Jeff Klein

Former CEO of 101communications (prof @ USC, Columbia; ex-Publisher, LA Times)

Jeff Klein has been the CEO of two publishing companies and cofounded one of them (101communications). He has run one of the editions of the Los Angeles Times and also served as the newspaper’s chief consumer marketing executive, and General Manager, News. For 10 years he wrote a weekly consumer law advice column in the LA Times. And for several years authored a monthly management column for Folio, the trade journal for the magazine industry. Jeff started his career as an entertainment lawyer representing movie stars, writers and directors, and, in the most intellectually stimulating job he ever had, was the First Amendment and libel lawyer for the editors and reporters of the Los Angeles Times. Jeff has taught graduate level courses in media entrepreneurship, business of journalism, media law and digital business strategies at USC (Annenberg School) and Columbia University (Journalism School). Jeff is now the chairman of the board of a business to business multimedia company (1105 Media Inc.), and serve on the board of a community newspaper group (Embarcadero Publishing). Former CEO of 101communications (prof @ USC, Columbia; ex-Publisher, LA Times)

Articles by Jeff Klein

How Shaun Merritt Vibe-Coded Karrot.ai As A Solo Builder

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Shaun Merritt, cofounder and CTO of Karrot.ai, a LinkedIn ABM tool. Shaun was kind enough to share a comprehensive breakdown of how...

7 Steps to Build a Product That Sells Itself

Learn the 7 steps to product-led growth (PLG) to build a product that sells itself. Drive activation, boost conversions, and scale efficiently with Wes Bush from ProductLed....

The Founder’s Mental Health Playbook: What I Learned After Nearly Burning Out

A hard-won guide to staying mentally healthy while building a startup I founded Stitcher, the podcast platform, in 2007 and ran it for seven years until we sold in 2014....

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) for Early Stage Companies

In our latest session from the Mucker Growth Series featuring Ethan Smith from Graphite, we explored AEO, a significant new approach for optimizing visibility in AI-driven search, particularly relevant as...

Startup Guide to AI Visibility: Be the Brand ChatGPT Recommends

Introduction Today, users aren’t just searching on Google. They’re asking ChatGPT, Claude, Google’s Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI systems for advice. AI visibility is the new frontier of brand awareness....

Practical Uses of AI & Automation for Startup Operations

In a recent Mucker Growth Series session, we invited Rock Vitale, Founder & CEO of Easie, to share how he’s helped early-stage teams move from manual, fragmented workflows to streamlined,...