The hottest Content Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Note from the Editor

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 4518 implied HN points • 06 Feb 26
🎙 Podcasts Content
  1. A regular segment was paused this week because the host was too sick to record, and it will return next week.
  2. The publication has been light on content lately, and changes meant to fix that will be implemented after the weekend with readers asked to check back Monday.
  3. An apology was offered for the interruption, and readers were wished a good weekend and reminded to tune in Monday morning.

Netflix wants to offer more ambient TV

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 349 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
💼 Business Content
  1. Netflix is pushing video podcasts and other ambient TV as a low-cost way to keep the TV on and win more living-room attention instead of spending big on prestige shows.
  2. Creators are getting better at weaving sponsorships into their work, so ads feel more natural and help creators monetize without turning audiences off.
  3. News organizations are unifying TV and digital operations and moving content behind paywalls to collect first-party data and charge more for subscriptions and ads.

How Starter Story grew from a side project into a multi-million dollar media business (and why HubSpot bought it)

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 24 implied HN points • 10 Mar 26
💼 Business Content
  1. A simple side project of interviewing founders and publishing detailed case studies can grow into a scalable media business.
  2. Growth came from constantly reinventing distribution, building proprietary data from thousands of interviews, and leaning into video (YouTube) while shifting monetization away from ads toward higher-priced products and bootcamps.
  3. Bootstrapped and profitable, the company reached hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs and multi-million dollar revenue, culminating in an acquisition by HubSpot.

AI won't kill marketing. We'll do it ourselves.

The Social Juice • 151 implied HN points • 07 Mar 26
💼 Business Content
  1. AI is overhyped and partly a bubble — many AI tools promise productivity but often add workload and don’t solve new marketing problems. Marketers should use AI to learn and research, but not fall in love with packaged productivity that replaces real work.
  2. Ethics and trust must guide AI use: disclose AI-generated content, guard against deepfakes, and keep real people in testing and creative decisions. Don’t let dependence on black-box chatbots replace human judgment or customer research.
  3. Brand, creativity, and human insight still matter most: big holding companies chasing AI ecosystems risk losing creative trust while indie agencies and brands that invest in long-term brand building will fare better. Focus on honest brand search, real customer contact, and avoid vagueposting or short-term attempts to game AI.

The Streaming Wars Were Just Plain Weird

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 345 implied HN points • 08 Feb 26
💼 Business Content
  1. The streaming wars were predictable and ended up as an expensive overbuild: too many companies launched loss‑making streaming bundles and only the player with massive scale and the right capital story—Netflix—managed to outlast the rest.
  2. Legacy studios misread streaming as a software platform but found the economics didn’t fit; without global scale or a profitable business to subsidize losses, mid‑sized direct‑to‑consumer services couldn’t make money and have returned to licensing and consolidation.
  3. Attention has already shifted to ad‑supported, user‑generated platforms like YouTube, which dominate viewing time and pose a different threat to subscription streamers; big consolidation moves (e.g., a Netflix‑Warner deal) could accelerate market concentration but face regulatory and financial risks.
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2026 Scheming

Erik Torenberg's Thoughts • 442 implied HN points • 02 Jan 26
💼 Business Content
  1. Working inside a large venture firm to productize venture work, hire broadly, and launch ambitious projects like a new fellowship, a rolling dinner series, and a podcast used to explore ideas.
  2. Committed to building and funding community programs — reviving Turpentine, supporting the Art of Accomplishment retreat, backing matchmaking as a business, and bringing back relationship-focused podcasts and group chats.
  3. Prioritizing personal health and life: getting more serious about sleep and wellness, playing in a recreational basketball league and planning events, and sharing favorite books, movies, and TV while asking for more recommendations.

Requiem for a dream

Philosophy bear • 200 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Content
  1. AI will flood paid writing platforms with cheap, high-volume content and bot-driven networks, which will undermine subscription economics and make it much harder for human writers to build careers.
  2. Most readers are middlebrow and often can’t or don’t distinguish quality, so AI-optimized, easily digestible 'slop' will capture attention and revenue even if it’s inferior.
  3. Only a few kinds of human work—superstars with parasocial followings, original reporting, deep scholarship, or unique lived experience—are likely to remain viable, while most mid-tier writers will be squeezed out.

