Latest / Content, Briefly / Sean Blanda on what it means to "Own Your Platform" in 2025

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Sean Blanda on what it means to "Own Your Platform" in 2025 · Content, Briefly

• 0:00
  [upbeat music] Hey, and thanks for checking out this episode of Content Briefly.
• 0:10
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• 1:00
  Today we're back with Sean Blanda. He was episode number one of this podcast, which you can go listen to. About two and a half years ago, we spoke about the work he was doing as the VP of content at Crossbeam.
• 1:11
  Today, he's independent. He owns a consultancy called Gatecheck Studios. He works with a number of B2B SaaS clients, and we do talk about that.
• 1:20
  We talk about kind of the changing nature of work and why some companies prefer to rely on someone like him versus a team and some of, you know, the many impacts of that.
• 1:29
  But primarily, we talk about the idea of always owning your platform.
• 1:33
  I actually think I first came across Sean, I don't know, 10 years ago maybe, on social media because [chuckles] he would post about this idea of own your platform all the time, and he actually registered the domain alwaysonyourplatform.com, which went viral on Hacker News.
• 1:46
  And, uh, he wrote this manifesto about own your platform, and it's just interesting looking back because it was actually pretty easy to own your platform, you know, 10 years ago, five years ago even.
• 1:55
  And, like, while a lot of these things happen in waves, at the moment, that advice feels more prescient than ever.
• 2:02
  And so one of the reasons I wanted to have Sean on, and I was curious, are you digging your heels in on this idea or are you granting that, okay, it's so difficult that we actually have to play the game that some of these platforms like LinkedIn and Google, X, et cetera, want us to play?
• 2:16
  I was honestly relieved to hear that he was digging his heels in, and we talk in a lot of detail about what exactly that looks like today. So anyways, I won't tease it anymore.
• 2:25
  Loved this conversation with Sean Blanda, and I hope you do too. Hey, everybody.
• 2:28
  Jimmy from Superpath here today with my buddy Sean Blanda, who was on episode one and now we're on episode, I don't know, 105 or something, so you're back. I think at the time you were the VP of content at Crossbeam.
• 2:42
  I was. Man, it was a life ago, but yes. I know. Yeah. Well, before we dive into the topic, which is owning your platform and what does that mean today, 'cause that's changed, you know, catch us up on you.
• 2:51
  Like, what are you up to now? Tell us about Gatecheck. Like, give us... You know, that was probably two years ago. Like, what's happened in the last two years?
• 2:56
  Yeah, I think the short version is left Crossbeam last summer for a handful of reasons.
• 3:02
  One, five years at a startup is, like, 15 years at anyplace else, and boy was I tired and needed, [chuckles] needed just some, a chill time. But kind of stepping back was last summer, AI is, like, really coming to bear.
• 3:15
  I'm sensing that the way we do our job as, you know, however you classify as, you know, brand people, marketing people, content people, media people, whatever, is changing, and I wanted the space to explore that.
• 3:25
  So I started picking up some side client work while I was, like, waning down at Crossbeam and really enjoyed how it kinda, like, shoved me to the frontline, so to speak, right?
• 3:34
  Like, exactly, like, as people were, like, overhauling their programs or starting anew, what are they thinking about? What was the market responding to?
• 3:39
  I really enjoyed that, so I kinda hung up my own shingle under Gatecheck Studios and have been taking on clients as essentially like a fractioning marketing leader or kind of a advisor or consultant, which is helping companies navigate this new world where I think owning your platform is more important than ever, and I used to think it was very important.
• 3:58
  And also the way we reach audiences is changing, the way we measure this, the scale at which we measure this, the speed at which we can do it is all changing, and I wanted to help both people navigate this, but also help myself navigate it by seeing what's working and what's not.
• 4:15
  Yeah. That's cool. I mean, what a cool time to, like, just get to see what a bunch of different companies are doing because the change is happening so quickly that you can't experience all of it in one place.
• 4:24
  Like, you have to have the, the breadth of the view to, like, understand, like, all the things that are possible.
• 4:29
  I've heard people say this before, but it's like you start to see, like, the patterns and you're like, "Oh, actually everything's not, like, such a unique snowflake." You know- Mm...
• 4:35
  there's, like, three to five patterns.
• 4:36
  Uh, you know, we say we could talk about it, but when you're in-house, like, you can get so locked in on the minutia of this v- particular company that sometimes you forget to step back and kinda, like, see the larger picture.
• 4:49
  And, I mean, that's one thing I envy about, like, you doing Superpath, right?
• 4:53
  Is like you talk to all these freelancers and companies and people hiring and, you know, you interview people on this podcast, and I'm sure, like, your macro view of this space is, like, as good as anybody's.
