$100K ARRin 2 years

4 milestones

Current revenue

$45M ARRas of July 2025Source

Substack ARR ~$45M mid-2025 with 5M+ paid subscriptions. Takes 10% creator fee.

Reinventando la Economía de Medios: Cómo Substack Facultó a Escritores Independientes

Founder

CB&HM

Chris Best & Hamish McKenzie

Co-Fundadores•Technical•USA

Commitment

Full-time

Experience

Experienced

Product

Substack

Plataforma para escritores independientes para publicar y ser pagados a través de suscripciones

Type

SaaS

Industry

Creación de Contenido

Model

Comisiones de Marketplace

Marketing Strategy

How Chris acquired customers

Growth Channel

Boca a Boca

Also Used

Twitter / XSEO / Contenido

Tech Stack

Tools used to build Substack

ReactNode.jsPostgreSQLStripe

The Full Story

TL;DR

Cuando Chris Best y Hamish McKenzie iniciaron Substack, todos dijeron que nadie pagaría por contenido en internet. Probaron que los escépticos estaban equivocados.

"Substack fue fundado para crear un vehículo de escape para escritores." Chris Best y Hamish McKenzie imaginaban un mundo donde los escritores no tenían que depender de publicaciones heredadas o publicidad corporativa.

El Modelo Roto

Chris Best, cofundador de Kik Messenger, y Hamish McKenzie, reportero de tecnología anterior en PandoDaily, vieron el mismo problema desde diferentes ángulos: el modelo tradicional de periodismo estaba fallando a los escritores.

Los medios impulsados por anuncios incentivaban clickbait sobre calidad. Los escritores eran mal pagados. Los lectores obtenían contenido cada vez más polarizado optimizado para engagement en lugar de iluminación.

La Apuesta Contrarian

En julio de 2017, fundaron Substack con CTO Jairaj Sethi. Su tesis era simple pero contraria: los lectores PAGARÍAN por contenido de calidad si se les da la opción.

Muchas personas les dijeron "nadie pagará por contenido en Internet." Pero Best y McKenzie confiaron en sus instintos: el modelo económico para el periodismo proporcionaba un trato deficiente para escritores independientes, y eso tenía que cambiar.

El Plan de Ben Thompson

Fueron inspirados por Stratechery de Ben Thompson, un boletín de tecnología basado en suscripción que probó que el modelo podía funcionar. Si Ben podía hacerlo de forma independiente, ¿por qué no más escritores?

Substack lo hizo fácil: los escritores podían publicar gratis, y si los lectores querían suscribirse, podían pagar. Substack tomaría el 10%.

El Pionero de la Economía de Creadores

Lo que comenzó como una plataforma de boletines ha evolucionado a algo más grande: Substack ahora aloja podcasts, video y características de comunidad. La empresa ha recaudado más de $100 millones y está valuada en miles de millones.

Más importante aún, miles de escritores ahora ganan un living a través de Substack. Algunos ganan más de $1 millón por año. La plataforma probó que el contenido de calidad puede prosperar sin publicidad.

Key Takeaways

Las apuestas contrarias pueden ganar grande: todos dijeron que nadie pagaría por contenido

Estudia independientes exitosos (Ben Thompson) para validar tu tesis antes de construir

La economía simple (tasa de 10%) alineó los intereses entre plataforma y creadores

Los fundadores con diferentes trasfondos (tecnología + periodismo) ven problemas que otros no ven

Comenzar con un formato (boletines) y expandir (podcasts, video) es estrategia inteligente

Originally published onHow I Built This (WNYC)

Founder proof brief

A one-page proof brief turns Chris's Substack playbook into your next test.

See what it covers before you sign up: the pattern worth copying, the channel to test, and the risk to avoid when you adapt this story.

Pattern

$100K ARR

Channel

Boca a Boca

Output

Action checklist

What a proof brief covers

A one-page brief that turns Chris's pattern into a testable plan
Channel bet: start from Boca a Boca
A risk check before copying the Substack playbook

See what a proof brief covers

See what it covers first. Create an account only if you choose to unlock.

Inspired by Chris's journey? Generate a business idea in the Creación de Contenido space using AI and real founder data.