UX Roundup: GUI Heroes | Great AI Videos | AI Won’t Kill Software | Bing GEO | AI Capability Growth | Google AI UX | One-Shot Video | GPT 5.4 Writing

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 29 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
🕹 Technology Content
  1. AI is improving fast across images, video, and language. New models make much better visuals and one-shot instructional videos, GPT 5.4 writes more compellingly, and capability metrics show AI handling longer expert tasks.
  2. AI won’t kill software — it will make building software cheaper and open much larger markets, though legacy vendors that don’t adapt may be disrupted while AI-native firms and new business models grow.
  3. Website visibility now requires Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) instead of just SEO; tools like Bing’s AI Performance help measure AI citations, which are often highly concentrated, so focus on your top pages and track the AI grounding queries that drive citations.

How The Dossier will stand out in a sea of AI slop

The Dossier • 89 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
🎙 Podcasts Content
  1. AI is flooding the internet with quickly generated, low-quality content that often looks like human writing, so creators must adapt or get lost in the noise.
  2. Authentic video and audio—especially podcasting—are the clearest ways to prove a real human is behind the work and to stand out from AI-generated “slop.”
  3. Pairing traditional writing with verifiable multimedia keeps journalistic quality while highlighting genuine human insight, turning the AI surge into an opportunity for creators who can prove they’re real.

A Holiday Message from Glenn

Glenn Loury • 3809 implied HN points • 24 Dec 23
🎙 Podcasts Content
  1. The Glenn Show had a successful year expanding its audience and having meaningful conversations.
  2. The support from viewers, readers, and subscribers is greatly appreciated.
  3. The future looks bright for The Glenn Show in 2024.

welcome to not boring world

Not Boring by Packy McCormick • 235 implied HN points • 06 Jan 26
💼 Business Content
  1. Not Boring World is a paid section that gathers smart founders, researchers, and creators and helps them co-write longform essays so their best, frontier ideas actually get published.
  2. This is a bet on the written word over podcasts and video: deep, canonical ideas are meant to be written, and the project aims to surface fresh inputs you won't find in LLMs.
  3. They'll build editorial infrastructure and a contributor network to curate those inputs into a coherent 'means and meaning' worldview, funded by subscribers, with community features like chats, debates, and more frequent co-written pieces.

Blogging class: Multiple blogs

Sex and the State • 15 implied HN points • 02 Mar 26
💼 Business Content
  1. Running multiple blogs doubles the setup and maintenance work and makes it harder for new readers to discover all your writing.
  2. People follow people more than topics, so keeping your work in one place helps readers connect with you across different subjects.
  3. You can’t please everyone, so it’s better to have a distinct voice that attracts devoted readers; only split into separate blogs if the audiences or goals are truly incompatible.

Man over Machine: Why AI Firms Are Hiring Writers

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 361 implied HN points • 16 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Content
  1. AI and tech companies are hiring more in-house writers right now instead of relying only on automated text.
  2. Storytelling has become one of the most valuable business skills, with human-written narratives prized for branding and communication.
  3. Even though AI might eventually automate writing, companies currently prefer human writers for voice, nuance, and higher-quality content.

How a failed horror movie director co-founded one of the most popular yoga channels on YouTube

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 299 implied HN points • 01 Dec 25
💼 Business Content
  1. Chris Sharpe started out making low-budget horror films, but when the DVD market collapsed, he had to pivot his career. This led him to explore opportunities in online video, where he eventually found success on YouTube.
  2. He co-founded two popular YouTube channels, Hilah Cooking and Yoga With Adriene, by focusing on engaging content and a personal connection with viewers. His unique approach to SEO also helped attract a big audience.
  3. As Yoga With Adriene grew, Sharpe created a whole business around it, including subscription services and live events. He shifted from making indie films to running a successful media company that emphasizes community and wellness.

Insights from 15+ GTM audits

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 108 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
💼 Business Content
  1. Make your ICP a hard constraint across everything — homepage, CRM, demos, outbound lists and content — and enforce disqualification criteria so you focus on buyers who actually convert.
  2. Choose a clear product category or primary use case before you try to differentiate. Name the main alternative you replace so buyers immediately know what to compare you against.
  3. Treat GTM as an end-to-end system: design structured demos, a simple sales process with stage exit criteria, aligned buyer-facing assets, and a content strategy that targets high-intent buyers. Doing fewer, consistent things beats many disconnected activities.

Storytelling is the new clickbait, can B2B capitalise?

Mehdeeka • 5 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
💼 Business Content
  1. New short, personal story formats grab attention by using first-person hooks, cliffhangers, and subtle or late product mentions to drive clicks.
  2. B2B can use storytelling, but only if your customers are actually on those platforms; focus on building an owned, engaged audience and a distinctive brand using platform-native formats.
  3. Don’t chase every trend — audit channels, compare time and budget to results, cut underperformers, and reallocate resources to focused experiments or to hiring/outsourcing so you can do fewer channels well.

