Launched in 2017, Substack introduced a simple but powerful idea: writers should be able to own their audience and monetize their work directly through subscriptions, without relying on advertising or traditional publishers.
While media organizations are struggling and trust in platforms has eroded, Substack offers an alternative model, placing control back in the hands of individual creators.
The founders
Substack was founded by three individuals with complementary backgrounds: Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, and Jairaj Sethi. Each brought a different perspective on the challenges facing online publishing.
Chris Best
Chris Best, Substack’s CEO, came from a technical and entrepreneurial background. Prior to Substack, he co-founded Kik Interactive, the company behind the Kik messaging app. His experience building communication platforms shaped Substack’s infrastructure, particularly its focus on direct relationships between users rather than algorithmic distribution.
Hamish McKenzie
Hamish McKenzie brought a media and journalism perspective. Before co-founding Substack, he worked as a journalist for publications such as PandoDaily. McKenzie had firsthand experience with the pressures of digital media, including declining advertising revenues, dependence on social media platforms, and the rise of click-driven content. He understood the need for a more sustainable model for writers.
Jairaj Sethi
Jairaj Sethi, the third co-founder, contributed engineering expertise. While less publicly visible than Best or McKenzie, his role was critical in building the platform’s back-end systems and ensuring scalability.
The broken media problem
- Media outlets became dependent on platform algorithms.
- Revenue fluctuated unpredictably.
- Content quality was often sacrificed for clicks and virality.
Writers and journalists increasingly found themselves disconnected from their audiences, with little control over distribution or income.
The Substack model: own your audience
Substack’s solution was deceptively simple. Instead of chasing advertising revenue, the platform enabled writers to publish newsletters via email, build a direct subscriber base, and charge readers for premium content.
This model removed intermediaries and created a direct financial relationship between writer and reader. Substack handles payment processing, email delivery, and subscription management. In return, it takes a percentage (typically around 10%) of subscription revenue.
Why newsletters?
The choice of email newsletters was deliberate. Unlike social media platforms, email offers direct access to users without algorithmic filtering, ownership of subscriber lists, and consistent delivery independent of platform changes.
This made newsletters a stable foundation for rebuilding independent publishing. In many ways, Substack revived an older internet model, but with modern monetization tools layered on top.
Growth
Substack gained significant traction in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Its growth was driven by journalists leaving traditional media outlets, independent writers seeking financial stability, and niche experts building dedicated audiences.
The platform attracted high-profile writers and expanded into areas such as politics, technology analysis, culture and criticism, and finance and investing.
By the early 2020s, Substack had become a central platform in the newsletter renaissance, helping redefine how written content is distributed and monetized online.
The Substack Pro strategy
To accelerate adoption, Substack launched an initiative known as Substack Pro. Under this model, the company offered advances or guarantees to selected writers, helped them transition from traditional media to independent publishing, and invested in high-profile voices to attract audiences.
However, Substack’s growth has not been without criticism. Key issues include:
- Content moderation: because Substack emphasizes creator independence, it has faced scrutiny over how it handles controversial or harmful content.
- Platform responsibility: critics argue that while Substack promotes itself as infrastructure, it still plays a role in amplifying voices and must take responsibility for what is published.
- Competition: Substack now faces competition from platforms like Patreon, Ghost, and Beehiiv. These competitors offer similar tools with varying fee structures and features.
Substack in the creator's economy
Substack occupies a unique position within the broader creator economy. Unlike platforms like TikTok or YouTube which rely heavily on algorithms and advertising, Substack focuses on long-form content, subscription-based revenue, and direct audience relationships.
It is structurally closer to a publishing platform combined with a payment system than a traditional social network.
A shift in power
The significance of Substack lies in how it shifts power dynamics. Traditionally, publishers controlled distribution, advertisers controlled revenue, and platforms controlled visibility.
Substack challenges this by allowing writers to control their audience, set their pricing, and build independent brands. This decentralization has broader implications for journalism, media trust, and information ecosystems.
By enabling direct subscriptions, Substack has helped redefine the relationship between creators and audiences, moving away from attention-based economics toward value-based support.