Company update · July 2026
Vinyl TV.
Where we are, how we're focusing toward launch, how we run, and the team we're building.
First things first
Thank you for working with us at Tootsie's.
Genuinely — a lot of Vinyl's momentum, and the filmmaker community around it, has come out of this collaboration. We don't take it for granted, and we want to keep building on it.
Where Vinyl is right now
More wood behind fewer arrows
We have a million-billion ideas — the discipline now is not chasing all of them at the same time.
Shifting from
Building the concept
→
Shifting to
Tactical plans for launch
How we're putting rubber to the road
We run the company on EOS
EOS — the Entrepreneurial Operating System — is a framework that structures how we stay on track against our priorities. With a million ideas, it keeps us moving cohesively toward two milestones.
Milestone 1
November
Soft launch (V0)
Milestone 2
February
Marketing launch (V1)
How we're unique
We're a streaming service. But how are we different?
Interactive & communal
Watch parties, voting, karaoke mode — experiences streaming platforms and TVs structurally don't have.
Local, IRL
Connects what you're watching to real things nearby you can actually go do.
Works like TV
Press play, nothing to choose. And the live channel is free, forever.
Our brand beliefs
Four things Vinyl has to feel like
New York without saying New York
Early concept
The city layer
A mockup of how the live city layer works — the neighborhood wrapped around the channel: good-morning greeting, weather, transit, local news, and a featured partner.
The team
Putting the team together.
The work that needs doing
First, just the seats
In EOS language these are "seats" — the jobs to be done, before we worry about who reports to whom.
Software / product
Show art & design
Creator outreach
Marketing & growth
Legal
Accounting
Fundraising
Show development
Production
Channel programming
Bumpers / promos
How it breaks out
Four teams
Revenue
Bring in users and revenue. Marketing and growth.
BizOps
Legal, accounting, admin, and the bulk of fundraising.
Product
Build the software and decide what we build.
Slate
Program the channel; acquire & produce content. (Next slide.)
One level deeper
The seats within each team
Revenue
- Ad relations
- Creator acquisition
- Social
- Designer
BizOps
- Finance
- Accounting
- Legal
- EA
- Fundraising
Product
- Product manager
- Dev
- QA & CS
- UI design
Slate
- Development
- Production
- Bumper Boss
- Show art & design
A closer look
The Slate department
Slate programs the channel — acquiring and producing what actually plays on Vinyl.
- Show development — Nate (ex-Hulu Originals)
- Production — via Instant Magenta, et al.
- Show art & on-channel design — Abby
- Bumper Boss — the "uncommercials" that give the channel its texture (Bret'll explain)
Slate updates · getting the library
Going direct on distribution
- We looked at Film Hub — but the terms were rough. Kind of a ripoff.
- New plan: reach out to independent and smaller distributors directly for better terms.
- Example: 10 seasons of Penn & Teller are out there — find the distributor / rights owner and license it directly instead of through an aggregator.
- Same playbook for Jason Salmon — figure out how to structure a direct deal.
The programming mix
What actually plays on Vinyl
- Licensed content — films, docs, and shows brought in through direct deals.
- Filmmaker outreach — the Tootsie's community and beyond.
- YouTubers — creators with existing audiences, given a better home.
- Vinyl original content — the traditional stuff, done right.
Are we social? Are we creators? Are we television?
We are television. It's literally in the name.
How it all lines up
The road to launch
May 2026
Mariah joins — creator outreach
May 2026
Abby joins — show art & design
Jun 2026
Tootsie's 6 — production sprint
Jul 2026
Nate joins — development
Jul 2026
Hire Head of Product team
Jul 2026
Hire Head of Slate team
Aug 15, 2026
Branding update
Oct 3, 2026
Tootsie's 7
Nov 15, 2026
Soft launch (V0)
Feb 15, 2027
V1 / marketing launch
The ask
We'd love you to lead the Slate department as Head of Slate — set the tone of the channel, own the slate end to end, and have fun doing it.
Everyone on Vinyl today
$1,000/mo
A rate we backed into — and then made the standard.
Our offer · Head of Slate
$1,300/mo
Above the standard — because this seat sets the tone for everything on the channel.
If this sounds like you
Next steps
- Kick off the channel-categories brainstorm together.
- Bring your people in — the filmmakers and crews you trust.
- Start shaping the slate toward November.
Interested?