The hottest Business Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Business Topics

Bubble Memory: A CEO’s Reflections on the Dotcom Boom and Bust

The Generalist • 1340 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
💼 Business Startups Leadership Strategy Talent Mergers Venture Capital Regulation
  1. The current AI wave mirrors past internet gold rushes: it brings massive opportunity and investment but will produce a mix of big winners and many failures, so smart policy and open access are needed to keep competition healthy.
  2. Leaders should act as emotional stabilizers for fast-growing companies, balancing optimism with healthy paranoia, leaning on advisors, and keeping sight of the long-term story rather than daily noise.
  3. Talent is the most important lever when scaling quickly, so recruiting must become a top, structured priority and CEOs need to delegate operational control to focus on attracting and empowering great people.

The Unreachable Engineering Managers

Leading Developers • 141 implied HN points • 17 Feb 26
💼 Business Management Leadership Teamwork Communication Productivity Organizational Behavior
  1. Managers who are hard to reach become real bottlenecks because they hoard context and decisions, which delays work or forces suboptimal choices.
  2. Being responsive is part of the engineering manager job — prioritize unblocking others by answering quickly and checking key channels regularly.
  3. Use systems and delegation to scale availability: mute or reorganize channels, create focused discussion groups, and give engineers ownership so you aren’t the sole decision source.

So You Want To Become an Engineering Manager

Diary of an Engineering Manager • 539 implied HN points • 08 Aug 24
💼 Business Management Careers Skills Leadership Teamwork
  1. Make your career goals clear by sharing your intent with your manager. Talking about your desire to become an engineering manager will help you get guidance and support.
  2. Focus on developing crucial skills like self-awareness, people skills, and project management. These skills are essential for leading a team effectively.
  3. Look for growth opportunities within your current company or elsewhere. Being prepared is important, but finding the right chance to step into an EM role is key.

The Top Ways Video Games Affect Your Brain. Number Five May Disturb You!

The Bottom Feeder • 727 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25
💼 Business Product Monetization Marketing Strategy Consumer behavior Product Design User engagement
  1. Video games are engineered to change how players' brains feel, offering things like dopamine rewards, adrenaline rushes, thoughtful puzzles, artistic moments, or simply a way to kill time.
  2. Dopamine-driven design is the biggest money maker because it makes players feel rewarded, but it can be addictive, wears out over time, and becomes problematic when tied to gambling or monetization.
  3. Game creators need to decide which of these experiences they want to sell and balance them carefully—mixing rewards, challenge, art, and time-sinking determines how long and how well a game keeps players.
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When To Kill A Project

Jacob’s Tech Tavern • 1749 implied HN points • 20 Nov 25
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Startups Project management Market research Business strategy
  1. Know when to stop a project that's not working. Sometimes it's better to cut your losses and move on rather than keep putting effort into something that won't succeed.
  2. Always do market research before launching an idea. Talking to potential users can help you understand their needs and avoid mistakes.
  3. Even successful projects can have an end date. Recognizing when something has outlived its usefulness allows you to focus on your next opportunity.

Do Founders Ever Take a Vacation?🌴,AI and Longevity🤖, Venture Trends Q2 2024📊

The VC Corner • 579 implied HN points • 04 Aug 24
💼 Business Startups Venture Capital Technology Trends AI
  1. Many founders struggle to take vacations due to their busy schedules. Taking time off is often seen as a luxury rather than a necessity.
  2. Artificial Intelligence is playing a big role in improving health and longevity. People are excited about how AI can help us live longer and healthier lives.
  3. Venture capital trends are shifting, and investors are looking for new opportunities. It's important for startups to stay aware of these changes to attract funding.

Producer theory

benn.substack • 1508 implied HN points • 21 Nov 25
💼 Business Startups Tech Innovation Data AI
  1. Building strong connections with various data sources is important for creating valuable AI products. This way, the product can understand context and provide better outcomes.
  2. Platforms may not be as essential as we think. Sometimes, focusing on being a good producer and providing unique intelligence can be more beneficial than trying to build a large platform.
  3. As AI tools evolve, they learn from each other. This means that context is not just about gathering data, but also about interpreting and using that data intelligently.

For Starters #35: 3.5 Tips for Pricing

For Starters • 39 implied HN points • 18 Oct 24
💼 Business Pricing Strategy B2B SaaS Value Proposition Customer Experience Marketing
  1. Pricing should highlight what makes your product special. If customers understand its unique value, they're more likely to use it.
  2. Help your customers see the benefits fast. Make onboarding smooth and ensure they quickly experience the product's value.
  3. Don't worry about making your product perfect before setting a price. Charge based on the value customers see now, not on what you want it to eventually be.