• 5:03
  Probably, and it's- [laughs] You're like, "I hope so." [chuckles] No, I think you're right. It's just interesting to see, like, the way that this is all happening. Like, we see two views of it.
• 5:11
  One is the individual view inside Superpath, and this is, like, the people who make a living doing this, kind of working through the existential fear sometimes of what this means for them as people and their ability- Yeah...
• 5:26
  to make an income doing the skill- Yeah... that they've built up over the last, you know, 10, 15, whatever years. And then there's the company side, which is like,
• 5:33
  I feel like, basically it's like, "Can we save some money?" Like, you know what I mean? Like, "How do we, like, save a buck?" You know, it's not, like, transformational change- Yeah... for the most part.
• 5:42
  Uh, mostly what I see is, like, how can we, you know, squeeze a little more out of our budget? I think that is going to change also, though. I think we're-- the next phase of this is the more transformational phase.
• 5:52
  Yeah. The job dynamics are interesting, where there are-- every content role I see, there's, like, hundreds if not thousands of people applying to it, and I talk to people in-house. And I actually have applied.
• 6:02
  In the early stages of going solo, I wasn't sure how much I wanted to commit to it, and I was, like, a little waffling, so I would apply to a few jobs here and there, and I would have, like, an in-And I would have, like, a reference, and I'd be like, "I'm pretty qualified to at least get a call."
• 6:15
  And I would just get, like, denied upfront, and I was like, "Oh, man." That's rough.
• 6:18
  [laughs] Like, I feel, like that is the kind of situation where I would at least had a casual call with someone, and not even getting in the door.
• 6:23
  And that's one thing that, like, kind of reinforced my desire to stay solo because, like, they're hiring less people because they're hiring people like me now. One of the reasons, right?
• 6:33
  And that's, like, one of my hypotheses is, like, the amount of in-house talent these companies need to execute these strategies may be, like, lessening. You know? Yeah.
• 6:41
  I used to oversee a marketing team or a content team of 11 people one time. Like, I don't think that's [laughs] I can't imagine that today, you know? No, it's crazy.
• 6:49
  I mean, there is, like, this whole category of marketers emerging that are super individual contributors, essentially. Mm-hmm. It's like one person that's as powerful as five used to be. It's crazy. Mm-hmm.
• 6:58
  Uh, but it's like we're all going to become that also. So, like, what does it mean when everybody is that, not just the people at the tip of the spear right now? Right. Well, so yeah, where do you wanna take this? Right?
• 7:09
  We can talk platform- Yeah, yeah. I know... we can talk challenges, we can talk... Yeah, yeah. It's just like just two guys at a bar, you know? Totally. [laughs] Actually, I could use a drink. It's noon.
• 7:18
  [laughs] The thing I wanted to talk to you mostly about was the always on your platform idea.
• 7:21
  So you've been the always on your platform guy on Twitter going back, I don't know, 8 or 10 years probably, where like- Yeah... something would happen, a shift would happen.
• 7:30
  Like, Facebook stopped giving BuzzFeed traffic in 2015, and then you're posting that, like, meme of the dancing person that says always on your platform, like, waving the flag.
• 7:39
  And I think at one point you even owned alwaysonyourplatform.com. So I guess give us some history here, because this feels like, at least from my perspective, this has only become, like, a real problem pretty recently.
• 7:51
  Yeah. And it's only kind of because of AI. Like, it's really more just, like, the platforms that we currently have available to us to reach people, they don't wanna let us do that anymore. You know?
• 8:01
  They wanna keep the engagement and the traffic and whatever for themselves. Yeah. So if I can put on, like, old elder millennial hat for a second.
• 8:10
  Like, one thing I loved about the internet, you know, back in the early days, and I'm talking, like, late '90s, is kinda the, like, open web aspect of it, the decentralization, that you could have your own website and you could link to whoever you want and you have control over it.
• 8:24
  And that kind of, like, removal of a gatekeeper was, like, fascinating to me and continues to be fascinating to me.
• 8:30
  And I remain to this day a proponent of the open web, although there's, like, you know, 12 of us at this point.
• 8:34
  And what I would start to see happening is people give up their, what I would consider, like, intellectual property or marketing property to these platforms, right? So it's whether... Like Medium was a good example.
• 8:47
  When Medium came out, everyone's like, "I'm moving my blog to Medium." And we...
• 8:50
  Basically the exchange you're making is I'm getting more distribution, but I have less control over my content and how it's displayed, and sometimes who owns it. And I would just see,
• 8:59
  it's almost like a slowly melting iceberg. Like, there'd be less places that you could be independent and more places where you had to depend on a platform sending you attention or traffic.
• 9:08
  And when we used to go to, you know, 50 websites in a week, we go to, like, three. We go to the same, you know, few social networks.
