One of the reasons I decided to write on Substack was that I felt the founders were also grappling with creating a new media culture together with their readers. Looking at various articles, I could imagine them trying different things to make Substack a new home for creators.

beehiiv, which is often compared to Substack, seems to be handing creators more powerful tools and championing the idea of “break away from existing media and become independent!” While both share the common goal of “creator independence,” beehiiv gives a slightly stronger impression of a philosophy focused on maximizing newsletters as a monetization tool.

Substack's co-founders previously described existing social media as a “Temple” and what Substack creates as a “Garden.” It's a place where relationships with readers can be built through writing, rather than by gathering people through attention. If I were to write again, I wanted to be on the side of cultivating that garden together.