Taking just one step too far

Leading Developers • 84 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
💼 Business Leadership Management Careers Teamwork Communication Hiring
  1. Pushing a little beyond normal social or organizational boundaries often gets things done and can lead to better outcomes than staying overly timid.
  2. Deliberately testing that extra step helps you learn where the real limits are, because different people and orgs tolerate different levels of push.
  3. Keep it to just one extra step, watch reactions, learn from feedback, and preface risky moves so you can dial back quickly if needed.

2025 Annual Letter: Technology is the Cake, Geopolitics is the Icing

Interconnected • 200 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
💼 Business Investing Asset management Technology Strategy Risk Fundraising
  1. Put technology first, then assess geopolitical tailwinds or headwinds, then evaluate the company, and only finally consider price. Geopolitics is an unavoidable layer that can make or break a tech investment.
  2. Widespread adoption of AI agents will create strong demand for deterministic guardrails like observability, data governance, DevOps, and security because probabilistic models need rules and audit trails. Agent workloads are also more heterogeneous, which could shift infrastructure demand from GPUs toward CPUs.
  3. Human surveys will likely understate agent effectiveness as people protect jobs, creating a measurement problem for adoption, and political or local backlash against AI data centers can become a bipartisan constraint. Investors should expect regulatory and supply risks and consider modest hedging and risk management.

Finding Career Fit For An AI Age.

The Future Does Not Fit In The Containers Of The Past • 75 implied HN points • 22 Feb 26
💼 Business Careers Talent Hiring Leadership AI Workforce
  1. Personality (PQ) will matter more in the AI age than past measures alone, because traits like agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, and emotional stability help predict career fit and future success.
  2. Constant reinvention and the ability to learn and unlearn are essential; success depends on being smart at learning, having drive to do the work, and being likable enough to collaborate with humans and AI.
  3. Work is shifting from fixed jobs to flexible opportunities, so a persistent career blueprint based on PQ helps individuals and companies match roles to who someone truly is rather than just their resume.

Strange and Dazzling Things Are Happening Right Now

The Honest Broker • 19781 implied HN points • 19 Nov 24
💼 Business Startups Media Finance Technology Entrepreneurship
  1. Elon Musk tried to buy Substack, but the CEO chose to reject the offer, showing loyalty to independent writers.
  2. Substack's subscription numbers are growing, with many creators earning significant income, but the platform still isn't profitable yet.
  3. There are concerns about some tech companies, like Nvidia, using risky accounting practices that can create a false sense of success.

Scale Ruins Everything

Cold Water • 19 implied HN points • 30 Sep 24
💼 Business Venture Capital Startups Investment Trends Economic Impact Corporate Responsibility
  1. Venture capital funding has led to many startups chasing rapid growth, even if their ideas could harm society. This can create big problems as companies scale up without considering the impact.
  2. Most startups fail, but VCs invest in many hoping to find a few successful ones. This pressure for growth can push companies to make decisions that negatively affect their communities.
  3. Founders should think about how their ideas might lead to negative outcomes at scale. It's important to consider whether every idea needs to become a billion-dollar business and what that means for society.

Architecture "Billings remain soft to start 2026"

CalculatedRisk Newsletter • 153 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
💼 Business Real Estate Housing Market Construction Architecture Economic Indicators
  1. Architecture billings are in contraction, with the ABI at 43.8 in January and the index in contraction for 37 of the last 40 months. Because the ABI typically leads nonresidential construction by 9–12 months, this points to a slowdown in commercial real estate investment through 2026.
  2. Multifamily billings have been below the 50 growth threshold for 42 consecutive months, indicating continued weakness in multifamily starts and no billing growth for those firms since mid‑2022.
  3. Pending home sales fell 0.8% month‑over‑month and 0.4% year‑over‑year in January, missing expectations and signaling softer near‑term existing‑home activity; contract signings usually lead closed sales by 45–60 days, so weaker sales are likely in the coming months.

a16z: The Power Brokers

Not Boring by Packy McCormick • 562 implied HN points • 09 Jan 26
💼 Business Venture Capital Startups Investing Fundraising Corporate strategy Public Policy
  1. a16z is built as a firm, not a traditional VC fund — it scales a huge platform of people and services (hiring, sales, marketing, policy and deep networks) to give startups power they couldn’t buy on their own.
  2. Their investment playbook is to find technical founders and category winners early, then double down — paying up and holding positions longer — to capture outsized outcomes.
  3. They’ve moved into a leadership role: shaping policy and building late-stage, public-company-like capabilities so companies can grow bigger in private, which can expand returns but also raises new risks as the firm scales.

