Hamish McKenzie
@hamishmckenzie
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Co-founder of @SubstackInc. Writer.
San Francisco
Joined October 2007
Our bodies don’t live on the internet, but, increasingly, our minds do. Much of our communication and discourse now takes place in online spaces that don’t have the designation of states but approximate their power. To a greater extent than ever in human history, we are.
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The early internet believers have been written off as naive utopians because they dared to think that an interconnected web of minds could help us find a greater humanity. The problem, though, was less about the vision and more about the operating system that emerged to sustain
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We have lots of great investors involved in this round, including @bondcap, The Chernin Group, @RichPaul4, @JensGrede, and @GarageCapital. But I'm also personally really excited to now have a New Zealand investor on the cap table: @IcehouseVenture.
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At Substack, we believe the heroes of culture are the ones who shape it. Technology should serve them, not the other way around. That’s why we’re building tools and a network to protect their independence, amplify their voices, and foster deep and direct relationships. These are
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We’ve raised $100 million that we will put to work for creators and their audiences. Ownership for creators. Agency for audiences. Substack is a network built in service of people who care about culture. I’m pumped for this. Now we go big.
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Why I don’t find it hard to be optimistic about the future of media. When creators get economic power, there can be a true redistribution of media power.
Substack co-founder @hamishmckenzie breaks down why media ownership still rests in the hands of billionaire tech barons like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk — and the Chinese Communist Party.
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Instead of working for algorithms, the algorithms can work for you.
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I wrote about the future of the media internet, built for creators instead of advertisers.
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Even at the booziest ad fest of the year, it was still possible to see how the media world can change. In a world of direct payments, creators can look at ad revenue in a different light—as an option rather than a master.
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RT @cjgbest: The US can be a much-needed leader on free speech, but not if we’re deporting people for Substack posts. .
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Dissent, debate, and free discourse are fundamental to progress and a free society. This isn’t about a particular writer's views. It’s about a core democratic value: the right to express dissenting opinions without fear of state retaliation. In an era of growing censorship.
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Earlier this year, Vice President JD Vance talked at the Munich Security Conference about the rise in government censorship worldwide and promised that the United States would champion free speech. “Under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will.
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A Melbourne-based writer was recently detained and then turned back at the US border because of his online posts about last year’s protests at Columbia University. That is not the kind of example that the US needs to be setting on free speech.
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Full of koru.
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Major.
Some personal news. Today, I’m leaving The Atlantic after almost 17 years and moving my writing to Substack. It would be convenient, for the purposes of crafting an exciting departure announcement, to have a dramatic exit story: a fight, a grievance, a shouting match with an.
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A total privilege to be in conversation with these stone-cold media legends.
Substack - the hot new publishing platform. listen to me and @arusbridger tackle co-founder @hamishmckenzie on why it’s a hit and how they saw off Mr Musk
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