• 9:13
  And I was just watching this happen, and any time these platforms changed their rules in how they sent the audience to you, it would just wreck entire companies and entire industries.
• 9:22
  And I watched this being, like, a follower of, like, news media at first, right? But it, now it's, like, going to every single kinda company and every single kind of person trying to attract any kind of attention online.
• 9:33
  And I found that while you couldn't grow as fast, the more you controlled the distribution mechanism, or as much as you could, much as possible, the longer you would last and the steadier you would grow and the more autonomy you would have.
• 9:45
  And to me, that's what the web was all about.
• 9:47
  So I would advise that both, you know, from an in-house perspective to as an individual, like, that you should, as much as possible, own your platform and the means at which you distribute your content to your audiences.
• 9:58
  Okay. Today, 2025, what does that mean anymore? Like, in my mind, I'm like, "Newsletter. That's all we have left, really." I think... Right, the answer is, has always been newsletter, right?
• 10:08
  And this is the paradox of talking about, like, how things are changing is, like, in some ways they just have snapped back to this original thing, which is, like, you know,
• 10:17
  you have a Discord channel or a Slack channel or a forum or yeah, yes, an email newsletter or, like, an in-person event that people actually come to, right? These are all, like, platforms you own.
• 10:27
  Your website is a platform you own. Those are, like, the main ones. There's, like, kinda other, like, fringe ones. But, like, that's where it begins.
• 10:34
  And basically, like, when people-- And I would define a platform worthy of investing in is when people choose to receive your content, right?
• 10:43
  So, like, in the case of subscribing to a newsletter, when you publish, do they receive it? And that sounds, like, su- super simple, but, like, if I follow you on X, I don't always receive your content.
• 10:53
  If I follow you on LinkedIn, I don't always see your content, even if you post it while I happen to have the browser up, right?
• 10:58
  And that kind of intrusion, that, like, middleman, that gatekeeper between you as the publisher and the viewer, they're only getting more bolder, or bolder and more aggressive as time goes on.
• 11:07
  So, like, get off the train now and start investing in those own platforms is kinda, like, what I'm advising people and kinda the work I'm doing on behalf of clients.
• 11:16
  'Cause what a lot of marketing right now is kinda overwhelmed marketers, like, praying at the altar of the algorithm. Like, putting something up and being like, "I hope this es- reaches escape velocity. Good luck." Yeah.
• 11:27
  [laughs] That's just, like, not defensible as a company from a company perspective, because, you know, there's companies bigger than you willing to invest in way more resources and way more posts and way more frequency and way more paid budget to, like, outsmart you.
• 11:38
  But also from, like, a career perspective. Like, you're kinda really putting the future of your career in the hands of whatever rules happen to be on that platform you're playing with right now.
• 11:48
  And to your point, it was always the case that was somewhat true, but now it's, like, universally true in a way that I think it's time to get back to basics. Yeah.
• 11:56
  Well, I feel like, at least from my perspective, the slow but I think steady decline of organic traffic in favor of impressions through- Mm-hmm...
• 12:07
  ChatGPT, Google AI overviews, or whatever else-To me it was like, wow, this doesn't work anymore.
• 12:13
  I mean, it does in bits and pieces in a few different places, but it cannot any longer make up an entire strat- Like, organic is not a way to own your audience in the way that I think it once was. Yeah.
• 12:25
  I mean, you see this at Superpath, right? There's a Slack group of people that when you post, they see it, right? Like, that sounds, like, flippant, but, like, that is huge. [laughs] It's huge- Yeah, yeah...
• 12:35
  and powerful, right? And like, every time you want to say something to that audience, you put it there, and it will be there when they log in, right? And I think, like, most companies,
• 12:45
  especially B2B companies, have a version of that they can or should be building. And I'm not saying it's a Slack group. It's not always an email newsletter. It's not always a yearly conference or whatever.
• 12:52
  Like, but that's, like, where the bulk of your marketing dollar should go.
• 12:55
  There's an article that was just in, published in Barron's, like, two or three weeks ago, and the title is "Google Search Is Fading, the Whole Internet Is At Risk."
• 13:03
  And it just takes category after category of business, you know, like travel and leisure, e-commerce, food and beverage, and just, like, everything is down. Like, all the attention is down.
• 13:12
  So this wave is coming for everyone, so, like, you have to start building your lifeboat right now, otherwise you're going to be in trouble. Yeah.
• 13:19
  You know, there's another kind of parallel thing happening here, which is that as you build on their platforms, you are beholden to their rules.
• 13:26
  So y- like, using LinkedIn as an example, like, it used to be that it was easy to reach people, then it gets harder and harder, which forces people to, you know, optimize essentially. You have to create algorithm bait.
• 13:38
  I hate this. And then the whole feed- Yes... becomes algorithm bait, and it's just like- Yeah... who can make the most clicks? And it sucks to be there, yeah. And it doesn't... It, like, sucks for readers.