You just don't understand

Respectful Leadership • 326 implied HN points • 23 Jan 26
💼 Business Leadership Communication Meetings Management Workplace Teamwork
  1. People can seem to be talking to each other while actually talking to different people, so their words line up but there’s no real understanding.
  2. Meetings can create a false sense of agreement when participants use the same words but mean different things.
  3. Superficial or misaligned communication leads to awkward, partial results and leaves people frustrated.

Reading List 05/24/25

Construction Physics • 7724 implied HN points • 24 May 25
💼 Business Remote work Infrastructure Technology Real Estate Economic Policy
  1. Tulsa is attracting remote workers by offering $10,000 to new residents, which helps local businesses and encourages tech company growth.
  2. A tornado in St. Louis caused massive damage, destroying thousands of buildings and resulting in multiple fatalities due to sirens not sounding.
  3. In Shenzhen, stolen iPhones from around the world are often broken down and sold for parts, highlighting a global issue of theft and recycling.

On ne te virera pas

L'Atelier Galita • 79 implied HN points • 10 Oct 24
💼 Business Employment Management Career development Negotiation
  1. Most people worry too much about getting fired when they actually have a lot of protection once they are in a permanent job. Employers need a real reason to let someone go after the trial period.
  2. Don't rush to resign without a good reason. Being fired can give you unemployment benefits, while quitting usually won't. You're safer in a job than you might think.
  3. Your worth in the job market matters a lot. The more skills you have, the less likely you'll be fired, and the better conditions you can negotiate.

Les bénéfices de mon CDI

L'Atelier Galita • 119 implied HN points • 04 Oct 24
💼 Business Employment Work Life Social Issues Personal Finance Career development
  1. A permanent job offers great financial security and strong social benefits. This means stable income and protection from hard times.
  2. Being self-employed can make you work harder than you should, as there's no one to tell you when to take a break. Some self-employed people might even forget to take vacations.
  3. Having a structured job means you have set times to interact with others and avoid feeling lonely. It also allows for a balance in your daily routine without forcing you into a rigid schedule.

How to Build a Data Room That Stands Out 📁

The VC Corner • 719 implied HN points • 22 Jul 24
💼 Business Startups Fundraising Investing Entrepreneurship Finance
  1. A data room is a secure online space where startups keep important documents for investors. It shows you're organized and ready to share details about your business.
  2. Having a well-prepared data room can save time and build trust with investors. It helps them understand your company's operations and financial health better.
  3. When setting up a data room, choose good software, organize your documents, and control who can see what. This ensures sensitive information stays safe while sharing essential details.

Learned helplessness is a business opportunity

A Bit Gamey • 20 implied HN points • 15 Mar 26
💼 Business Startups Product Innovation Strategy Leadership Careers
  1. When people accept a frustrating problem as normal, that learned helplessness is a clear signal that a simple fix can become a big business opportunity.
  2. Innovation happens two ways: by noticing a persistent problem or by using new technology to make previously impossible solutions practical, and the best ideas sit where frustrations meet new capabilities.
  3. Success usually requires many attempts and a balance of stubborn vision with flexible execution, keeping the core idea while iterating on names, features, and audiences.

Wealth Taxes and Activist Judges

Points And Figures • 826 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25
💼 Business Tax policy Corporate Law Corporate Governance Venture Capital State Policy
  1. Wealth taxes and financial-transaction taxes are resurfacing at the state level and could push founders, executives, and companies to move or recharter to avoid large tax hits, with some arguing fiduciary duties may require such moves to protect shareholders.
  2. Nevada is being promoted as a business-friendly alternative because of low taxes, favorable quality-of-life and infrastructure, and strong legal protections like a statutory business-judgment rule, limited inspection rights, and specialized business courts.
  3. Recent court decisions and activist judges in traditional corporate havens have raised legal risk for companies, prompting a broader, nationwide shift as firms and investors consider relocating to states with friendlier tax and corporate-law environments.

The Nationalization of Boeing Begins

BIG by Matt Stoller • 43431 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
💼 Business Management Labor relations Government intervention Corporate culture Financial impact
  1. There is growing discontent and criticism towards Boeing's management from various stakeholders like Wall Street, labor unions, customers, and regulators.
  2. Major Boeing customers like Alaska Airlines and United Airlines are publicly holding Boeing accountable for quality issues and demanding reimbursement, indicating a significant shift in the industry's code of silence about problems.
  3. The government, particularly the FAA, has taken actions against Boeing and is showing signs of increasing regulation, potentially leading towards a moment where Boeing's management structure may face significant changes.

