Axios And The Art Of Simplification With Roy Schwartz - TWMJ #1055

Mitch Joel (0:00)

Well, hey there, and welcome to episode number 1055 of Thinking With Mitch Joel. It's Sunday, September the 27th, 2026 Let's get on with the conversation.

What if the biggest competitive advantage in the age of AI isn't producing more, but producing less? As artificial intelligence makes it easier to create e-mails, reports, presentations, and content of every kind, we're entering a world where complexity doesn't disappear, it multiplies, which raises a very important question. If everyone can communicate more, who will communicate better? That's the starting point for my conversation with Roy Schwartz. Roy is the co-founder of Axios and Axios HQ, co-author of the best-selling book Smart Brevity, and now a new book called Simplify. Before helping to build one of the world's most influential modern media companies, he served as the chief revenue officer at Politico. Through Axios, Roy and his team didn't just create a successful newsroom, they pioneered an entirely new philosophy of communication built around clarity, hierarchy, and respect for the audience's time. This is a conversation about communication, but even more so, it's about creating space for what actually matters. Enjoy the conversation.

So who are you and what do you do?

Roy Schwartz (1:34)

Well, hi Mitch. I'm Roy Schwartz. I'm a founder of Axios and Axios HQ, and right now, I'm the CEO of Axios HQ.

Mitch Joel (1:42)

That's great. You got a great new book out called Simplify.

Roy Schwartz (1:45)

Yes. This is our second book, so me and my two co-founders, Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen. We wrote Smart Brevity, which was a great hit. It sold about a half million copies, all about how to communicate more effectively.

Then this is the follow-up book, which takes into account everything that's happened in between, which is mostly AI and the impact of AI, how to utilize AI, and really the need to simplify your processes, procedures, goals, communication in order to keep up with the speed at which things are going to move over the next few years.

Mitch Joel (2:20)

So I want to get into the book and some of the themes, but just so people understand the story, yourself and your co-founders were at Politico. You made the jump over in about 2017 to build Axios, which has become this incredible global media brand.

Roy Schwartz (2:35)

Thank you.

Mitch Joel (2:36)

The brand had an exit to Cox Communications in 2022 The spin-off was or is Axios HQ, which is more software related. Are the three of you implicated at all in Axios as we know it publicly or zero?

Roy Schwartz (2:50)

Yes.

Mitch Joel (2:51)

No.

Roy Schwartz (2:51)

That's the reason that Cox has been such a great acquirer, is that we wanted to continue running the business. They wanted us to continue running the business.

Jim VandeHei, my co-founder, is CEO of Axios Media. Mike is still ever present doing Axios AM, and I'm a member of the board, and I was just in a meeting with Jim. The three of us are extremely active with Axios, running it day-to-day. Then you're right, as part of the acquisition, that was Cox Enterprise actually, which owns Cox Communication. They spun off with me, Axios HQ, which is a software business as well as a training business on how organizations communicate within their organization and also external of their organization.

Mitch Joel (3:34)

So, I mean, the media landscape has changed so dramatically. We've never met before, but I started off in journalism in the late 80s and actually I'm based in Montreal and was in the early writing as a journalist for Vice, which is a story that we could probably talk about as another iteration of media. But I got to tell you that it's super impressive, not just because I love the Axios product, which I do, but in my morning walk, I usually listen to Bloomberg Live. I can't tell you how often they talk about Axios reports, Axios breaking news, Axios.

I was thinking about our conversation, Roy, but also reflecting on this that, wow, that type of journalism you don't really hear that much from anymore. The fact that you're somewhat newish to the ecosystem, that you can break news at that scale. I'd love for you to just jam on that idea of how that's possible in this day and age.

Roy Schwartz (4:32)

Well, so we spend a lot of time and energy thinking about the talent that we bring in. Axios is really interesting because of the Smart Gravity format. It's a little bit self-selecting. We only take journalists that are willing to write in that format, engage with audiences in that style. That also means when they're presenting on stage or they're doing videos, everything we do is in Smart Brevity. The idea being, let's get you, the audience, the information as quickly and efficiently as possible.