Sachin Monga
Head of Product at Substack
Sachin Monga is Head of Product at Substack, previously a founder (Cocoon, acquired by Substack) and spent seven years at Facebook working on video, camera, developer platform, and ads growth.
Dimension Profile
Key Themes
Episode Summary
Sachin Monga discusses Substack's mission to create a golden era for writers on the internet, where quality work can generate a living without playing attention games. He reveals the story behind the Substack recommendations feature — potentially one of the most legendary growth features ever — and shares how building at a startup differs fundamentally from his seven years at Facebook.
Leadership Principles
- → The economic model for great writing on the internet has been terrible — Substack proves it doesn't have to be
- → You don't need millions of viewers — a small number of people who value your work highly is enough
- → Quality over attention: don't play attention games, just do really high quality work
Notable Quotes
"We're just starting into this golden era of what it might mean to be a writer on the internet. The economic model for supporting great writing has been generally pretty terrible for the entirety of the internet's history."
— On Substack's mission to transform the economics of writing
"People who are able to make a living, maybe even make a fortune just doing great work and not needing to have millions of viewers or play the attention games of other networks."
— On the new generation of Substack writers succeeding with quality over scale
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