The hottest Monetization Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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How Dude Perfect created a content driven brand?

This week I am curious about? • 0 implied HN points • 16 Nov 23
💼 Business Monetization
  1. Dude Perfect started with five roommates creating fun trick shot videos that went viral, showcasing their competitive yet humorous personalities.
  2. The founders eventually quit their full-time jobs to focus solely on creating content, leading to rapid growth and success for the brand.
  3. Dude Perfect diversified their content beyond trick shots, partnered with brands and celebrities, and expanded into owning their own platform and creating offline experiences like a theme park.

Ads don't have to suck

Steven’s Substack • 0 implied HN points • 08 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Monetization
  1. Good ads solve problems and respect a publisher's app UX.
  2. Digital ads are a tax on our attention and publishers decide how much ad coverage to use before users leave.
  3. Advertisers and content publishers can collaborate to create dynamic and contextually relevant ad content, improving user experience.

The Podcast Business Model

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 26 Apr 19
💼 Business Monetization
  1. Luminary aims to be the Netflix of Podcasts by offering a subscription-based, ad-free platform with high-profile content creators.
  2. The podcasting evolution started with free content and ads, but now Luminary's strategy of offering premium content but with flaws in execution has raised questions about their business model.
  3. Failure to define target audience, unclear technology choices, and lack of differentiation from other podcast platforms are key challenges faced by Luminary, highlighting the importance of a well-thought-out strategy in the podcast industry.

The Eight Steps to Authority Status

The Ask Newsletter — by Ellen Donnelly • 0 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
💼 Business Monetization
  1. Authority is built by sharing original thinking and codifying your frameworks and long-form ideas, which makes you remembered and trusted.
  2. Turning that authority into leverage — through IP, group programs and clear processes — lets you scale, charge for outcomes, and stop trading time for money.
  3. Becoming an authority is a staged journey that requires identity shifts, clear positioning and structured support, so you can’t shortcut the steps without getting stuck.

Helping Out The Dish For 2026

The Weekly Dish • 0 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25
💼 Business Monetization
  1. Subscribe by January 1 to lock in the current $5/month or $50/year rate; new subscribers will pay $6/month or $60/year after that, and current subscribers won’t be affected.
  2. Longtime readers are asked to consider raising their subscription or upgrading to a Founding Member to help offset inflation and support the ad-free, independent publication.
  3. The Dish is celebrating its fifth anniversary and the team will prioritize the newsletter through 2028 while delaying other projects, with thanks to readers for their support.

I've been substacking all wrong

visa's voltaic verses ⚡️ • 0 implied HN points • 20 Dec 25
💼 Business Monetization
  1. Admit when your approach isn’t working and look for multiple layers of problems instead of blaming a single cause.
  2. The method being used was too small, too hard, and too slow.
  3. Thinking in tweets — favoring short, bite-sized ideas — makes it hard to produce the longer, deeper work that’s needed.

@adlrocha - Open Source is Dead. Long Live Open Execution

@adlrocha Weekly Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Monetization
  1. AI coding agents are replacing human attention to docs and code, breaking attention-based monetization and already harming projects and jobs.
  2. Existing open-source business models (support, open-core, hosting, donations, dual licensing) are vulnerable to agent automation, so contributors need to shift from donation/attention models to utility-based monetization where execution is metered.
  3. The Glass Box Protocol proposes treating code as a capability: keep specs and tests open but publish verified executable blobs (e.g., Wasm) plus a manifest that meters and prices execution so humans can learn for free while agents pay for utility.

The accidental ad tech founder: Eric Hochberger’s 20-Year bet on the open web

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
💼 Business Monetization
  1. A small SEO side hustle turned into a major ad-tech player after building its own header-bidding system, which sharply increased ad revenue and shifted the business from publisher to platform.
  2. The company now powers thousands of independent publishers and prioritizes serving creators over legacy media, operating at scale with a mid-sized team.
  3. The programmatic ad ecosystem is fragile and rapidly changing, with ‘made-for-advertising’ sites and Google’s AI-driven features able to shift traffic and wipe out publisher income quickly.

The worst productivity app

My Home Office Hacks • 0 implied HN points • 16 Mar 26
🕹 Technology Monetization
  1. Line makes you assign money to tasks and you forfeit that money if you don’t complete them, with the funds going either to the app or a friend you choose.
  2. That setup can punish procrastination twice — you lose the value of the task and also the money you put up as a penalty.
  3. It’s unclear and risky where forfeited funds actually go, creating trust and fairness concerns, though some people might still try the app.