Weekend thoughts: improving the podcast

Yet Another Value Blog • 1316 implied HN points • 18 Feb 23
🎙 Podcasts Content
  1. Consider getting help with administrative tasks to free up time for key activities like research and content creation.
  2. Collaborate with others to improve and take your podcast to the next level.
  3. Engage with your audience for feedback and suggestions on how to enhance the podcast experience.

Every traditional media outlet is launching a creator division

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 499 implied HN points • 12 Aug 25
💼 Business Content
  1. Media companies are starting creator divisions to work with independent creators. This means more opportunities for people to share their content and ideas.
  2. TikTok influencers are becoming a new form of news anchor for younger audiences. They deliver news quickly in a way that fits with how younger people consume content.
  3. Creating a successful newsletter doesn't always require a strong personal brand. For example, some people focus on the quality of their content instead of promoting themselves.

The end of the content farms

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 499 implied HN points • 10 Jul 25
💼 Business Content
  1. Content farms, which used to thrive on SEO-driven articles, are becoming obsolete due to advancements in AI and changes in how people consume media. This shift can lead to better quality content focused on what readers really want.
  2. Tech companies are buying media outlets to improve their customer engagement and lower marketing costs. It's easier for these companies to acquire established brands than to build their own from scratch.
  3. The landscape of journalism and media is changing, with more emphasis on subscription-based models and unique content creation strategies. Creatives are finding new ways to monetize their work, like selling products directly to their audiences.

The Ultimate Founder & Team LinkedIn Playbook (+ Free Templates)

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 86 implied HN points • 14 Dec 25
💼 Business Content
  1. Treat your LinkedIn profile like a landing page: be crystal clear who you help, what value you deliver, and what action you want people to take by using your banner, headline, and featured section as your CTA real estate.
  2. Turn employees into a distribution engine by leading from the top and removing friction — find internal thought leaders and give them ready-to-post templates, visuals, content calendars, incentives, and challenges so posting becomes easy and rewarding.
  3. Run a content engine that covers TOFU/MOFU/BOFU and focus on the fundamentals: add real value, engage with others, be authentic, and show up consistently to turn attention into pipeline.

It's the best time to subscribe to Disaffected

Disaffected Newsletter • 459 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
🎙 Podcasts Content
  1. The subscription price for Disaffected has been lowered from $10 to $7 a month to help more people afford it. It's important to have your support at a price that works for you.
  2. Paid subscribers get special benefits like access to exclusive essays, the ability to comment, and join the Disaffected Discord chat.
  3. You can also support Disaffected with one-time donations if you don't want to commit to a subscription. Any amount helps and is greatly appreciated.

Netflix will never catch up to YouTube

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 399 implied HN points • 16 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Content
  1. YouTube has a big advantage over Netflix because it offers free content and allows users to create their own videos. This makes YouTube more popular and flexible for different types of audiences.
  2. Local news meteorologists are starting their own digital channels, showing how traditional media is changing. They're adapting to the creator economy by leveraging their expertise online.
  3. The Daily Show has grown in popularity again by embracing modern platforms like YouTube and having rotating hosts. Its mix of comedy and political content helps attract a wider audience.

The Substack app is now the most powerful growth machine for creators

Substack • 1455 implied HN points • 31 Oct 24
🕹 Technology Content
  1. The Substack app is growing quickly and is now the top way for creators to gain subscribers. This means more people are discovering and enjoying their work.
  2. The app combines features from social media with long-form content, making it easier for readers to connect with creators. Users can interact, share, and explore new voices all in one place.
  3. Creators have full ownership of their content and subscriber lists, which gives them more control. Unlike other platforms, the app focuses on meaningful connections between creators and their audience.

I want to break free

In Bed With Social • 455 implied HN points • 14 Jan 24
💼 Business Content
  1. Brands face challenges in gaining organic visibility on social media, leading to a shift towards pay-to-play advertising.
  2. High-quality advertising content in 2023 is characterized by surprise and the unexpected.
  3. Weird and thought-provoking content is gaining popularity in advertising, sparking curiosity and questions.

