Two months after the news that they were leaving their jobs, Justin Smith and Ben Smith are closing in on about $30 million in initial funding for their new global media venture and are likely to announce their investors in a matter of weeks, sources familiar with the matter tell me. Those investors will be a mix of personal and institutional investors who will have equity stakes in the business. An Axios report earlier this week identified a few bold faced names who had been approached for “Project Coda,” including Bob Iger and Laurene Powell Jobs. According to my sources, conversations with Iger didn’t go anywhere and Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective passed on the opportunity, citing conflicts with The Atlantic. (David Bradley, the former publisher of The Atlantic, does intend to invest, according to sources familiar.)

Meanwhile, I can report that the Smiths have made their first notable hire: Caitlin Roman, the vice president of product at The Athletic, will join the Smiths’ yet-to-be-named company as Head of Product. A veteran of LinkedIn and Medium, Roman was key to helping The Athletic get to 1.2 million subscribers and thus making it an appealing acquisition target for The New York Times Company, which bought the sports news site for $550 million earlier this year. “Ben and I are thrilled to welcome Caitlin Roman as Head of Product on our founding management team,” Justin Smith told me via email. “Caitlin is a rising star in the media and journalism product world with an exceptional track record of driving innovation and growth.”