Substack

Hey everyone, this is Nick Statt, senior producer on Decoder. We’re taking a brief publishing break while Nilay is out on vacation. We’ll resume regular programming next week, and we’ve got some great episodes in the works. In the meantime, we wanted to share an episode from the excellent podcast The Gray Area, with host Sean Illing. In this one, Sean sat down with The Atlantic journalist Charlie Warzel to talk specifically about the state of the internet in 2026 — and what it means that it feels increasingly overrun by non-human actors. Links: The Gray Area with Sean Illing | Apple Podcasts Galaxy Brain | The Atlantic The internet is all bots now | The Gray Area (YouTube) How much of the internet is fake? Turns out, a lot of it, actually| New York Magazine How bots took over our lives | The New Yorker The ‘dead internet theory’ is real — and it’s killing the web | Fast Company The fanfare around the band Geese actually was a psyop | Wired Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Charlie Warzel

Writer

SubstackThe Atlantic

Today, we're bringing you an episode of "The Gray Area," another great show from the Vox Media Podcast Network. In this episode, host Sean Illing talks with Atlantic writer Charlie Warzel about the increasingly weird experience of being online. They discuss AI-generated content, bots, algorithms, the “dead internet theory,” and why so much of the web now feels artificial, manipulated, or unreal. They also explore psyops, conspiracy culture, social media, and the deeper question lurking beneath the AI boom: What are human beings actually for? Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling) Guest: Charlie Warzel (@cwarzel) Come see Kara live in DC. She is sitting down with Former Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on July 16 at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, and you can be in the room. ⁠Register now⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Charlie Warzel

Writer

SubstackThe Atlantic

Ed Elson speaks with Chris Best, co-founder and CEO of Substack. They discuss how the company stood out against competitors, why video has become increasingly important to its audience, and where the media industry is headed next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Best

Co-founder and CEO

Substack

What if the future of media isn’t controlled by algorithms or legacy institutions—but by independent voices building directly with their audiences? In this episode, Erik Torenberg is joined by Chris Best, cofounder and CEO of Substack, along with a16z general partners Katherine Boyle and Andrew Chen. We trace the origin story of Substack and its cultural impact, including how it reinvented the business model for independent media. We also explore the evolution of blogging, the rebundling of media, and what the future holds as attention becomes the scarcest resource. Timecodes:  00:00 Introduction 03:50 Origins of Substack 06:29 The Evolution of Blogging & Media Models 09:15 Direct Audience Connection & Platform Independence 10:57 Vision for Substack & The Role of Algorithms 21:06 Business Models: Ads, Subscriptions, and AI 26:10 The Scarcity of Attention & Value of Good Content 27:45 Unbundling, Rebundling, and the Future of Media Companies 37:12 Academia, Books, and Changing Content Formats 44:31 Substack’s Next Phase & Closing Thoughts Resources:  Find Chris on Substack: https://cb.substack.com/ Find Chris on X: https://x.com/cjgbest Find Andrew Chen on Substack: https://andrewchen.substack.com/ Find Andrew on X: https://x.com/andrewchen Find Katherine on X: https://x.com/KTmBoyle Find Katherine on Substack: https://boyle.substack.com/ Stay Updated:  Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chris Best

Co-founder and CEO

Substack

What if the polarizing mess of social media, clickbait headlines and addictive algorithms isn't a breakdown of media but a transition to something better? Substack cofounder Hamish McKenzie explores how independent creators are growing a new media "garden," where trust beats engagement metrics and audiences matter more than ads. Learn why clicking “subscribe” doesn’t just signal support; it gives you power. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hamish McKenzie

