Lisa Dunford Dickman

Instead, I stopped trying to fit myself and Every into an old model of what a founder, software startup, or media company needs to look like. Those are all old ideas, from an older context. They can be useful when needed. But they’re dry and dead.

I’ve just tried to be honest about who I am, what I want, and what I believe to be true about the littl... See more

Everyone who’s reading this has some kind of writing practice and most of us could benefit from putting more time into it. Starting this Substack has obviously changed my life and career, but the act of writing everyday for years has also changed me.

Personally, writing is not how I analyze how I feel; writing is how I resolve how I feel. I find it deeply cathartic.

I used ChatGPT to find role models who had tread this path before me. While I had feared that no one else had successfully combined being a writer with building a valuable business, I learned that I was wrong. Sam Harris, Bill Simmons, Kevin Espiritu, and several other creators had done exactly this—and well.

I hired Kate Lee as our editor in chief ... See more

Given the above, you might be surprised to learn that until about a year ago I didn’t primarily think of myself as a writer. I thought of myself as a founder who liked to write. About a year ago, I decided to flip that: I started to think of myself as a writer who also builds things.

As anyone who has been interrogated by a smart aleck child knows it takes maybe four whys in a row before the veneer of adult knowing falls apart completely. The first why is easy to answer, the second why requires pulling from the jigsaw puzzle of stock answers and handed-down cliches. Further whys beyond this and things start becoming worryingly ... See more