Companies/social_platform
Substack
Tim’s take
When Substack tried to sign him and Ben off Patreon and YouTube for free, he demanded $20 million on the spot and ended up walking out of the pitch dinner mid-sentence, mocking their big selling point as "we have the email list" 6:16 11:40. He jokes that a smarter pitch would have sold the platform as a safe harbor for him to go full conspiracy, which doubles as a jab at what the site actually offers people 20:13. The line about Substack writers being "fearless thought leaders" who can't get published elsewhere becomes a running sarcastic tag he repeats later as shorthand for not trusting anyone who posts there 6:16 39:22.
He defends it as a free speech club even when a Right Wing Watch piece flags QAnon and anti-vax figures flocking to it, calling the scene "fun" rather than alarming 17:17. Talking with Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal about the harassment claims against Singal, he stays mostly neutral, more interested in listing who is actually getting rich off it — Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan, Yglesias — than in the underlying fight 36:52 57:59 1:04:14. When Maggie Haberman draws a line between institutional reporting and Substack "free agents," he lets the distinction stand without pushback 1:21:41.
Every Reference (11)
"deal with you sub stack is like a patreon for writers for people whose fan bases can fund their journalistic endeavors and there's a"
Introducing Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal on the Sub Stack Harassment Claims — #244 - Dobrik's Death Count | The Tim Dillon Show+28s into the segment"guys out of his mind but who are the kings of sub stack you have greenwald who are the big dogs on sub stack glenn greenwald this historian"
Woke Corporations as Performative Cover for Exploitation — #244 - Dobrik's Death Count | The Tim Dillon Show+323s into the segment"war over the past week where subsequent so so for your audience who doesn't know sub sac is a newsletter platform so it's basically a bunch of independent writers who you cultivate"
Sub Stack Wars, Andrew Sullivan's Millions, and the Death of Local Journalism — #244 - Dobrik's Death Count | The Tim Dillon Show+8s into the segment"know if we should talk about this should we she text your lawyer first we had a fun meeting with the people that run the sub stack"
Intro to the Substack Meeting Story — #285 - Tim Dillon VS Substack | The Tim Dillon Show+28s into the segment"at the end we appreciated that uh we had a meeting with the sub stack founder wanted to meet with me and i brought you yes it's much"
The Substack Pitch Meeting: $20 Million or Nothing — #285 - Tim Dillon VS Substack | The Tim Dillon Show+54s into the segment"it and that's why i worked so hard to build it on my own just so i could just over dinner i could be charmed and give it away yeah and"
Walking Out on the Substack Founders Mid-Dinner — #285 - Tim Dillon VS Substack | The Tim Dillon Show+13s into the segment"including effectively inhaling bleach i look kind of like that in his substack post mercola announcing he'll be bringing his deleted content"
Substack's QAnon Problem (Right Wing Watch Article) — #285 - Tim Dillon VS Substack | The Tim Dillon Show+29s into the segment"are on sub stack jordan sather patel patriot and technofrog techno fog technology technofog post regularly for both free"
The Better Substack Pitch: Alex Jones Crossover — #285 - Tim Dillon VS Substack | The Tim Dillon Show"yeah we have sub stack who's going to negotiate it for us so we're really excited about what they get well like does having"
Bitcoin Energy Use vs. Whitney Cummings' Texts — #285 - Tim Dillon VS Substack | The Tim Dillon Show"stack i need have you gone to sub stack sub stack is fearless thought leaders i will work for free i will not make a decision on what actually"
Dr. Robert Malone and Jordan Peterson's Rogan Looks — #285 - Tim Dillon VS Substack | The Tim Dillon Show+25s into the segment"Maggie and I actually couldn't do the type of reporting we do as free agents on Substack. That's not to denigrate people on Substack. In fact, I subscribe to a bunch of them."
Are Podcasters Replacing Legacy Journalists? — Donald Trump’s Endgame | The Tim Dillon Show #501+70s into the segment