Co-founder

Substack

Substack was founded to create an escape vehicle for writers: Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie imagined a world where writers didn’t have to rely on legacy publications or corporate advertisers, but could instead create a more direct and meaningful relationship with their audience. Despite early skepticism, Chris and Hamish were confident that many people would pay a few dollars a month to subscribe to their favorite newsletters, on subjects ranging from politics to sports to tech. Today, Substack has over 35 million active users, and while many of its offerings are free, a number of its content-creators make upwards of $500,000 a year. This episode was produced by J.C. Howard, with music by Ramtin Arablouei. Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Iman Maani. You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com. Sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com and on Substack. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Chris Best

Co-founder and CEO

Substack

Hamish McKenzie

Co-founder

Substack

In this episode, Substack cofounder and CEO Chris Best joins a16z General Partner Andrew Chen to discuss the origins and evolution of Substack, a platform redefining media and empowering creators to connect directly with their audiences. They dive into how Substack’s early days led to over 3 million paid subscribers, why creators are moving away from traditional platforms to establish direct connections with their audiences, and how the future of media in the AI era is reshaping opportunities for writers, podcasters, and video creators. From Chris’s lessons scaling Kik Messaging to Substack’s profound impact on the creator economy, this conversation shares insights on building platforms, culture, and opportunity in the modern era.   Resources:  Find Chris on Substack: https://cb.substack.com/ Find Andrew Chen on Substack: https://andrewchen.substack.com/   Stay Updated:  Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chris Best

Co-founder and CEO

Substack

It is fair to say that Substack has had a dramatic week and a half or so, and I talked to their CEO Chris Best about it. The company announced a new feature called Substack Notes, which looks quite a bit like Twitter — Substack authors can post short bits of text to share links and kick off discussions, and people can reply to them, like the posts, the whole thing. Like I said, Twitter. Twitter, under the direction of Elon Musk, did not like the prospect of this competition, and for several days last week, Twitter was taking aggressive actions against Substack. At one point you couldn’t even like tweets with Substack links in them. At another point, clicking on a Substack link resulted in a warning message about the platform being unsafe. And finally, Twitter redirected all searches for the word Substack to “newsletter.” Musk claimed Substack was somehow downloading the Twitter database to bootstrap Substack Notes, which, well, I’m still not sure what that means, but I at least asked Chris what he thought that meant and whether he was doing it.  It’s tempting to think of Substack like a rival platform to Twitter, but until the arrival of Substack Notes, it was much more like enterprise software. With Substack Notes, the company is in direct competition with social networks like Twitter. It’s shipping a consumer product that’s designed to be used by Substack readers. It is no longer just a software vendor; it’s a consumer product company. And that carries with it another set of content moderation concerns, that, after talking to Chris, I’m just not sure Substack is ready for. Like, I really don’t know. You’ll just have to listen to his answers — or really, non-answers — for yourself. This is a wild one. I’m still processing it. Let me know what you think. Okay, Chris Best, CEO of Substack. Here we go. Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23445916 Links: Can Substack CEO Chris Best build a new model for journalism? - The Verge Now live for all: Substack Notes Substack Content Guidelines Welcome to the new Verge (re Quick Posts) Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter? - The Verge Twitter’s newsletter tool is shutting down in less than a month - The Verge Elon Musk on Twitter: "@BretWeinstein 1. Substack links were never blocked..." Casey Newton - Substack Notes Platformer on Substack    Can we regulate social media without breaking the First Amendment? - The Verge How to buy a social network, with Tumblr CEO Matt Mullenweg - The Verge Newsletter platform Substack raises $65 mln in Andreessen Horowitz-led funding round | Reuters Substack Drops Fund-Raising Efforts as Market Sours - The New York Times Substack Wefunder Substack Notes, Twitter Blocks Substack, Substack Versus Writers How much money do we think Substack lost last year? - The Verge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Best

Co-founder and CEO

Substack

Last week, Elon kicked off a feud with both Substack and his very own former Twitter Files ingénue (and Substack star), Matt Taibbi. Kara and Nayeema break down the battle of the bros before turning to an interview with those at the center of the storm: Substack co-founders Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie. The two address questions about Substack Notes (which Elon dubbed, and they deny, is a “Twitter clone”), the challenging business model of newsletters and their stance on free expression. Somehow, they manage to avoid uttering the name “Elon.” Kara doesn’t shy away though.  Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Best

