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Ben Thompson

18 statements across 3 episodes · 6 bullish · 3 bearish · 3 people on the record · first statement Dec 6, 2022 by Ben Thompson · said 78 times in 21 episodes since 2021 · across every show →

On the record as a speaker too: Ben Thompson's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.

Mentions by year

brought up most by Ben Gilbert (39), David Rosenthal (32), Packy McCormick (6), Daniel Ek (1)

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035202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
0032.565202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2025 17 mentions in 5 episodes 3 per episode
2024 9 mentions in 3 episodes 3 per episode
2023 7 mentions in 4 episodes 2 per episode
2022 30 mentions in 5 episodes 6 per episode
2021 12 mentions in 2 episodes 6 per episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Ben Thompson, oldest first

Dec 6, 2022 neutral
Insight
Thompson: An Analyst's Edge on Market Trends Lasts Only Months to Years
“The edge you can provide is usually measured in sort of months or years or a very low number of years.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 1:24:21 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Thompson: Half of Stratechery subscribers listen to audio instead of reading
“Half my subscribers now listen instead of read, which is amazing.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 1:06:52 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 positive
Insight
Thompson: Coining 'Aggregation Theory' Was What Made the Concept Stick
“This is actually an example of the power of branding. I wrote articles that were basically aggregation theory well before I wrote aggregation theory, but giving it a term and coining it is what made it stick.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 1:27:46 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 negative
Disclosure
Thompson: Rude Stratechery subscribers get full refunds and permanent bans
“In fact, if someone comes back and if they are just over the top rude or disrespectful or insinuating things about me, I will not just cancel their subscription. I will refund them their entire purchase and say, please just never come back.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 1:00:24 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Thompson: Stratechery gained 250 subscribers in 24 hours after hitting 1,000
“In November, I put a little post out. First, I simplified my model. I said, no more of this 300 level, cheap level, one price and one product. That's all you're getting. And then number two, I'm like, hey, I got a thousand subscribers. Business model works. Yo…”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 52:37 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022
Assertion Supported
Thompson: Stratechery tokenizes internal email links one level deep
“Every link to myself in a strategy email is tokenized and that token goes one link deep. So even if that email is forwarded to you can go read old stuff.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 57:57 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 neutral
Disclosure
Thompson Explored Building a Substack Equivalent Before It Launched
“I actually thought about building a sub stack a few years before they launched. I actually had a team together and it ended up falling apart, but my big hesitation was always, I just wasn't sure if it would be venture scale.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 1:14:06 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Thompson: Daring Fireball link tripled Twitter followers within 12 hours
“I had 500 Twitter followers when he posted that, and within 12 hours I had 1500 Twitter followers.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 43:11 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 positive
Insight
Thompson: Subscriptions Work Because Upfront Revenue Funds Creation Instead of Speculating
“Subscription pricing does make much more sense for content production, because in this case, you're actually getting the money upfront. The money is funding the work as opposed to the work Being a speculative bid for the money.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 11:54 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022
Disclosure
Thompson: Stratechery CEO interviews must be fully on the record
“So if a CEO wants to talk to me, it has to be on the record and it's going to be the full transcript and the full interview is going to be available to my subscribers. And I want my subscribers to have all the same information I do.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 1:50:04 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Thompson: High-profile executive interviews do not drive Stratechery subscriptions
“The reality is interviews don't drive subscriptions. And so I do it because again, I want to push the tech product. I want people to use my podcast product.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 1:53:28 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 negative
Opinion
Thompson: Twitter Should Have Had Disappearing Tweets from Day One
“I think actually one of the biggest mistakes Twitter made, and it's understandable. No one could have seen it at the time, but Twitter should have had disappearing tweets from day one. It should have always been a just in the moment sort of social network. I t…”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 1:25:47 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022
Disclosure
Thompson: Stratechery makes an explicit choice not to break news
“I really try to not break news. That's actually an explicit choice on my side.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 18:01 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 neutral
Disclosure
Thompson: Roughly 70% of Stratechery Subscribers Pay Annually
“I think my audience at this point is like 70% annual subscriptions.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 12:16 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Thompson: Paid Stratechery subscribers tracked as fixed percentage of Twitter followers
“For a long time, my percentage of subscribers actually followed was a fixed percentage of my Twitter followers.”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 42:54 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
Dec 6, 2022 negative
Insight
Thompson: Micropayments Fail Due to Timing Mismatch Between Investment and Revenue
“From a microtransaction perspective, I think one of the issues is To create the piece of content is very time consuming. And then obviously you get the free distribution on the back ends. You have zero marginal cost on the back end. But the problem is you have…”
Ben Thompson Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 10:42 Stratechery (with Ben Thompson) · Acquired
May 18, 2023 positive
Opinion
Ek: All media business models across all formats must move to freemium
“All media models ought to move to freemium. It's as someone who's Been saying that for 15 years. I obviously agree with him there, but I think that's true in all formats, right?”
Daniel Ek May 18, 2023 ▶ 15:01 Spotify CEO Daniel Ek · Acquired
Dec 15, 2025 bullish
Insight
Ben Gilbert: Internet niches aggregate millions globally despite local obscurity
“Niches are way bigger than you think they are. So if you think you're writing about a niche topic, the internet being a global community of four-ish billion people means that any little niche, there might be six people in your geography that care about it in …”
Ben Gilbert Dec 15, 2025 ▶ 1:08:55 10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis) · Acquired
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