Today I Found Out
Today I Found Out is a bootstrapped, privately held digital media publication that publishes daily researched fact articles, a newsletter, podcast, YouTube channels, and a book, monetized primarily through display advertising against a consumer audience of curious readers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersBrisbane, Australia
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Today I Found Out does
Today I Found Out is a privately held digital media publication operating under the legal entity Vacca Foeda Media and based in Washington state (originally inspired by the Reddit 'Today I Learned' subreddit). The business operates a WordPress-based publishing website, todayifoundout.com, that publishes near-daily researched 'interesting fact' articles across twelve-plus categories including Animals, Entertainment, History, Language, People, Science, Myths, and This Day in History. The site is supported by a free Daily Knowledge email newsletter (approximately 41,000 active subscribers) and a Weekly Wrap digest, the BrainFood Show podcast distributed on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, and RSS, and seven branded YouTube channels (TodayIFoundOut, Higher Learning, Fact Quickie, Ancient Marvels, Highlight History, Flick Facts, and Kid's Quest Learning). The company has also extended the franchise into a published book ('The Wise Book of Whys', available in print, Kindle, Nook, and audiobook) and a Teespring merchandise storefront (TIFO Gear), and selectively licenses articles to businesses and publications on a case-by-case basis.
The business model is overwhelmingly advertising-led. Revenue is derived from third-party display advertising served to the website's audience, supplemented by smaller streams from book sales, branded merchandise, and ad-hoc article licensing. Content production relies on a distributed freelance contributor pipeline, including writers with advanced credentials (Ph.D., J.D., M.A., M.L.S., M.S.), recruited through a 'Write for Us' program and overseen by founder/editor Daven Hiskey. Audience growth is organic, driven by SEO, social media presence across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, and Tumblr, and reciprocal cross-promotion with partner sites such as DumpADay.com. Since founding on January 1, 2010, the site has accumulated roughly 4-5 million words across more than 1,000 topics and an estimated 50 million cumulative readers.
The company is bootstrapped, with no institutional or venture capital backing, and operates with a team of 1-10 employees under family ownership (Daven Hiskey as Editor; Alexis DeStout-Hiskey as Administrator). It serves a horizontal consumer audience (curious general readers, students, and educators) globally, with article licensing to mid-market businesses and publications as the only B2B channel. Pricing for content, newsletters, podcasts, and quick facts is free; pricing for commercial licensing is not publicly disclosed.
Today I Found Out firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Today I Found Out
- Legal name
- Vacca Foeda Media
- Website
- https://todayifoundout.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Today I Found Out is a bootstrapped, privately held digital media publication that publishes daily researched fact articles, a newsletter, podcast, YouTube channels, and a book, monetized primarily through display advertising against a consumer audience of curious readers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Today I Found Out industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Media / Educational Content Publishing
- NAICS
- Periodical Publishers (513120)
- SIC
- Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Topic/Interest-Based Content Discovery Apps (MPACAKAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Author Website, Storefront & Direct-to-Reader Commerce (D2C Sales) (MPAJAJAE)
Keywords
Where Today I Found Out is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Brisbane
- HQ country
- Australia
- HQ region
- Oceania
Offices1 record
Markets served
Today I Found Out business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Display Advertising: The site displays third-party advertisements to its audience of over 50,000 newsletter subscribers and an estimated ~50 million cumulative article readers.
- Newsletter Subscriptions (Free): Free Daily Knowledge and Weekly Wrap email newsletters distributed to approximately 41,000 active subscribers. The newsletters serve as a customer acquisition and retention mechanism, delivering curated content to drive return visits to the website.
- Book Sales (The Wise Book of Whys): The company publishes and sells a print, Kindle, Nook, and audiobook edition of 'The Wise Book of Whys', available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers. This is a direct-to-consumer book commerce channel.
- Merchandise Sales (TIFO Gear): The company operates a TIFO Gear merchandise storefront through Teespring, selling branded merchandise to its audience.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels7 records
Today I Found Out product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Today I Found Out is a digital content publishing platform that produces near-daily, well-researched "interesting fact" articles spanning science, history, language, entertainment, animals, people, and myths. The flagship TodayIFoundOut.com website is supplemented by free Daily Knowledge and Weekly Wrap email newsletters, The BrainFood Show podcast, multiple branded YouTube channels, the published book "The Wise Book of Whys," and branded merchandise sold through the TIFO Gear storefront.
Product overview
Today I Found Out is a content publishing platform built around a single flagship website (TodayIFoundOut.com) that publishes near-daily researched 'interesting fact' articles across diverse topics. The core product is supplemented by a daily email newsletter (Daily Knowledge), a weekly summary newsletter (Weekly Wrap), a podcast (The BrainFood Show), a published book (The Wise Book of Whys), a merchandise store (TIFO Gear), and multiple YouTube video channels.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- The BrainFood Show: The site's popular podcast covering various interesting facts and topics.
- Daily Knowledge Newsletter
- Weekly Wrap
- The Wise Book of Whys
Products and services
- TodayIFoundOut.com The main website delivering near-daily 'interesting fact' articles across diverse topics including animals, entertainment, history, language, people, science, and myths, featuring content from multiple credentialed authors. Free to access with no paywall.