Co-founder and CEO

Substack

Hamish McKenzie

Co-founder

Substack

Sachin Monga is the Head of Product at Substack, a platform that I personally use every day, and love. Before Substack, Sachin co-founded an app called Cocoon, which he ended up selling to Substack. Before that, he spent over seven years at Facebook as a PM working on video and camera products, building out the developer platform, and leading the ads growth team. In today’s episode, we dive deep on all things Substack. Sachin shares what it’s like transitioning from a large product team at Facebook to a small growth team. He discusses how to work with a hands-on founder and why you must be comfortable with rapid change in a PM role. He also shares unique features of Substack that make it an optimized experience for readers and writers, how he’d like to see it improved, and tips for anyone wanting to get started writing online. — Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-substack-sachin-monga-substack — Where to find Sachin Monga: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/sachinmonga • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachinmonga/ • Email: Sachin@substackinc.com — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible: • Retool: https://retool.com/lenny • Stytch: https://stytch.com/lenny • Vanta: https://vanta.com/lenny — Referenced: • Substack: https://substack.com/ • Matt Taibbi on Substack: https://taibbi.substack.com/ • Bill Bishop on Substack: https://sinocism.com/ • Jasper: https://www.jasper.ai/ • DALL-E 2: https://openai.com/dall-e-2/ • 1000 True Fans: https://www.amazon.com/1000-True-Fans-Kellys-Simple-ebook/dp/B01N9P9O4G • You Are Not Late: https://medium.com/message/you-are-not-late-b3d76f963142 • The Timeless Way of Building: https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Way-Building-Christopher-Alexander/dp/0195024028 • Martyrmade podcast on Substack: https://martyrmade.substack.com/ • Colin Meloy on Substack: https://colinmeloy.substack.com/ • Ethan Strauss on Substack: https://houseofstrauss.substack.com/ • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Substack: https://kareem.substack.com/ • Dayne Rathbone: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daynerathbone/ • For All Mankind on Apple TV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7 — In this episode, we cover: (04:34) Sachin’s background (07:11) The evolution and structure of teams at Substack (10:11) What it’s like working at a smaller company with a hands-on founder (12:07) How to share in a founder’s vision (14:02) Why the rate of change is the most challenging aspect of the job (16:37) Why prioritization at Facebook worked differently than it does at Substack (20:03) How Substack thinks about prioritizing for writers and readers (22:17) Substack’s recommendation feature and how it came to be (27:13) How recommendations have led to an increase of millions of subscribers (31:34) Moving forward with network-driven discovery  (32:17) The “build with” principle and the product lab at Substack (35:02) How Substack deals with negative press (36:45) The writer experience at Substack (39:13) The reader-focused experience on Substack (40:41) Advice for writers (44:45) Substack’s vision for making creation easier (46:39) Common mistakes creators make, and how product improvements could help in some cases  (49:57) Why you’re not too late to join the game (52:52) Lightning round — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Sachin Monga

Head of Product

SubstackCocoon

Charlie Warzel writes the Galaxy Brain newsletter on Substack, a publication he started after a career at The New York Times and BuzzFeed. Warzel joins Big Technology Podcast in a live recording at Unfinished Live to discuss what a nuanced conversation about social media's harms should look like. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss Warzel's views on post-Covid workplace culture, the subject Out of Office, a forthcoming book for which he is a co-author. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charlie Warzel

