It seems to me, then, that the only long-term solution is to acquire customers directly, and to monetize them directly. The Internet is an efficiency machine, which means that closely related objectives, a la publishers seeking to reach more readers and advertisers seeking to reach more customers, are not sufficient; content and business need to be... See more
If the talent within your organization wants to write, produce, create elsewhere, then with a new business model that enables equity and investment in the individual by that brand, that is beneficial to the both parties bottom line. Again, look at the record industry: emphasis on the talent (artist) only drives more value and more revenue for the l... See more
I have no idea how to find the perfect balance between internal and external benchmarks. But I know there’s a strong social pull toward external measures – chasing a path someone else set, whether you enjoy it or not. Social media makes it ten times more powerful. But I also know there’s a strong natural desire for internal measures – being indepen... See more
"In reality, content as a utility has been limited largely to education and it's not fun or relaxing, typically. Content for entertainment is what we all think of, right? That's Disney. But content for utility has usually been okay, I'm going to go on to Khan Academy..."
We're similarly shocked whenever authority figures who are supposed to know what they're doing make it plain that they don't, President Obama's healthcare launch being probably the most serious recent example. We shouldn't really be shocked, though. Because all these stories illustrate one of the most fundamental yet still under-appreciated truths ... See more
With that in mind, we commit to keeping Substack wide open as a platform, accepting of views from across the political spectrum. We will resist public pressure to suppress voices that loud objectors deem unacceptable. If you look at Substack’s leaderboards today, you’ll see writers from the left and the right, the populist and the elite, the low-br... See more