Milestone Journey

Chris achieved 4 milestones on the path to $100K ARR

Primer Cliente

4 months

October 2017

Avg: 3 months

+2 months to next milestone

$1K MRR

$1,000

6 months

November 2017

45% faster

vs avg 11 months

+6 months to next milestone

$10K MRR

$10,000

1 year

May 2018

42% faster

vs avg 1 year

+1 year to next milestone

$100K ARR

$100,000

2 years

May 2019

32% faster

vs avg 3 years

2 years

Total journey time

Milestones achieved

Chris's Path to $100K ARRPremium

The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone

How Chris actually did it

7/7 funnel stages sourced

Reconstructed from Chris's own published sources. Quoted claims are the founder's words, verified verbatim; anything marked as our analysis is exactly that.

Where the idea came from

Market gap research

Best and McKenzie modeled Substack's earliest version directly on Ben Thompson's Stratechery, which had proved readers would pay a subscription for one writer's work with no advertising. The common objection at the time was that Thompson's audience of tech investors and executives was uniquely willing to pay and that the model would not generalize to other subjects. McKenzie says the founders rejected that argument outright and bet the real barrier was tooling friction, not reader willingness to pay.

“That didn’t sound right to us.”

Hamish McKenzie, "The age of the sovereign creator" (On Substack)

Validation

Validated before building

Talking to usersValidated

Before any product existed, McKenzie personally emailed a single target publisher, Bill Bishop, a China-focused newsletter writer he had known for nearly a decade as a fellow journalist, pitching an unbuilt product framed as "Stratechery as a Service" and asking him directly to be the first customer.

The June 2017 pitch email offered the still-unbuilt product as "Stratechery as a Service" and asked Bishop outright to be the first customer.

“Maybe you want to be our first customer?”

Hamish McKenzie, "Five years of Substack, with Bill Bishop" (On Substack)

MvpValidated

Rather than build a general-purpose tool, the team built the first working version of Substack narrowly around Bishop's specific requirements, including his preferred typography, and launched with him as the sole publisher.

The earliest build was tailored entirely to Bishop's newsletter, down to custom typography choices.

“We built that first version of Substack around Bill and his needs, making special allowances such as giving him large-type Verdana”

Hamish McKenzie, "Five years of Substack, with Bill Bishop" (On Substack)

First test users

Personal network~1 usersPaying from day one

McKenzie had known Bishop personally for almost a decade from his own years as a journalist and had been reading Bishop's free China newsletter, Sinocism, before pitching him.

“I had known Bill for almost a decade from my previous life as a reporter and was a regular reader of Sinocism.”

Hamish McKenzie, "Four years on Substack: A conversation with Bill Bishop, Substacker #1" (On Substack)

First paying customer

Personal networkDirect ask

McKenzie emailed Bishop directly in early June 2017 after noticing he was adding a paywall to his newsletter, pitching the still-unbuilt product for exactly that need and asking him outright to be the first customer.

“Maybe you want to be our first customer?”

Hamish McKenzie, "Five years of Substack, with Bill Bishop" (On Substack)

Acquisition channels, and whether they worked

Other · Direct personal outreach to a known contactLaunchWorked

The founders used a pre-existing personal relationship, not a cold list or paid channel, to land Substack's first publisher, then built the product's first version specifically around that one customer's needs.

“We built that first version of Substack around Bill and his needs, making special allowances such as giving him large-type Verdana”

Hamish McKenzie, "Five years of Substack, with Bill Bishop" (On Substack)

Bishop was chosen deliberately as a demonstration case: a credible, well-connected figure in media and tech who was willing to take a chance on an unproven startup.

“someone who knew media and tech inside and out, who was widely respected by many smart people”

Hamish McKenzie, "Five years of Substack, with Bill Bishop" (On Substack)

Word of Mouth · Writer-to-writer referrals and recommendationsScalingWorked

As writers grow their subscriber base and revenue with help from Substack's cross-writer network, McKenzie says they become willing to recommend the platform to other writers, restarting the cycle.

“they see their readership and revenue grow thanks in part to the Substack network”

Hamish McKenzie, "The Goodwill Growth Loop" (On Substack)

McKenzie ties the loop directly to the revenue-share pricing model: because Substack only earns when a writer earns, the company is structurally incentivized to keep making writers successful enough to recommend it onward.

“the imperative is baked right into our business model: We can make money only when writers make money”

Hamish McKenzie, "The Goodwill Growth Loop" (On Substack)

What didn't work

Product scopePre-launchCost: time

Alongside Bishop, the team had lined up a second early prospect, an NBA writer and data analyst who wanted a subscription site with heavy custom design and a data-site integration, and tried to build one product that would serve both use cases.

“we had to back out of the NBA writer’s project (he took it well)”

Hamish McKenzie, "Five years of Substack, with Bill Bishop" (On Substack)

Building a single product flexible enough for both Bishop's simple newsletter and the NBA writer's complex, highly customized site proved too hard to do well with a two-or-three-person team on a tight timeline.

“Chris was having trouble creating a product that would serve Sinocism and the NBA publication equally well”

Hamish McKenzie, "Five years of Substack, with Bill Bishop" (On Substack)

What they did instead: Dropped the NBA writer's more complex use case entirely and narrowed the whole first product around the simpler Bishop case: a writer who wants to publish and let Substack handle all the technical and design work.

How it changed as they grew

At launch: 3 people (Chris Best (CEO), Hamish McKenzie, Jairaj Sethi (CTO))

Accelerator · 2018

Seed · $2,200,000 · 2018

Series a plus · $15,300,000 · 2019-07

Series a plus · $65,000,000 · 2021-03

Series a plus · $100,000,000 · 2025-07

What broke as they grew

For two years the founders operated as a lean three-person team handling product development, writer support, and everything else themselves. McKenzie credits Sethi's high individual output for letting them get away with staying that small for so long, until the July 2019 Series A gave them the resources to hire.

“we were able to get by as a three-person team until we raised our Series A in July 2019, two years into the company’s existence”

Hamish McKenzie, "Co-founders" (Disjointed, his personal Substack)

Sources (7 in the founder's own words)

Hamish McKenzie, "Four years on Substack: A conversation with Bill Bishop, Substacker #1" (On Substack) · founder-authored · 2021-10
Hamish McKenzie, "Five years of Substack, with Bill Bishop" (On Substack) · founder-authored · 2022-10
Hamish McKenzie, "The age of the sovereign creator" (On Substack) · founder-authored · 2024-05
Hamish McKenzie, "Co-founders" (Disjointed, his personal Substack) · founder-authored · 2020-04
Hamish McKenzie, Chris Best & Jairaj Sethi, "Introducing Substack Notes" (On Substack) · founder-authored · 2023-04
"The future of Substack" (On Substack, Series A announcement, no byline shown) · third party · 2019-07
Hamish McKenzie, "The Goodwill Growth Loop" (On Substack) · founder-authored · 2022-12
"Investing in writers" (On Substack, Series B announcement, no byline shown) · third party · 2021-03
Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie & Jairaj Sethi, "A media future to believe in" (On Substack, Series C announcement) · founder-authored · 2025-07

Persistence

Projects attempted before finding success

failed projects before this one worked

One attempt before — common among successful founders

Launch Strategy

How they introduced the product to the world

Soft Launch

Initial go-to-market approach

Low risk — lets you iterate quietly

Validation

How they tested demand before building

Hablar con Usuarios

Method used to confirm market interest

Launch Pricing

Price point when the product first launched

Gratis

Initial pricing strategy

Common for building initial traction

Starting Audience

Whether they had followers before launch

Started from Zero

Built audience alongside the product

63% of founders in our database started from zero

Time Investment

Average weekly hours during building phase

60 hrs

per week on average

Full-time dedication

Initial Investment

Capital required to get started

$100,000

in startup costs

Significant upfront investment

Biggest Challenge

Convencer a la gente de que los lectores realmente pagarían por contenido de boletín cuando todos dijeron "nadie pagará por contenido en Internet"

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Frequently asked questions

How much does Substack make?

Substack reports $45M ARR as of July 2025. Substack ARR ~$45M mid-2025 with 5M+ paid subscriptions. Takes 10% creator fee. Source: Sacra.

What is Substack?

Plataforma para escritores independientes para publicar y ser pagados a través de suscripciones. It operates in Creación de Contenido.

How long did it take Substack to reach $100k arr?

Chris Best & Hamish McKenzie took 2 years to reach $100k arr with Substack.

Was Chris Best & Hamish McKenzie a solo founder?

No. Chris Best & Hamish McKenzie built Substack with co-founders.

What marketing channel did Substack use to grow?

Substack grew primarily through Boca a Boca.

What industry is Substack in?

Substack operates in Creación de Contenido.

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The Full Story

TL;DR

Cuando Chris Best y Hamish McKenzie iniciaron Substack, todos dijeron que nadie pagaría por contenido en internet. Probaron que los escépticos estaban equivocados.