Writer

Substack

Chris Best is the CEO of Substack, an email newsletter platform that lets writers send newsletters and charge subscribers a monthly fee. The platform — which I use for my Big Technology newsletter — is squarely in the middle of the battle over online speech, looked at by some as an alternative that will displace professional media. Best joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss his company's position in these speech battles, how he personally feels about the professional media, his investor Andressen Horowitz, and whether paid subscriptions are a better model than advertising. You can subscribe to my Big Technology Newsletter here: https://bigtechnology.substack.com/ The OneZero story https://onezero.medium.com/the-moderation-war-is-coming-to-spotify-substack-and-clubhouse-9fe00672091b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Best

Co-founder and CEO

Substack

In January, I wrote a story for OneZero about the content moderation war in store for smaller social platforms like Clubhouse, Spotify, and Substack. As part of my reporting, I reached out to Glenn Greenwald, a strident voice against moderation who left The Intercept for Substack last year. While I'm not in lockstep with Greenwald ideologically, I wanted to hear his thoughts at length. This week’s Big Technology Podcast features my full conversation with Greenwald, where we discuss his move to Substack, the line between content moderation and censorship, and Joe Rogan. Story: https://onezero.medium.com/the-moderation-war-is-coming-to-spotify-substack-and-clubhouse-9fe00672091b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Glenn Greenwald

Journalist

Substack

Nilay Patel talks to Chris Best, cofounder and CEO of Substack, the subscription newsletter startup that’s taken the media industry by storm over the past few months. The conversation explores how Substack's business model could potentially impact the media industry, but also dives into the basic questions about running a media company -- how Substack makes money, how it’s going to scale while offering additional services to writers, like legal protection, and, of course, content moderation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Best

Co-founder and CEO

Substack

Chris Best is the Founder & CEO @ Substack, the company that makes it simple for a writer to start a paid newsletter. To date, Chris has raised over $17M in funding from the likes of a16z, Y Combinator, Twitch CEO Emmett Shear and Zynga Co-Founder Justin Waldron to name a few. Prior to founding Substack, Chris was the Co-Founder & CTO @ Kik, letting users connect with friends, groups and the world around them. The company raised over $220M in funding from Spark, Tencent and USV to name a few. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Chris made his way into the world of startups and came to found Kik? How his journey with Kik led to his founding Substack? 2.) During COVID, traditional media publications have been hit hard and Substack has taken off, how does Chris see the correlation there? Given the public journal of record has always been free, how does Substack interact with public news? What does Chris 3.) Why does Chris believe that micropayments are a fundamentally bad idea? Structurally why would they not work? Does Chris agree the biggest problem consumers face today in content is one of discovery? Why not? 4.) When designing the Substack product today, how does Chris think about incentive design? Why does Chris believe with incentives, Substack is the opposite of Twitter from a product perspective? Why have the "economics of attention now been flipped?" 5.) How has Chris seen himself evolve and change as a leader over the last 3 years? What advice would Chris give to CTOs making the move into the role of CEO? What does Chris believe his greatest strengths and weaknesses are as a leader? How does Chris find the war for talent today? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Chris' Fave Book: The Death and Life of Great American Cities As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Chris Best

Co-founder and CEO

Substack

0:57 Jason intros Alex & Sachin 4:46 When and why did they start Cocoon? 6:40 Why did Facebook keep changing their developer tools platform? 9:22 What is the vision for Cocoon and who is it made for? 14:58 How did they get the cocoon.com domain name and why do strong domain names breed trust? 16:57 What are they doing with customer data and how will they monetize? 20:20 Cocoon demo and Alex takes us through some key features 29:45 How difficult was raising money going up against Facebook, iMessage, etc.? 33:04 Who is their ideal customer? 38:35 Building a company in San Francisco vs. outside of it 41:57 Jason tries to invest in Cocoon live on air 47:45 Growing Cocoon in the crowded app store 51:51 Why do Cocoon founders use Notion? 54:37 Jason calls Ben Horowitz

Sachin Monga

Head of Product

SubstackCocoon

Alex Cornell

Co-Founder

Cocoon

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"

Chris Best

Co-founder and CEO

Substack