The hottest Business Models Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Leaving Substack

Mostly Python • 1257 implied HN points • 29 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Platforms Open Source Business Models Digital Content Data Ownership
  1. The author is moving their newsletter from Substack to Ghost as they feel Ghost is a better fit due to its focus on writing and its open-source foundation.
  2. It's important to consider the platform's business model when deciding on a service, as sustainable revenue streams can help avoid unwanted platform changes and dark patterns.
  3. Being able to export your data easily and understanding the platform's funding history are crucial factors to consider when choosing a service for the long term.

Leaked Treasury Prime Docs Show Risks Of BaaS Business: Churn, Concentration, Slowing Growth

Fintech Business Weekly • 89 implied HN points • 03 Mar 24
💰 Finance Fintech Banking Regulations Business Models Risk management
  1. Leaked Treasury Prime documents highlight risks in Banking-as-a-Service business, including issues like churn, concentration, and slowing growth.
  2. Treasury Prime's strategic pivot to focus on selling to banks instead of fintechs resulted in drastic employee layoffs, shedding light on the challenging environment for middleware platforms in fintech.
  3. Fintech companies like Chime and Green Dot facing regulatory actions and penalties underscore the importance of compliance and customer service in the financial industry.
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Le papa : Mediapart

L'Atelier Galita • 216 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
📰 News Investigative Journalism Ethics Business Models Media Impact
  1. Mediapart is a well-known investigative journalism outlet that has been involved in many high-profile revelations.
  2. Investigative journalism is costly, time-consuming, and critical for revealing important facts and holding power accountable.
  3. Mediapart follows an independent journalism code, relies on subscriber revenue, and uses a technique of progressive revelations to maintain media attention.

Guest Essay: VC Contagion

Newcomer • 1808 implied HN points • 31 May 23
💼 Business Venture Capital Startup funding Business Models Market Trends Investor behavior
  1. Venture capital supports unsustainable models to achieve scale, like with tech giants Apple, Google, and Amazon.
  2. Companies like Uber and Airbnb, initially fueled by VC funding, now face challenges as they struggle with profitability.
  3. VC funding has fueled a culture of excessive capital consumption, leading to concerns about sustainability and the future of innovation.

New Normal

Venture Prose • 219 implied HN points • 15 Oct 23
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Financial planning Efficiency Business Models
  1. Set higher business goals and aim to achieve positive yields from actions taken.
  2. Question industry norms and push yourself to exceed expectations, rather than just following what others have done before.
  3. Prioritize efficiency and financial independence in your business strategies, ensuring that actions are intentional with positive long-term impacts.

Lights, Camera, Strike! The Blockbuster Battle Between Hollywood Workers and AI Machines

Workforce Futurist by Andy Spence • 97 implied HN points • 19 Jul 23
🎭️ Culture Film Industry AI Technology Business Models
  1. Recent strikes in the media industry highlight workers demanding fair pay and protections
  2. Negotiations involve issues such as minimum pay, AI image rights, and compensation for training AI models
  3. The industry may need new business models to address equity, flexibility, and autonomy for workers

On WIRED magazine's startup phase (1993-1997)

The Future, Now and Then • 44 implied HN points • 04 Oct 23
💼 Business Startups Magazines Founders Tech Culture Business Models
  1. WIRED magazine's startup phase (1993-1997) was like a tumultuous startup journey, filled with rapid growth and financial struggles.
  2. Louis Rossetto led WIRED as a startup, investing in various ventures but facing financial challenges.
  3. The magazine's early years were marked by rapid expansion, big ambitions, and struggles to adapt to the changing tech landscape.

The "Three-Hills" Model for evaluating GPT startups

Assisted Everything • 110 HN points • 27 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Startups Artificial Intelligence Business Models Data Privacy
  1. GPT-powered startups need to overcome 3 obstacles for long-term success: Productivity Enhancements, Non zero-sum-game Value, and Moat = Value from Context.
  2. Applications of GPT fall into 3 levels of success: Productivity Hill, Tug-of-War Valley, and Value Peak.
  3. To succeed, GPT companies must reach Level III by building a moat that generic GPT-applications can't compete on.

Superconductors and Such

Bzogramming • 53 implied HN points • 01 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Materials science Software Imaging Algorithms Business Models
  1. There is potential for room-temperature superconductors with simple materials like lead, phosphate, and copper.
  2. A shift back to innovation in physical technologies, like hyperspectral imaging and geometric folding algorithms, might lead to significant advancements.
  3. A reemphasis on traditional engineering fields, such as cars and rocket engines, is essential for future innovations outside of software.

