“That was always what the site was going to be,” Mr. Cho said.

The flagship site, started by Choire Sicha, Alex Balk and Mr. Cho in April of 2009, has grown traffic to around 400,000 monthly uniques in its first year and is still in what other sites would call "investment mode." Without any funding, however, the startup will invest in itself by adding two new standalone sites and building subscribers to its daily newsletter.

A lead writer and a topic have already been selected for one of the new sites. The second site already has a lead writer, but the topic will depend on what sits well with potential advertisers selected by Mr. Cho, according to Nieman.

Mr. Cho declined to discuss potential topics beyond saying that “We’re not going to launch a poetry site any time soon. We have a poetry section. I know how it does.”