Most of us did not see this coming

Social Creators and founders, listen up 🚨 I'm talking about none other than Substack and if you've been thinking about this as a medium type long form content platform not social you are seriously missing out you cannot deny that the opportunities for affiliate linking and commission earning through substack are next level but what I find really fascinating is that founders are jumping on substack and leveraging it as a platform to showcase their personality Night Shade An inconsistent patchwork of recipes, founder musings, travel recommendations and everything else the internet doesn't need more of. I'll try to keep it short. Posts Notes About MELANIE MASARIN Everything I loved in March Here comes the sun! 5 MIN READ MELANIE MASARIN I <3 Belts Buckle up Bobbi Brown More than Makeup: the Hows, Whys, Whos, and Hacks of Living a Fabulously Normal Life Posts About BOBBI BROWN For the Love of Hip I Got Low with Flo 1 MIN READ BOBBI BROWN Backseat Beauty How I Get Ready in the Back of an Uber 1 MIN READ I kinda get this— I wanted to start a Substack when I was an active founder and a friend talked me out of it because it bifurcated my focus from my company's newsletter or marketing. But I wanted something just for me when my business had consumed every single inch of my life. It felt like an effort to preserve any sort of individual identity outside of the business. (You know how that story ends, now we're here.) I can't speak for Bobbi, but I subscribe to @Melanie Masarin 's letter and it's very much a mix of things that she's personally passionate about, and then some talk of Ghia and what she's working on. It feels personal! I'm not sure I'm mad at the idea of founders building in public on Substack—longform writing leaves so much more room for nuance than Twitter threads, and running a company is nothing but nuance. As long as BRANDS themselves don't start launching Substacks, which I think is a 2025 inevitability. "Bobbi Brown launched a Substack 6 days ago. Do you think she's going to try to use this as an additional avenue to market her beauty? I know Melanie Masarin (founder of Ghia), and Jing Gao (founder of Fly) both have Substacks now too. Something tells me this new platform for TRANSPARENCY from founders. Like, cringe, Instagram was a little too public. Now to find a company, you can actually write..." Emily Why are so many consumer founders joining Substack? Melanie also reference this comment from a prior founder that I respect immensely, which references the two needs that founders have that Substack helps to fulfill 1. a place to explore their passions outside of work 2. build in public BRAND MARKETING TREND ALERT 🚨 I'm so excited to see how this continues to develop...