McKenzie: Substack recruited writers with devoted followings over large overall audiences
Hamish McKenzie · Substack: Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie · May 12, 2025 · at 51:11
Hamish McKenzie is the co-founder of Substack. He explains Substack's early writer recruitment strategy and why high audience resonance mattered more than raw reach.
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“We looked for people that we thought weren't being well served by the dominant media structure, but actually had interesting things to say and had a devoted audience. And so it wasn't necessarily the people with the largest audiences. Maybe they'd have a smaller following on Twitter. Twitter was a common hunting ground in those days. But the people who were following them were really paying attention to what they had to say.”
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