Attempting to untangle the messy math behind the "Power Law"

Entry Level Investing • 84 implied HN points • 28 Feb 23
💰 Finance Investing Venture Capital Valuation Business Models
  1. The concept of the 'Power Law' in venture funding states that a few successful investments drive fund returns, not a normal distribution.
  2. Startup valuations are often based on revenue multiples, deviating from traditional valuation methods like free cash flow analysis.
  3. Overvaluation, excessive spending, and failure to grow into valuations can lead to down rounds, hurting startups and investors.

More Vertical Fintech, Please

Equal Ventures • 39 implied HN points • 23 Feb 23
💼 Business Fintech Market Analysis Investments Business Models
  1. Combining vertical software with fintech can create powerful business opportunities, leveraging market nuances to enhance efficiencies and insights.
  2. It's challenging to build defensible financial services independently, but merging them with workflow software can increase market size and potential revenue streams.
  3. Markets with low digital penetration offer ripe opportunities for vertical SaaS and fintech integration, attracting investments across various sectors for this innovative approach.

Elon's Current War

The Carousel • 21 implied HN points • 06 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Social media Advertising Censorship Subscription Business Models
  1. Elon Musk is facing a battle with advertisers on Twitter, with some trying to bankrupt the platform by pulling ad spending.
  2. Large advertisers coordinate efforts to control public discourse and speech on platforms like Twitter through censorship organizations and stakeholder capitalists.
  3. Elon Musk is navigating a conflict between his support for free speech and the need to appease advertisers to bridge the revenue gap on Twitter.

The Daily Me sets sail and promptly runs aground on the shoals of targeted advertising

Perfecting Equilibrium • 19 implied HN points • 19 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Advertising Search Engines Artificial Intelligence Business Models
  1. Marketers can struggle to convert knowledge about their audience into effective sales strategies.
  2. Google revolutionized search by categorizing web pages based on context, not just keywords.
  3. Tech giants focusing on targeted advertising saw backlash and trillions in market value loss.

Learning from the SaaSification of video games [Finance Fridays]

Technology Made Simple • 39 implied HN points • 18 Jun 22
💰 Finance Monetization Business Models Economic Systems Services
  1. Different monetization plans can work successfully in the same industry if built around a good product.
  2. Companies should avoid rushing into monetization at the expense of a good product, as it can damage goodwill.
  3. The shift towards as-a-service models for various industries shows that understanding novel monetization paths is crucial for future success.

LLM Chronicles #6: How To Build Competitive Advantage In AI Startups?

Pratik’s Pakodas 🍿 • 12 implied HN points • 10 May 23
🕹 Technology AI Startups Innovations Strategies Competitive advantage Business Models
  1. Focus on building a competitive advantage in AI startups by leveraging niche markets and verticals.
  2. Consider using open-source AI models and iterating smaller models to strengthen the modeling moat.
  3. Explore value-based pricing, outcome-based pricing, and other strategies to align pricing with customer needs in AI startups.

Build for on-chain natives or mask crypto entirely

Parth's Playground • 10 implied HN points • 08 May 23
🕹 Technology Cryptocurrency Startups Strategy Innovation Business Models
  1. If you're building a crypto consumer app, focus on on-chain natives or hide crypto completely until necessary.
  2. For on-chain natives, solve urgent problems they face, as they are more likely to try new things and bring in new users.
  3. Startups should not try to force a market to happen, but rather provide a platform to highlight new projects and quickly see what resonates with mainstream audiences.

Why Databricks Bought Mosaic and The Rapidly Decreasing Costs of AI

Unsupervised Learning • 2 HN points • 29 Jun 23
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Costs Cloud Infrastructure Business Models
  1. Training costs for AI models have decreased significantly, making it more cost-effective for companies to build their own models.
  2. Inference costs for AI models have also decreased, creating more affordable options for companies utilizing AI features.
  3. The decreasing costs of AI models are leading to increased competition and more attractive business models for startups building on foundation models.

Compound Startups

notes & upside • 1 HN point • 16 Jun 23
💼 Business Startups Software Investing Business Models
  1. More startups are embracing a "compound" business approach that integrates multiple products in one coherent offering.
  2. Software has shifted from a long period of unbundling to a new era favoring consolidation through compound businesses.
  3. Compound businesses excel in offering integrated products across multiple services and provide flexibility in monetization and customer acquisition.