Boss Talk #14: New Media Models with Substack
What is Substack? How is it changing media? And who or what is a non-fungible writer? That and more with the founders of Substack.
a16z Live · Chris Best, Ali Ghodsi, Felicia Horowitz, Marc Andreessen, Hamish McKenzie, Ben Horowitz
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Show Notes
- What did Substack think about the NYTimes article "Why We’re Freaking Out About Substack" [1:01]
- What is Substack? [4:40]
- The issues with social media content models and how Substack is different [5:54]
- What about the echo chamber? [8:54]
- Turning cultural principles (e.g., freedom of the press) into actual culture [12:00]
- Will Substack replace traditional media? [14:01]
- Would Donald Trump be welcome on Substack? [20:35]
- Why do they pay writers advances? And why is that controversial? [23:33]
- The origins of American journalism aren't what most people think [27:20]
- Non-fungible writers and the Substack model [31:45]
- Ad-supported media predates the internet [39:21]
- How do I price my Substack? [43:39]
- Substack, political topics, and culture wars: "We knew we were running towards the fire." [45:01]
- How do you prevent algorithms from slanting the platform [51:06]
- Substack's vision for the future of media [55:27]
Boss Talk is the Clubhouse show where a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi, the Founder/CEO of Databricks, discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff... boss stuff. Live every Tuesday 5-6pm on Clubhouse.
For more a16z Clubhouse shows, follow the a16z Club on Clubhouse or visit www.a16z.com/clubhouse.