When you're heads down working it can be easy to forget that there's an entire ecosystem of support right here in Edmonton. Startup Week is a great reminder to look up and around to see what everyone else is up to. 

What impact has launching during startup week had on your business? 

Taproot was part of Launch Party 7 in October 2016. It was one of the first times we got to see potential customers using our product in real life, a highly illuminating experience. We also had the opportunity to get up on stage to pitch our company and ourselves, which meant we had to really think through and distill our story. The experience was invaluable for a fledgling startup like ours, and it played a big role in our future growth. 

We're grateful to have been included in Edmonton Startup Week in subsequent years, and we're thrilled to be playing a larger role this year, helping to spread the word about all the innovative things happening in our city. 

How do you use technology in your business?

We see a future in which communities are served by sustainably funded acts of journalism facilitated by technology. As a digital-only publication, technology is critical for our entire operation. Software empowers our small but mighty team to punch above its weight. For example, we have built a custom website that combines our content management system with our reader and membership services. This provides a better, integrated experience for our audience and is the foundation on which we're building new products and services. The new site also includes tools and workflow to enable the publication of our daily news briefing. 

We also look at software to do storytelling differently. Journalism doesn't need to look like a traditional newspaper story to have an impact, which our election matching engine for the 2021 municipal election in Edmonton has proven. We've had more than 15,000 responses from voters and are chuffed with the comments we've received from voters about how much the tool has helped them understand the issues and candidates better. 

What does digital inclusion and education mean to Taproot? 

Taproot's journalism is free for everyone to read. We believe that for journalism to have a real impact in the communities we serve, we should make it as widely accessible as possible. 

Trustworthy, accessible, comprehensive information is part of the connective tissue that holds communities together. The institutions that used to provide that are shrinking and disappearing. We aim to replace them with a new approach and a strong business model so we can remain sustainable over the long term. 

We are not aiming to chase breaking news, nor do we want to try to do everything that the legacy media outlets in our city used to do. Our ambition is to not only replace what is being lost on the local journalism front, but to “build it back better” with a community-focused, curiosity-driven, sustainable, and replicable model. 

What advice do you have for this year’s launching companies? 

Listen with curiosity as you meet people at Launch Party and throughout the rest of Edmonton Startup Week. No one knows your business, your ambitions, your opportunities, and your challenges as well as you do, but that doesn't mean there are no nuggets of wisdom to be had. A fresh perspective is a great catalyst for innovative thinking so make the most of everyone you encounter. 

Startups and innovation play an important role in Edmonton’s post-pandemic recovery and long-term economic resiliency. In terms of revenue, job growth and economic impact, can you tell us about how Taproot contributes to Edmonton’s economy? 

We're so proud to have created new jobs in journalism in our city. We hired our first full-time employee last year, and we regularly work with a team of talented freelancers. We've also had the pleasure of working with a handful of students for paid internships this year, playing a small role in training the next generation.