• 13:46
  It completely sucks the creative energy out of anything you make as well. And, like, every platform has a version of that, including Google. Like, part of the reason content is where it is now is because,
• 13:58
  for better or worse, like, we rode the wave of organic search, and we did the same thing. We played by the rules. Like, it's not really about what's your message, unique concepts, um- Right, right, right...
• 14:09
  like, sharing your story. It's really more about, like, was the keyword mentioned enough times for this to rank? Yeah. And so this is where I'm optimistic, right?
• 14:18
  Like, so we talked about, like, the somewhat depressing job prospects or, like, you know, metrics. But, like, I hate reading that stuff. I hate making that stuff. I do too. Yeah.
• 14:26
  I'm sure most people, like, who do it, some people, like, enjoy the kind of, like, gamification of it. Like, "Oh, if I pull this lever, this comes out." And, like, I get that on one level.
• 14:35
  But, like, for the people who love ideas and writing or recording and, like, thoughtful communication and, like, saying something interesting, like, this is actually better.
• 14:44
  It is better that these platforms are starting to close their doors, and you have to find some other way. And I encourage all of us to, like, find that joy again, right?
• 14:52
  Like, yes, it is difficult when you've been doing something one way, and it's no longer the case.
• 14:57
  But, like, careers are long, and the internet platform shifts happen every 15 to 20 years, and there'll be another one of these, you know, right? But- Right... you know, in the next decade or so.
• 15:05
  And, like, now it's, like, fun. But what's better now is you can credibly make the business case that you should invest your own platform. Okay, yeah.
• 15:13
  I wanted to talk to you about that, 'cause it's easy for the individuals to get excited about this. I think it's harder for the company to adopt it as a strategy. Right. And, like, I have been in... So I'm a consultant.
• 15:23
  I am on sales calls. And s- as someone, sometimes, eventually someone goes, like, "All right, man, this sounds good, but, like, why?
• 15:30
  Like, I have to explain this to my CEO," or, "I have to explain this to the board," or whatever. Like, "Why are we doing this strategy?"
• 15:35
  And, like, the answer is like, you are spending more money and more time and throwing more headcount and posting more things that have nothing to do with your brand and have decreasing relevancy and decreasing efficacy.
• 15:45
  So now's the time to switch this. Like, and some people still are like, "Yeah, we'll take our chances, buddy." But the people who get it, like, really get it, and it's more enjoyable. It's, like, more fun.
• 15:53
  You're like a team. Y- you're saying something. Yeah. Like, and it, like, has more relation to your product. And, you know, we can talk about, like, how this works in practice, but, like, that is, that is more fun.
• 16:02
  And I think if you, your love of the game as a marketer was getting organic traffic or getting LinkedIn posts, like, cool. But, like, go back to first principles.
• 16:13
  Like, you were making something fun and saying something interesting, right? And, like, that's neat, and I'm glad we're back there. Yeah, yeah.
• 16:20
  You know, the other day, I was reading this article on Substack, which I realize Substack has some of the same problems that LinkedIn and Google, et cetera, have. But it was long. It was like 6,000 words long.
• 16:30
  And I read it. I read the whole thing, and I was like, wow, that was amazing. Like- Yeah... I learned something. I feel like that was worth the time to do. Like, I didn't hate the whole- Yeah...
• 16:39
  experience of it like I do scrolling through LinkedIn. And well, it made me think a few things. One, I was like, oh, maybe Substack is the answer. It's not really. There's no one answer, right? To your point. Yeah, yeah.
• 16:50
  Totally. But I was trying to, like, reverse engineer it. How did this find me? You know what I mean? Right. Because it's actually- Right... so rare that you end up on a blog anymore. Yeah. How do you find stuff?
• 16:59
  I don't know. I don't remember. Like, it just happened. I- like, I don't remember. Things come to us, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 17:03
  I mean, we try to keep the reading list channel on the Superpath Slack going because, like, it's... people seem to like it. They like reading stuff.
• 17:11
  That sounds silly, that it's hard to find stuff to read, but it actually is hard to find stuff to read these days. Anyways, I'm getting off track. W- what about Substack? I'm curious.
• 17:19
  Wait, so S- substack is interesting, right? 'Cause, like, on the surface, it's an email newsletter, right? Like, so on one hand, you're like, "I own that," right? "I can export that list anytime I want," right?
• 17:30
  But on the other hand, there's, like,
• 17:32
  aspects of that platform that encourage somewhat, not artificial growth, but, like, accelerated growth where, you know, you subscribe to one newsletter, and it's like, "Would you like these other two or three?" Right?
• 17:41
  As an example. And what's his? Casey from Platformer wrote this up one time where he left Blue Sky... Sorry, