Benzinga and Stakeholder Labs Launch Marketopolis Video Podcast Connecting Executives With Retail Investors

Benzinga, a leading financial media and data company, and Stakeholder Labs, a startup helping public companies activate retail investors and drive market awareness, are teaming up to launch Marketopolis. The new series gives everyday investors and business enthusiasts a front-row seat to how CEOs actually think about modern markets, retail investors, and communicating in the digital age. Jody Rones, Chief Revenue Officer of Benzinga, stated that retail investors today are looking for unfiltered insight and are more engaged within their circle, emphasizing that the partnership creates content for company leaders to speak directly to individual investors.

Powered by SoFi, the launch of Marketopolis reflects a growing movement: the convergence of company storytelling and financial markets engagement. Shows like Marketopolis are designed to bridge the gap between C-suite leadership and everyday investors. Across episodes, themes of transparency, long-term value creation, retail investor influence and the role of social platforms in shaping public company narratives emerge consistently. Matt Joanou, CEO and Co-Founder of Stakeholder Labs, described the series as more than a typical one-on-one interview, noting it reveals how senior leadership thinks about shareholders, capital markets, and growth while giving retail investors a seat at the institutional table.

The first four episodes, presented in partnership with SoFi will feature Grindr CEO George Arison, Lovesac CEO Shawn Nelson, The Arena Group CEO Paul Edmondson and Bark CEO Matt Meeker. Episodes premiere weekly beginning Wednesday, October 8, 2025, across X, YouTube, LinkedIn, Benzinga.com and podcast platforms. Marketopolis goes beyond quarterly results to reveal how CEOs think about their roles and approach communicating with the market. Each conversation explores their personal relationship with money and investing - including how they track their own stock. The show also uncovers the philosophies that shape leadership and the journeys that led them to the corner office.

The result is candid insight for retail investors who want the kind of perspective usually reserved for Wall Street institutions. It's part business strategy, part personal philosophy and part deep dive into business leadership. Joanou, who also serves as host of the show, added that Marketopolis is about more than just the numbers, emphasizing the people, strategies and stories behind the companies we invest in and buy from every day. The partnership with Benzinga ensures these conversations reach the broad and growing audience of investors hungry for authentic, actionable insights available on platforms like https://www.youtube.com.

The show is designed for retail investors who want direct and unfiltered access to decision makers. It also provides executives, communications professionals, and investor relations teams with fresh ideas on next-gen approaches to financial communications. In addition, each interview speaks to aspiring leaders early in their careers, offering a realistic look at what it takes to run a public company or take a business public. Benzinga's distribution will extend the show's reach to millions of investors worldwide through channels like https://www.benzinga.com. As a leading source for financial news and data, Benzinga connects with both retail and institutional audiences, ensuring these conversations meet investors where they already consume market-moving information.

Rones concluded that partnering with Stakeholder Labs to launch Marketopolis is a natural extension of their mission to make markets more accessible and engaging, noting that retail investors today care not just about quarterly performance but also the story, strategy, and values behind the companies they support. Marketopolis brings that world to life, blending storytelling with substance and offering audiences a rare opportunity to hear directly from leaders about the human and strategic side of running a company.