Amazon never figured out its podcast platform strategy

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 274 implied HN points • 06 Aug 25
🎙 Podcasts Content
  1. Amazon struggled with its podcast strategy because it had separate teams for Amazon Music and Audible, which made it hard to compete in the market. This led to a lot of wasted talent and opportunities.
  2. Using content marketing is often more effective than traditional PR. Creating valuable content lets businesses connect better with their audience compared to just sending press releases.
  3. More media companies are starting to hire influencers and independent creators, like ESPN has done. This trend shows that traditional career paths in media are changing, and new talent is being recognized.

Do short video clips actually drive value for podcasts?

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 249 implied HN points • 14 Aug 25
🎙 Podcasts Content
  1. Short video clips can help promote podcasts, but they aren't always super effective. Many people who use platforms like TikTok quickly scroll past videos and may not check out the longer content.
  2. There's a growing interest in bite-sized, polished video content, showing that people enjoy shorter entertainment formats. Companies that create these micro dramas might have better success with manageable budgets.
  3. Creating a diverse strategy for media and content can lead to success, as seen with popular creators building extensive networks. This shows the importance of adapting to trends and engaging audiences in different ways.

Do You Want Your Newsletter To Show Up In AI Summaries?

Notes from a Small Press • 31 implied HN points • 06 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Content
  1. Newsletter creators are being asked to decide whether their newsletters should be included in AI-generated summaries, raising a choice about inclusion in AI features.
  2. The article is behind a paywall and requires a subscription to read the full content, but a 7-day free trial is offered for new readers.
  3. The page provides clear subscription and sign-in options so paid subscribers can access the full archives and article.

The diminishing returns of commodity news content

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 399 implied HN points • 04 Jun 25
📰 News Content
  1. News content that simply repeats information is losing its value. Outlets need to focus more on original reporting and deep analysis to stay relevant.
  2. Many successful YouTube journalists started at Vox, where they learned to tell stories creatively through video. Their experience helps them connect better with online audiences.
  3. Artists have mixed feelings about AI. Some feel it steals their work, but others see it as a helpful tool to create faster and tackle misinformation quickly.

Important Question

The Cosmopolitan Globalist • 14 implied HN points • 31 Jan 26
🎙 Podcasts Content
  1. There’s a worry that essays attached to podcast episodes don’t show up in podcast apps, so subscribers might not see them.
  2. A specific attached essay is cited as an example and readers are being asked whether they received and read it.
  3. If those essays aren’t being seen, it’s upsetting because they’re valued content and could make people rethink subscribing.

Unexpected possibilities

Meaningness • 239 implied HN points • 17 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Content
  1. The author is exploring new ways to interact with readers, seeking feedback to be more useful and considering the balance between writing and engaging with the community.
  2. Using a platform's features like 'Notes' to share quarter-baked ideas and encourage reader interaction, but facing challenges like visibility for subscribers.
  3. The author is contemplating the frequency of informal multi-topic update posts, seeking feedback on whether readers find them interesting or view them as clutter.

Be My Mirror

Bet On It • 176 implied HN points • 31 Jul 25
🎭️ Culture Content
  1. The author has been blogging for 20 years and wants feedback from long-time readers. Readers can share their thoughts on the best and worst posts they’ve read.
  2. The author is interested in how their writing has changed over time, both in content and quality. They hope readers will point out any highlights or low points.
  3. They encourage honesty and openness in the comments, asking readers to be candid about their experiences and opinions on the writing.

The Summary Edition

Why is this interesting? • 1387 implied HN points • 30 Jan 24
🎭️ Culture Content
  1. AI-driven summaries are becoming more prevalent, affecting how we consume information.
  2. Tech-enabled summarization tools can be helpful due to the abundance of content, but they may strip away depth and context.
  3. Relying too much on AI for distilling information raises questions about the loss of individual interpretation and meaning-making.

We are banning slop from The Dossier

The Dossier • 142 implied HN points • 23 Jul 25
📰 News Content
  1. The Dossier is committed to removing low-quality or misleading content, referred to as 'slop', from its publication. This is to help readers find valuable and accurate information.
  2. The focus will shift from chasing clicks and analytics to providing meaningful stories and insights that educate and engage readers at a deeper level.
  3. Moving forward, The Dossier aims to be a reliable source for unique knowledge and ideas, ensuring the content is thoughtfully curated for subscribers.

Write it, then read it aloud

Substack • 995 implied HN points • 03 Apr 24
🎙 Podcasts Content
  1. Using voiceovers can help writers connect better with their readers. It makes the content feel more personal and engaging.
  2. Writers who add audio or video to their posts tend to grow their audience and income faster. This shows how important diverse content is.
  3. Voiceovers can also provide bonus material for subscribers. This adds value to the content and encourages people to support the creator.