How to Get More Subscribers With Substack’s (New) Growth Engine

Kristina God's Online Writing Club • 6394 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24
💼 Business Marketing Entrepreneurship Digital Media Email Marketing Content creation
  1. Substack's recommendation feature helps newsletters grow significantly, with many users reporting over 28% of their subscribers coming from recommendations.
  2. Writers on Substack can curate and recommend other newsletters, giving them control over who to promote and helping to build a community.
  3. Building an email list is valuable because you own your subscribers, unlike social media followers, making it easier to sustain a personal brand.

Term Sheets Demystified 📄🤝

The VC Corner • 659 implied HN points • 25 Jul 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Investment Fundraising Startups Venture Capital
  1. A term sheet is a non-binding agreement that lays out the basic terms of an investment. It's like a guide for both investors and founders to understand what's being offered.
  2. Key parts of a term sheet include the investment amount, valuation, and liquidation preferences. These details help both sides know what to expect if the company is sold or liquidated.
  3. Dividends can be part of a term sheet too, specifying how much investors might earn annually. It helps clarify when and how investors would get paid.

Five possible reasons China's productivity slowed down

Noahpinion • 15529 implied HN points • 28 Dec 24
💼 Business Economics International Trade Productivity Corporate strategy Market Trends
  1. China's productivity growth has slowed down due to hitting natural limits in technology absorption and an aging population. As they reached the tech frontier, it became harder to improve productivity at the same pace.
  2. R&D productivity in China is low, especially in state-owned companies. The focus has shifted to quantity over quality in research, leading to many low-quality studies and less innovation.
  3. China's economy is heavily reliant on investment rather than consumption. Unlike the U.S., which benefits from high consumer spending, China may be missing out on productivity gains from a robust consumer market.

Multi-Product In Pictures

The VC Corner • 159 implied HN points • 05 Sep 24
💼 Business Tech startups Venture Capital Product Development Market Strategy Company growth
  1. Going multi-product is important for companies that want to grow and succeed. It can help them stand out in the market and attract more customers.
  2. Successful companies often have a clear plan for when and what new products to introduce. Timing and strategy matter a lot in this process.
  3. Many large public companies today started with one product and expanded later. Learning from their journeys can guide new founders as they build their businesses.

THRIVE: My Guiding Leadership Principles

The Engineering Leader • 99 implied HN points • 06 Oct 24
💼 Business Leadership Management Team Building Professional development Innovation
  1. Transformational leadership is about inspiring your team by sharing a clear vision. It helps create a motivated and engaged work environment where everyone strives for excellence.
  2. Adapting your leadership style to fit different teams and situations is crucial. Being flexible helps address unique challenges and fosters team success.
  3. Empowerment is key to growth. When you give your team the resources and autonomy to lead, you help them develop their skills and confidence.

How to frame an economic blueprint for the 21st century

Global Inequality and More 3.0 • 921 implied HN points • 10 Dec 25
💼 Business Economics Globalization Trade International Development
  1. Asia, especially China and India, has become a major player in the global economy, producing a significant portion of the world's goods and services. Despite their economic power, their influence in organizations like the IMF doesn't match their contributions.
  2. There is a need to reform or create international economic organizations that better represent the current global economy. BRICS countries are trying to establish new institutions but face challenges in gaining global recognition.
  3. Learning from Asia's economic success is essential for other countries. China, in particular, should identify its successful economic strategies and adapt them for use in poorer nations to help them grow.

TBM 399: 10 Prioritization Traps

The Beautiful Mess • 766 implied HN points • 01 Jan 26
💼 Business Strategy Leadership Operations Product Teams Decision-making
  1. Protect focus by carving out fixed capacity for prevention and high-impact work so urgent, low-value tasks don’t always dominate.
  2. Favor fast learning and minimal shipable experiments: define the smallest thing to test in weeks, pre-authorize follow-ups, and use forcing constraints to avoid over-polishing or paralysis.
  3. Make priorities real from the top: allow teams to drop lower work, measure hidden drag as cost-of-delay, maintain a visible pull queue of small, valuable tasks, and fund low-cost experiments for longer bets.

A Substack is a book’s best friend: An interview with Luke Burgis

read • 10456 implied HN points • 28 Apr 23
💼 Business Marketing Engagement Authors Collaborations
  1. A Substack can be a powerful tool for writers to engage with readers and promote their books.
  2. Substack allows for direct connection with committed readers and can significantly impact book sales.
  3. Starting a Substack can help writers build a community, get feedback, and continue engaging with readers even after the publication of a book.

