Gimlet Media British advertising firm WPP announced it was investing $5 million in Gimlet for a minority stake in the company. Alex Blumberg, a radio journalist, producer for "This American Life", and co-founder of "Planet Money", came up with the idea of a for-profit podcast network after the success of a T-shirt fundraising campaign for "Planet Money". He chose to document the foundation of Gimlet in the first season of "StartUp", the company's first show. Gimlet's co-founder, Matthew Lieber, holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, is a former radio producer at WNYC, and worked as a management consultant
Gimlet Media works with sponsors to create podcasts that are then released under Gimlet Creative's channel, with a clear distinction drawn to separate from the company's editorial and journalism shows. This team is headed by creative director Nazanin Rafsanjani. Branded podcasts from Gimlet Creative include: In addition to individual shows, Gimlet Creative also produces the ads featured on other Gimlet podcasts. In 2018, Gimlet announced their creation of a festival, called GimletFest. The first annual GimletFest took place on June 16–17 in Brooklyn, New York, and featured live podcast shows and panels with podcast hosts. Gimlet Media Gimlet Media is a digital