ONA23 Start-Up Alley: New ventures solving big challenges

The Start-Up Alley is part of the ONA Midway, a futures lab for tomorrow’s journalism, bringing together the best thinking in the media technology, tools and workforce space.

A promotional card that reads, "ONA23 Start-Up Alley: The Diversity Pledge Institution, Forth, JournoDAO, Legitimate, N2 Media Holdings, OpenOrigins, Outpost, Study Hall/Outvoice, Stylebot, YESEO."

We are excited to showcase 10 tenacious disruptors at ONA23, each tackling solutions to challenges or ways to fill a critical gap. Learn more about them, and make plans to find them on Thursday and Friday in the Midway, located on the 4th Floor in Franklin Hall at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.

  • The Diversity Pledge Institute is solving the diversity pipeline problem by improving retention rates associated with diversity, equity and inclusion; and supporting journalists’ career growth with free services. DPI helps media companies by exposing newsrooms to a larger talent pool to achieve sustainability. Find The Diversity Pledge Institute at ONA23
  • Forth is a newsfeed populated exclusively by journalists ranging from network correspondents to freelance reporters and everyone in between. Readers can curate their feeds knowing that their news will be rooted in journalistic principles — not influenced for the sake of an algorithm. Find Forth at ONA23
  • JournoDAO is a professional network where traditional journalists can collaborate with Web3 natives and learn from each other. JournoDAO also creates and incubates projects and tools that will be the future of journalism. Find JournoDAO at ONA23
  • Legitimate provides an innovative suite of AI-powered tools extensively tested and refined with feedback from journalists worldwide. From transcription to workflow management to secure communications and much more, Legitimate’s comprehensive tool suite streamlines the day-to-day work for journalists. Find Legitimate at ONA23
  • N2 Media Holdings is reimagining local news reporting for the streaming age. Its brand, The Local, will be an innovative, inclusive and sustainable service that will change how local news is reported, funded and distributed. Find N2 Media Holdings at ONA23
  • OpenOrigins is building the infrastructure to authenticate all content online to ensure you know what is human-made, unedited and real. News archives can not only authenticate their preserved histories but also effectively be monetized in a world of generative AI. Find OpenOrigins at ONA23
  • Outpost helps membership and subscription-driven publishers thrive using Ghost. Outpost provides integrated technology services, helping publishers get new free subscribers, convert them to paid, and retain them. Find Outpost at ONA23
  • Study Hall is a membership community for freelancers and media professionals. Members enjoy a community listserv, Slack and microgrant program to help more journalists own their own work. OutVoice, which recently merged with Study Hall, helps publications find, onboard, manage and pay freelancers located anywhere. Find Study Hall/Outvoice at ONA23
  • Stylebot is a modern-day style guide that can answer writing and editing questions on Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Chrome. Local and national newsrooms use Stylebot to maintain their standards, with options available to tailor a Stylebot specifically for your newsroom. Find Stylebot at ONA23
  • YESEO is a free plug-in for Slack that helps users with SEO best practices, reducing the time to craft a relevant headline and selecting the right keywords to use. YESEO supports up to eight different language models and is available in the Slack App Directory for any newsroom to install. Find YESEO at ONA23

Explore the Start-Up Alley and Midway Map

Learn more about the Start-Up Alley’s selection process.