At least five interesting things: Nerdy economics edition (#54)

Noahpinion • 16529 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
💼 Business Economics Taxation Health care Regulation Productivity
  1. The Destination-Based Cash Flow Tax (DBCFT) could help companies invest more and boost U.S. exports. It changes how corporate taxes work, making it easier for companies to grow and innovate.
  2. Construction productivity in the U.S. has been dropping, partly due to strict land-use regulations. These rules lead to smaller, less efficient construction firms, which impacts how quickly and effectively projects are completed.
  3. Not all so-called 'irrational' decisions people make are true mistakes; sometimes, it's just that the choices are too complex. We need to rethink how we view human decision-making in economics.

Learning from Failure🛑

The VC Corner • 519 implied HN points • 02 Aug 24
💼 Business Startups Entrepreneurship Market research Competitive Analysis
  1. Startups often fail due to initial mistakes, like a mismatched founding team. It's important for co-founders to share a common vision and work well together.
  2. Strategic errors can lead to failure too, such as not clearly showing what makes a product special. If customers don't see the value, they won't buy it.
  3. Operational failures also play a big role. Companies must pay attention to customer feedback and keep an eye on their competition to survive.

Postscript to Coase

David Friedman’s Substack • 206 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
💼 Business Economics Organization Transaction Costs Property Rights
  1. Transaction costs fall as the number of buyers and sellers rises, because alternatives and past transactions narrow bargaining ranges and reduce holdouts. As a result, firms are more likely to produce an input in-house when there are few outside providers.
  2. How hard it is to monitor workers helps determine firm size: tasks with easily measured effort or output (like assembly-line work) allow large firms with few managers, while hard-to-measure work (like teaching or legal services) leads to smaller firms and more market contracting.
  3. Economic theory needs to take positive transaction costs seriously, since when those costs exist the design of law and institutions strongly shapes economic performance. Models that assume zero transaction costs miss important real-world effects and should be rebuilt around transaction costs.

How Concerning Are the February Jobs Numbers?

QTR’s Fringe Finance • 22 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
💼 Business Labor Market Macroeconomics Economic Indicators Demographics Public Sector Private sector
  1. Slow monthly job gains don’t necessarily mean the labor market is weak — when the economy is at or near full employment and the working‑age population is growing slowly, job growth will naturally be small and more volatile.
  2. The prime‑age employment‑to‑population ratio and other indicators suggest the labor market is near full employment, so current low job creation can be consistent with a tight market rather than a clear downturn.
  3. Some recent job losses (notably in government) can be productivity‑enhancing as workers move to the private sector, while strong growth in health care largely reflects demographic aging and a sectoral rebalancing.

You Have To Hype Yourself. No One Else Will Do It For You.

Kristina God's Online Writing Club • 1598 implied HN points • 02 Jun 24
💼 Business Marketing Writing Entrepreneurship Social media Personal Branding
  1. You need to promote yourself because no one will do it for you. Writing is just part of the job; marketing is also important.
  2. Many writers have talent but struggle to get noticed. Building a community and shouting about your successes can help attract readers.
  3. Don't be shy about sharing your achievements. Talking about your wins can inspire others and help you stand out in a crowded field.

Why sports leagues are going all in on the Creator Economy

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 124 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
💼 Business Media Creator Economy Sports Podcasts Publishing Advertising Social media Subscriptions Entertainment
  1. Sports leagues are using social creators as low‑risk content partners, giving VIP access so creators produce lots of promotional material without threatening broadcast rights or big ad spends.
  2. The creator economy is maturing into real business power: creators are launching companies, attracting investment, and being funneled into TV, retail, and sponsorship deals that turn audiences into revenue streams.
  3. Journalism faces a new credibility risk from AI‑generated fake experts and quotes, so newsrooms must adopt fast vetting practices and trusted expert networks to protect accuracy and trust.

Taiwan's Modern Miracle

Apricitas Economics • 49 implied HN points • 05 Mar 26
💼 Business Macroeconomics Trade Manufacturing Semiconductors AI Supply Chains Geopolitics
  1. A surge in global AI chip demand has driven Taiwan’s fastest economic growth in decades, with exports and manufacturing soaring and GDP rising sharply.
  2. Taiwan now sits at the center of a geopolitical tug-of-war: it’s indispensable as the main producer of advanced semiconductors, while both the US and China try to secure or shift semiconductor supply for strategic reasons.
  3. The boom also brings risks — a two-track economy, currency and energy vulnerabilities, and exposure if AI demand weakens — so Taiwan must stay at the cutting edge of chip tech while managing tense geopolitics and macro policy.