- Daily Knowledge Newsletter Free daily email newsletter delivering one detailed interesting fact article on weekdays, covering topics such as historical events, word origins, and fun facts.
- Weekly Wrap Newsletter Free weekly email newsletter summarizing the best articles from the week along with bonus quick facts, sent once per week.
- The BrainFood Show Audio podcast covering interesting facts and topics from the website, available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, and via RSS feed.
- The Wise Book of Whys A published book compiling interesting facts and trivia from the Today I Found Out website, available in print, Kindle, Nook, and audiobook formats through major retailers.
- TIFO Gear Branded merchandise storefront selling apparel and items with the Today I Found Out brand, operated through Teespring.
- Article Licensing Service Licensing of Today I Found Out articles to businesses and publications for republishing, negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 1,000 interesting fact topics covered since founding
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Today I Found Out
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Today I Found Out technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Today I Found Out partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Jon / DumpADay.comminorJon, owner of DumpADay.com (which pulls in 11–12 million page views per month), occasionally contributes guest articles to Today I Found Out. This is a content exchange and cross-promotion relationship where high-traffic partner content is featured on TIFO, benefiting both sites' audiences and traffic.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Today I Found Out competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Listverse: Direct peer publishing daily list-based articles of unusual facts across history, science, and general knowledge. Listverse is one of the most established trivia-list publishers and competes directly for the same organic search traffic and reader attention.
- TopTenz: Direct peer publishing top-10 list articles of interesting facts and trivia, and is also an explicit cross-promotion partner in TIFO's 'BFF' network. Operates in the same niche with similar content cadence and audience.
- Cracked: Direct peer publishing list-style and trivia articles on history, science, and pop culture. Cracked has a larger historical reach but operates in the same content category with similar ad-supported business model and the same target audience of curious general readers.
- Atlas Obscura: Direct peer in the curious-knowledge publishing category, with a community-driven approach to unusual facts, places, and stories. TIFO author Matt Blitz actually works for Atlas Obscura, illustrating the close competitive overlap in content and contributor pool.
- Mental Floss: Direct peer in the interesting-facts / trivia publishing category. Mental Floss publishes researched, accessible articles on science, history, language, and pop culture - the same content niches as Today I Found Out, and competes for the same curious-learner audience and advertising dollars.
- HowStuffWorks: Direct peer publishing researched, accessible articles explaining how things work across science, history, and culture. HowStuffWorks is a much larger, more established player but covers the same ground of factual educational content for general consumers.
- Curiosity.com: Direct peer publishing short-form interesting-fact content with a focus on daily learning, very similar to TIFO's 'one fact per day' model. Curiosity.com operates with similar ad-supported monetization and a comparable target audience.
- Neatorama: Direct peer publishing curated interesting facts and unusual stories, and is also an explicit cross-promotion partner in TIFO's 'BFF' network. Both sites compete for the same trivia-curious audience with similar ad-supported models.
Broad incumbents
- Smithsonian Magazine: Broader incumbent publisher of well-researched educational content on history, science, and culture. Smithsonian Magazine covers similar topical ground but with institutional backing, print distribution, and a much larger editorial operation, making it an aspirational comparison for a smaller digital publisher like TIFO.
- Britannica: Broad incumbent in the trusted reference and educational content space. Britannica covers similar factual ground but as a centuries-old institution with much broader scope, professional editorial staff, and subscription products that compete for educational search traffic.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Today I Found Out social profiles
Digital presenceToday I Found Out financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Today I Found Out leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Today I Found Out funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Today I Found Out M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Today I Found Out
What does Today I Found Out do?
Today I Found Out is a digital content publishing platform that produces near-daily, well-researched "interesting fact" articles spanning science, history, language, entertainment, animals, people, and myths. The flagship TodayIFoundOut.com website is supplemented by free Daily Knowledge and Weekly Wrap email newsletters, The BrainFood Show podcast, multiple branded YouTube channels, the published book "The Wise Book of Whys," and branded merchandise sold through the TIFO Gear storefront.
Is Today I Found Out a public or private company?
Today I Found Out is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Today I Found Out founded?
Today I Found Out was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Today I Found Out based?
Today I Found Out is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, in the Oceania region.
How does Today I Found Out make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Display Advertising is the primary driver. The others are newsletter Subscriptions (Free), book Sales (The Wise Book of Whys) and merchandise Sales (TIFO Gear).
Who are Today I Found Out's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Listverse, TopTenz, Cracked, Atlas Obscura, Mental Floss, HowStuffWorks, Curiosity.com and Neatorama. Broad incumbents are Smithsonian Magazine and Britannica.
Does Today I Found Out have an API?
No public API is recorded for Today I Found Out.
What industry is Today I Found Out in?
Today I Found Out's product category is Digital Media / Educational Content Publishing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAKAB, Topic/Interest-Based Content Discovery Apps, with a secondary code of MPAJAJAE, Author Website, Storefront & Direct-to-Reader Commerce (D2C Sales). Its NAICS code is 513120 and its SIC code is 2721.