Hey Everyone,
Hope you're having a great week. Here are a few things I've been reading, writing and pondering lately. Enjoy!
I'm helping a few companies fill content roles
Next week, I'm launching a job board. In the meantime, I'm helping a few companies hire for content roles. Read about these jobs and listen to interviews with the hiring managers here:
Stay tuned for more roles and a job board next week. 😎
1. How Substack has spawned a new class of newsletter entrepreneurs
I'm sure you're not surprised that I'm a huge fan of email. I started this newsletter in 2014 and have sent it (almost) every week since.
I'm loving what Substack in enabling for creators. There's a wave of this happening (Shopify, Podia, Convertkit, Ghost and so many others) and it's really exciting. I don't have plans to charge to for this newsletter, but I am planning on creating a paid membership for my new company (Superpath). As you might imagine, email will be a key part of that.
2. Strava’s Struggles Aren’t Going Away
This is a good read for many reasons. Primarily, it's interesting to observe a much-loved app struggle to find its way, making one seemingly obvious mistake after another.
Strava is still trying to figure out—11 years after the company started—if users are willing to pay for it. There has even been speculation that the company can't last another year if they can't get more users to pay. Studying business strategy can be really useful. Check this post and everything on Stratechery for more like this.
Everything I’ve seen makes this return to user subscription feel like a Hail Mary — Strava failed to exit during a wave of fitness app acquisitions in 2016, their play for social media megalith status fizzled on poor executions of products no one wanted, and all that’s left is trying to eke whatever they can out of the users they’ve already acquired.
3. Spark
This email app is really, really good.
At Animalz, we used to Front. There were things I liked about Front (reminders for unanswered emails, snooze options, link sharing, etc.) that Spark does even better. Also, it's free.
4. Tweet of the Week
Ok Ok. I ACCEPT ALL COOKIES FOREVER. STOP ASKING. I ACCEPT, Click
— Todd McKinnon (@toddmckinnon) July 2, 2020
5. Random Links
- This is a great read: Search Engine Etiquette: Never, Ever Ask for a Backlink
- Kinoni turns your phone into your webcam
- Hey, maybe Superpath should do this
- Missing in Alaska is an addicting podcast
- I'm launching a podcast of my own next week. Sneak peak here.
Have a great weekend!
Jimmy
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