Check your Pulse #45

Referring to subscription media, David Perell said:Subscription publications will reinforce their readers’ perspectives because most people only pay for information they agree with. Thus, an increase in subscription-supported media won’t just fragment information sources. It will fragment society.

We’ve all benefited from the last generation of tech operators and investors making their content accessible. The people that should be reading Divinations are those that have the potential to build great companies, but may not afford a subscription, not the VCs.

Substack was built on the foundation that people don’t subscribe to content, they subscribe to voices they trust. In contrast, at Medium, it almost doesn’t matter who the writer is as long as the post is good.

The challenge for Substack, then, is to build an aggregator that improves the discovery and consumption experience for readers, while still honoring writers and staying true to their purpose.

First, do we want to live in a world where people pay for content? I’m not sure. For one, it presumes the most valuable things should be closed, when the beauty of the web is that that zero marginal cost of production means the most valuable things should reach whomever they are relevant to.