Substack✓

Ruben @rdominguezibar

@guilleflorvs and I asked @chrisbest how @substack got started. His answer: one writer, and a lot of manual work. In the early days, every new publication was created by hand. In Chris's words: "I had to go type it into the database to make the second one and the third one. It was very manual." Their first writer was China expert Bill Bishop (@niubi), and that single writer proved the idea. While they were in @ycombinator, they opened it up so anybody could get started. By the time we spoke, the platform had crossed five million paid subscriptions. ▫️ Paying customers can come before a polished product ▫️ Doing things by hand is a fast way to learn what people want Founders, what are you still doing by hand? Tell us in the replies.

Isi Breen @isaiah_bb

I know people who are friends with him and the amount of money he makes from SlowBoring would make you throw up.

VANITY FAIR @VanityFair

The 'Newsgirls' duo and former '60 Minutes' employees find it “heartbreaking” to see the structural overhauls at CBS News. “It’s hard to find news institutions you can trust these days, and it’s sad that that’s all being stripped away,” Mabel Kabani says. “It shows you how fragile institutions are—just one year, everything can change. All of these amazing correspondents have been fired or left. I can’t even recognize the place, really.”