#126 - Chris Best and Jonathan Gill

About this episode

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/cjgbest">Chris Best</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://substack.com/">Substack</a>. Substack makes it simple for a writer to start a paid newsletter. They were in the Winter 2018 batch of YC. You can check them out at <a href="https://substack.com/">Substack.com</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/jgill333">Jonathan Gill</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://backtracks.fm/">Backtracks</a>. Backtracks is a podcast analytics and hosting platform. You can check them out at Backtracks.fm.<br><br>Chris is on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/cjgbest">@cjgbest</a> and Jonathan is <a href="https://twitter.com/jgill333">@jgill333</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br> <br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>1:03 - Paid vs advertising in podcasting<br><br>3:33 - Are advertisers overpaying for podcast ads?<br><br>6:13 - What percent of the market will ultimately be paid content?<br><br>8:13 - Payment mechanisms<br><br>9:48 - Price anchoring<br><br>12:28 - Individual creators vs brands<br><br>17:23 - Deplatforming<br><br>18:53 - Spotify<br><br>20:23 - Discovery and growth in newsletters<br><br>22:53 - Public and private feeds<br><br>25:23 - Apple's role<br><br>26:38 - Will education be the driver of paid content?<br><br>30:23 - Educational podcasters in China<br><br>32:23 - How are their newsletter and podcast customers growing?<br><br>36:18 - Jack Ryder asks - In 5 years time, are personal newsletters going to replace social networks like Facebook?<br><br>38:13 - Debdut Mukherjee asks - Do podcasts actually work? If so, how do startups calculate the ROI &amp; the CAC?<br><br>43:38 - Measurement<br><br>45:23 - Best practices for new podcasters and newsletter creators<br></p>