Hi and welcome to the A16Z podcast I'm Lauren Murrow. Today's episode

Part 1 in a two-part series about the Creator Economy explores the process and

economics behind creating an independent newsletter. In this candid conversation, I talk with four sub-stack writers

from very different backgrounds.

An artist, a technologist, a journalist,

and a clinical researcher turned psychedelic's scholar. The pandemic has prompted a reckoning with intro. a

technical researcher turned psychedelic scholar. The pandemic has prompted a reckoning within

traditional media and alongside it a surge in the newsletter ecosystem.

On sub-stack, readership and active writers

both doubled from January through April.

The newsletter hosting platform now has more than 100,000 paying subscribers.

This episode reveals the behind-the-scenes experiences of four newsletter creators, all of whom launched roughly

within the past year.

Software Engineer Lenny Ritchitsky, most recently a growth product manager at Airbnb,

whose tech-focused dispatch is called Lenny's newsletter.

More on that later.

Artist and writer Edith Zimmerman, creator of the Drawing Links newsletter,

which chronicles her life and musings through comic style illustrations.

Zach Hegney, an acupunctureist and researcher whose newsletter, The Trip Report,

explores the science, policy, and business behind medicinal psychedelics.

And Patrice Peck, a freelance journalist previously on staff at Buzzfeed,

whose newsletter, Coronovirus News for Black Folks

...