Thompson wrote a three-part thesis on the future of journalism arguing that publishing would fragment into small, single-writer, subscription-funded operations. Weeks later he built exactly that model into a relaunched Stratechery.

“the thinking behind them was not at all abstract: it is the foundation of the new Stratechery, launching today.”

His first users were the readers of the free twice-weekly Stratechery articles he had already been publishing for over a year before adding a paid tier.

“The twice-weekly articles (usually fairly long) that I have been writing for over a year will continue, and will always be free.”

Paying members came directly from the free blog's existing readership when Thompson layered a three-tier membership program on top of it at the April 2014 relaunch; he described being overwhelmed by the signup response in the days that followed.

“I've been pretty overwhelmed with the number of signups so far; it's a great affirmation of what I'm doing here.”