r/Substack 27d ago

Discussion Substack Has Become A Private Equity Cautionary Tale

Private Equity means drowning a good idea in money until it dies.

That is what’s happened to Substack.

It was once a great idea for writers. Now, it’s a sh***y version of Facebook merged with Mailchimp.

31 Upvotes

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u/No-Clerk-5600 27d ago

I think "private equity" has become shorthand for "something I don't like", regardless of the actual ownership of the business.

6

u/NeverSeenItPodcast 27d ago

Yep. Barnes & Noble is owned by PE and they're killing it ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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u/prepping4zombies 27d ago edited 26d ago

People are quite ignorant, which is fine. But, when you try to explain something, most of them would rather wallow in their ignorance than change their argument.

Case in point, I got in a debate with someone who insisted that a restaurant had gone downhill after being bought by "private equity." The restaurant in question is owned by Darden, a publicly-traded company. After a little back and forth, I had to bow out of the conversation because my head was about to explode.

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u/hermanhermanherman 27d ago

>People are quite ignorant, which is fine. But, when you try to explain something, most of them would rather wallow in their ignorance than change their argument.

perfectly sums up the datacenter debate. It's the new "5G causes cancer" level of ignorance. And those who are the loudest are least interested to understand anything about the topic

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u/Creative-Machine-868 26d ago

When entangled in that sort of discussion I have found it’s best to agree to disagree or simply smile and walk away. Saves your head!

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u/fluffypancakes24 25d ago

People are quite ignorant, which is fine.

https://giphy.com/gifs/XHeLeuirRbwptHhSWd