What We Learned In Our First Year of 404 Media

404 Media, a reader-supported technology journalism outlet founded by four former staffers, reports that after its first year it is financially sustainable and plans to continue. The founders say they invested about $1,000 each at launch and lived off personal savings, and they now reinvest subscriber money into hiring an audio engineer, paying for a full-text RSS feed built by Feedpress, and covering costs such as Joseph's trip to DEF CON. Named results from the year include Google cutting off a surveillance company, Microsoft stopping explicit AI images of Taylor Swift made with its tools, and a lawsuit against Nvidia over scraping YouTube. The team says its biggest challenge is discoverability and asks readers to keep or buy subscriptions and tell friends.