Ben Thompson of Stratechery joins Acquired to discuss the business's history and evolution. Topics include pioneering the subscription internet media model, the expansion into podcasting and the Stratechery Plus bundle, and the challenges of building a paid publication. They also touch on building brands, the advantages of a large subscriber base, and growing a paid podcast subscription service.

Ben Thompson is a trailblazer in subscription-based newsletters, earning millions with his platform, Stratechery. He shares insights on how to monetize writing effectively and discusses the business models behind successful online content. Thompson reflects on his unique writing process, emphasizing discipline, passion, and the need for consistent quality. He also highlights the evolving media landscape, where one-person media companies are thriving against larger firms, and offers strategies for cultivating a loyal audience through genuine engagement.

Today’s guest is Stratechery author and founder Ben Thompson. If you’re an investor in Silicon Valley, work at a tech start-up, or just love to geek out on technology and business analysis, odds are good that Stratechery is on your short list of must-read blogs. What started as a side project, quickly ballooned into one of the most influential tech blogs on the web. The New York Times called Stratechery, “one of the most interesting sources of analysis on any subject.” I agree. In this interview, Ben and I cover a lot of ground. Here are a few of the things we discuss: Learn once and for all how to pronounce Stratechery. :) How Ben’s business model was developed and how he massaged it over the years to become what it is today The one metric Ben looks at each day to gauge the health of his business How Ben deals with people who rip off his work and pass it off as their own Ben’s thoughts on pricing, free trials, content and other important aspects of online membership sites How Ben structures his day to churn out such incredible content so consistently How Ben handles being wrong on his site, and his process for screening his work for confirmation bias How the internet has changed the traditional view of supply and demand, and what companies should do about it What Ben would teach an MBA class about internet strategy (if you do any business online, you need to hear this) What it would take for a start-up to overtake Google or Apple, and the vulnerabilities that all companies share, no matter how big or profitable The new era of technology and how companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and Amazon are doing it right (and what you can do in your own business to take full advantage) This is one of the most jam-packed interviews I’ve done on the Knowledge Project. Ben’s answers are so thoughtful and informative that you’re going to want to have a notebook handy.   Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish  

“The story of 2022 was the emergence of AI," wrote Ben Thompson, the author of the Stratechery newsletter and podcast. "It seems clear to me that this is a new epoch in technology.” Ben and Derek talk about ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, the state of generative AI, and how the biggest tech companies will try to wrangle this fascinating suite of new tools.If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. You can find us on TikTok at www.tiktok.com/@plainenglish_Host: Derek ThompsonGuest: Ben Thompson Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this discussion, Ben Thompson, a tech commentator known for his deep insights on technology and business, sheds light on the latest developments from OpenAI's 2024 Dev Day. The talk covers innovations in real-time APIs and advances in AI fine-tuning for specialized tasks. Ben examines challenges in AI model integration, emphasizing the crucial role of community feedback and voice interaction systems. The conversation also delves into ethical implications and the path toward achieving Artificial General Intelligence, offering a compelling glimpse into the future of AI.

My guest today is Ben Thompson. Ben is the author of my favorite business strategy newsletter called Stratechery. He’s also the host of the exponent podcast, and now the Dithering, a podcast he recently launched with John Gruber. I think Ben is among the most interesting business analysts in the world, and I’ve learned from and directly applied many of his ideas. We cover many of the major concepts he’s introduced over the years, including his well know aggregation theory. I think that to understand how the internet has changed the business world for good, you must read Ben and follow his thinking. I’m excited to finally have him as a guest on the show. Please enjoy our conversation. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes (01:26) – (First question) – Companies that are built for the next disruption             (1:32) – The End of the Beginning (9:58) – Aggregation Theory and the Smiling Curve (13:18) – Steps to creating an aggregator (19:46) – Pattern of successful aggregators or luck? (24:34) – How aggregators interact with suppliers and consumers (30:49) – Taking on other aggregators (34:09) – Platform vs aggregator in the scope of Shopify vs Amazon/Walmart (40:55) – The Moat Map (46:16) – Value chain thinking and profitable business models (51:58) – Future of media and independent content creator’s vs bundles (56:07) – Bundling independent creators (1:00:37) – The infrastructure layer of technology and software companies (1:02:35) – His thoughts on gaming platforms (1:06:13) – The atoms vs the bits in the tech world (1:12:18) – What he’s learned from covering Netflix (1:13:46) – Kindest thing anyone has done for Ben             (1:15:56) – Stratechery Podcast   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Podcast host Ben Thompson shares his experience with a ChatGPT demo, discusses Meta's smart glasses and OpenAI's hardware project, and explores the concept of celebrity bundles. He also expresses annoyance at Taylor Swift's presence during sports broadcasts and chats about mooncakes and their qualities.

Discussing Open AI's text-to-video model Sora and Hollywood's reaction. Exploring disruptions in the entertainment industry, potential uses of Sora as a productivity tool. Predicting 'Dune: Part Two' box office success.

(00:00:00) Intro(00:02:28) Packy & Ben’s Businesses(00:23:08) Finding Your Audience(00:36:01) VC Hindsight(00:46:18) Creative Process(00:57:52) Web3(01:05:57) Advice for Content Creators(01:14:59) All-In and Twitter(01:23:54) One Last ThingFollow the show:https://twitter.com/3cartoonavatarshttps://www.instagram.com/3cartoonavatars/https://www.tiktok.com/@3cartoonavatars Follow the hosts:https://twitter.com/loganbartlett Mixed and edited: Justin HrabovskyProduced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad AssirExecutive Producer: Josh MachizMusic: Griff Lawson Not Boring - The Great Online Game - https://www.notboring.co/p/the-great-online-game?s=rNot Boring – Schumpeter’s Gale - https://www.notboring.co/p/schumpeters-gale?s=rNot Boring – Ramping Up - https://www.notboring.co/p/ramping-up?s=rNot Boring – Ramp’s Double Unicorn - https://www.notboring.co/p/ramps-double-unicorn-rounds-behind?s=rStratechery – What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong - https://stratechery.com/2013/clayton-christensen-got-wrong/Stratechery – Bubble Talk Revisited - https://stratechery.com/2020/bubble-talk-revisited-it-wasnt-1999-the-big-tech-basket/ Executive Producer: Rashad AssirProducer: Leah ClapperMixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA 🎙 Listen to the show Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-logan-bartlett-show/id1606770839Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow About the Show Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.

Note: If you saw this twice, this is a reissue of a previous episode, with corrected audio.Since starting his site Stratechery in 2013, Ben Thompson has established himself as one of the smartest and most thoughtful analysts at the intersection of media, business, and technology. I’ve become addicted to his commentary, as have many of my colleagues.So getting to geek out with Ben on these topics is a lot of fun. In this conversation, we discuss a couple of issues very close to my heart, including:Whether you can still make it as an individual blogger — Ben is showing you can, but the path has really changed;How to make money as a modern media company;Ben's time working for Apple and Microsoft and what he learned about both companies and their cultures;Why the Innovator’s Dilemma is worth reading even if you think you already know what it says;Why so few companies advertise on podcasts;Why the most important piece of writing on your site is the second one a reader finds;And much, much more.I enjoyed this conversation tremendously, I hope you do too. As always, please do me a big favor and share this podcast with your friends, put it on Facebook, on Twitter, Snapchat, wherever. And please send me your feedback at EzraKleinShow@Vox.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices