So they are caught between wanting to hang on to their top talent, which drives the vast majority of their revenues, and trying to get lots of smaller players to sign up immediately. That puts some real-time pressure on Substack. “Now, with the additional investment, they have to keep the VC folks happy, and they are always hungry for a lucrative exit.
“I just don’t know how they hang on to this market position when the product itself is not that complicated,” Kahn said.