Where have all the good platforms gone?
They don't exist. The mythical idea that one platform in any category is going to save everyone from the hellscape that is today's AI-powered, venture capital-backed, fame-obsessed race to the bottom needs to die. Quickly. It's of no use to you.
Last night, journalist Yashar Ali posted a screenshot from beehiiv Tyler Denk's Instagram showing his endorsement of Spencer Pratt, a reality TV star turned MAGA candidate for LA's next mayor. Tyler retweeted Ali's screenshot on Twitter. It's unclear if he's in on the joke but he's standing by his statement.
Immediately, the reaction was well, beehiiv is bad too I guess!
Writer Regan Stephens said, "So if we’re supposed to get off substack, and now beehiiv is junk, where are we going?"
News creator V Spehar said, "come get your boy 😆 beehiiv acting wild."
Comedian Laurie Kilmartin said "we have to triplecheck all these apps!"
I'm going to get back to the where are we going thing but first, I want to talk about why this is completely different from anything going on with Substack...at this moment.
If Tyler Denk having radical right wing politics came out of left field for you, you might want to start reading up on the history of Silicon Valley. Founders at his level—who have raised the amount of money he has raised ($50M)—are in bed with the bad guys. There is a teeny tiny number of founders who work with venture capital who do not share the ethos of their backers. They are exceptionally rare.
Of course, many of us hoped Denk would be smart enough to hide his political views publicly, but given his comings and goings, he may not be aware of how deeply out of touch they are. Or at least how unpopular they would be with writers who are currently a core part of his user base.
A lot of people have left Substack because of the right wing politics of the founders and their unwillingness to condemn nazis, transphobia, misogyny and racism. Knowing what I know about Silicon Valley, having worked with founders and venture capitalists myself for 10+ years, I wouldn't expect anything different from them. It's a pile of pricks out there. However, Substack's founders have proven to be extraordinarily incompetent in their handling of the backlash. They can't properly come up with a reason why they won't moderate their content and they actively promote their most problematic voices. Even Zuckerberg can hide this shit better and that's saying a lot.
Right now, what's happening on Substack is completely different than what's happening on beehiiv. Tyler Denk's bad politics won't affect your publication at all. There's no feed. No leaderboard. No access to your audience. No shared audience. No selling an app to your readers.
With Substack, not only are the founder's poor moral decisions written all over that main feed, but—thanks to being owned by some of the worst VCs in the valley and now private equity—Substack is a single source of media control for billionaire bad actors. Substack is primed for purchase by a Musk or Bezos type who wants to jockey elections and determine public sentiment. beehiiv is not built to do that. All publications are currently separate, on their own domains. The VCs behind beehiiv will eventually get rich off an acquisition by a bigger tech company like LinkedIn, it's not as likely to end up a political pet project like Twitter in the hands of Musk.
Moreover, Substack is stealing from creators now. It's a problem for that reason alone. I've been screaming from the rooftops what a bunch of smoke and mirrors "viral growth on Substack" is but mainstream news is finally covering it too. Earlier this week, The Verge published a story on why writers are fleeing the Substack tax.
All that said, we knew this was coming. Those of us who've had our eyes open about what's going on in tech did at least. (If this is all a huge surprise to you, I've got some recommended reading you can do.) The question is not "where are we going?" like we're on some kind of family vacation needing to find a new hotel. The question is "how do I stay as independent and nimble as possible?"
You need to stay on platforms that support Stripe so you can have the option to migrate paid subscribers (that counts Patreon out.) You need to export your list and content regularly so you have a backup in case you get blocked. You need to be aware that if you're using a VC-backed tech choice, you will likely have to move every 3-5 years. You need to build diverse audience growth channels so you're not dependent on any one tech company.
Substack remains the worst option out there by a long shot, not just because of the founders' depravity but because they're stealing from you while preparing for a very bad buyout future. beehiiv is still fine. But, we're watching now. It could go south at any moment and you've got to stay ready to bail.
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