Substack was founded in 2017 by Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, and Jairaj Sethi. The platform makes it dead simple for writers to start email newsletters — free or paid — without dealing with the technical overhead of running a publication. Writers keep their subscriber lists and Substack takes a 10% cut of paid subscription revenue.
The timing was perfect. As traditional media contracted and social media algorithms made organic reach unreliable, journalists, commentators, and subject-matter experts flocked to Substack. Some top writers earn seven figures annually. The platform reported over 35 million active subscriptions by 2023, with more than 2 million paid subscribers across all publications.
Substack has expanded beyond text newsletters into podcasts, video, community features, and a Twitter-like social feed called Substack Notes. The company raised $65 million in a 2021 Series B round at a reported valuation of $650 million.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Substack has navigated controversy around its content moderation policies. The company has generally taken a hands-off approach, which has attracted writers across the political spectrum but also drawn criticism when extremist content appeared on the platform.
The Substack model proved that direct creator-to-audience relationships could work at scale. It’s inspired competitors like Ghost, Beehiiv, and ConvertKit to build similar features. For writers, the appeal is straightforward: you write, you own your audience, and you don’t need permission from an editor or algorithm to reach your readers.
