T-Squared: Year Five, Day One

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of our launch — it's not too late to send a card — so today is the first working day of year five. Amazing we made it this far, elated, gratified, etc., but the overwhelming feeling here is excitement for what's ahead. Our unofficial motto has always been "The Texas Tribune does not hit singles," so it will come as no surprise that we have considerable ambitions on the journalism, tech and engagement fronts. But even by our normal swing-for-the-fences standards, there are many interesting things on the horizon.

You've already heard about one: our plan to launch a newsletters vertical helmed by our latest hire, John Reynolds. John is in the process of taking the Texas Weekly handoff from Ross Ramsey, and you may have noticed that he's now the author of our morning and evening Brief (which will soon morph into an email newsletter of sorts, delivered to your inbox a la Mike Allen's Politico Playbook). He's also responsible for our water policy biweekly, In the Flow; look for more subject-specific products in the months ahead.

What you haven't heard about, but will soon, is a new site we're launching as a companion to the Trib. Not saying more! But I can tell you that freeing up David Muto's time from The Brief was a deliberate decision. He'll be taking on a new set of responsibilities. Stay tuned.

Then there's our livestreaming of the 2014 campaign, made possible via Kickstarter by so many of you. By the early part of the year, if not before, Jay Root and others on our staff will be fully equipped and on the trail, bringing you speeches, town halls, candidate forums and other events that, until now, only locals could see in real time. We'll have a dedicated channel on our site where you can tune in through next November. And more than that, we plan to livestream many of our events, from our Austin Club interviews to our Hot Seat sit-downs on college campuses around the state.

Of course, all this will happen in the frame of our usual deep-dive, aggressive, innovative reporting on public policy, politics and state government — what you've come to expect from us every single day. The 2014 elections, the 2015 legislative session and the 2016 presidential race deserve the kind of coverage we can and will provide.

It's been an incredible four years: 16.5 million unique visitors, 128.5 million page views, nearly 8,000 stories published and 1,400 videos posted, two General Excellence awards from the Online News Association, a hair shy of $21 million raised. And we're just getting started! No telling what heights we'll hit in year five and beyond.