Substack CEO Chris Best empowers writers via email newsletter platform, raised $15M from a16z | E1016

In this episode, Jason Calacanis chats with Chris Best, co-founder of Substack. They delve into Chris's journey from his first startup, Kik, to the creation of Substack. They discuss the AI alignment problem, the negative impact of ad algorithms, and the potential shift in the attention economy. Chris also shares insights on Substack's business model, writer collaboration, and future plans.

Speakers

AI Chat

Unidentified

Jason Calacanis

Host • 57%

Chris Best

Guest • 41%

Chapters

0:00	Opening
1:00	Jason intros Chris Best
3:24	What happened to Kik? (Chris' first startup) What did he learn from it?
5:03	What is it about email newsletters that attracted Chris?
9:41	Chris explains the AI alignment problem and how it relates to content consumption
13:58	What bad behaviors have Google & Facebook's ad algorithms created? How is Chris working to fix them?
18:09	Gamification's impact on startups
23:02	What types of writers are best suited for Substack?
29:25	How did Chris secure a $15M Series A from a16z with only 3 FTEs? Plus explaining the benefits of being "default-alive"
34:33	Are we approaching a flipping of the attention economy?
43:20	How does Substack make money?
49:46	Benefits of writer collaboration & cross-promotion
50:57	How the Deadspin situation relates to Substack
56:01	Most interesting newsletter content so far?
58:19	Dealing with offensive speech & explicit content
1:05:32	When will major publications start losing writers to Substack?
1:10:00	Plans to add audio or video?
1:11:34	What are the top-performing newsletters and what are the price ranges?
1:17:29	Ad-model vs. Paid-model at Inside & Substack
1:30:16	Chris explains the Substack fellowship
1:32:23	Thoughts on "hustle culture"

Transcript

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