Chris Best0:00
Thank you for coming to our first ever media forum. I thought I might explain a bit why we decided to do this. A couple people have already asked me this: What is this? Why are we in the chainsaw massacre house? We started Substack because we believe that what you read matters. The media you consume is not just a source of information or entertainment. It shapes how you think. It shapes how you see the world. It shapes who you become. And so the people who make great media—writers, podcasters, journalists, poets, bloggers—are heroes of the culture.
The tech world, which I come from, has not always appreciated this. The first generation of social media apps built these amazing new tools for creation and distribution but broke the business models that supported media. I don't think this comes from malice. It comes from misunderstanding the purpose and value of media and from business models that don't align with it.
That confusion is getting only more pronounced as new AI tools come online. I don't know if you've noticed this. There are a million examples of this. For some reason, the one that sticks particularly in my mind is a tweet I saw one time that said something to the effect of like, 'It's over. Hollywood is finished.' And it was retweeting a video that was this slick, highly produced AI video of a taco pooping out a taquito into a sink.
And it was like, 'This is it. Look how well produced this is. Everything that Hollywood could possibly have done is now replaced by this magical machine that can create this video.' And even though it was technically amazing, it so profoundly misses the point. And I think you sort of see that everywhere once you start to look for it. I don't know if everybody read that Sam Chris piece about the AI writing. That thing's crazy. Maybe it's unfair to pick on random Twitter accounts. The other day I saw none other than Sam Altman suggest in an interview that the future of media might be having AI read your work and summarize it for people and to pay you a few cents for the privilege, as if that should get you everything you need.
I think what that worldview misses is that the value of media comes from perspective. It comes from relationships built on trust. It comes from you, the human being who's out here trying to make something you believe in. When everybody's chasing the rewards of a broken system, being real is a radical act. Not just because it's artistically pure, but because it works. People who make great media change hearts and minds, and ambitious media founders can change the world just as much as any tech company.
We think you deserve the tools, the recognition, and the support you need along the way. That's what we aspire to do at Substack: to put technology at your service to help you make money doing the work you believe in and to give you a lever long enough to move the world. Today, there's more than 100,000 publishers making money on Substack. The top 10 collectively make more than $100 million a year. We think we're still very early in this cycle. We think there's a lot further this trend has to run. And we want to build the product and the network that can help you succeed. Whether you're building a single channel or a whole new institution, we don't think there should be a limit to your ambition. And we're here to serve you.
There are a bunch of us here from Substack who would love to talk, who are wearing signs like this. I can attest this sign is working. I've had people tell me we need more fonts. I'm listening. But we also want to invest in some of the cultural infrastructure that you need, which is why we want to do events like this. Making something great is hard. It's hard both practically and sort of existentially. But it doesn't have to be lonely.
We hope this summit gives you a chance to use some of the tremendous energy that's collected here in this room. That you enjoy the amazing speakers, that you find ways to work together, collaborate, maybe even make some news. Podcast room is available. But most of all, I hope that you can carve out time in between to talk, swap war stories, get to know each other. There's a lot to be said for hanging out with other people who are doing the real thing. So, thank you all for being here. The work you do is more valuable than ever. You deserve to get rich. You deserve to have fun. Let's shoot for both.
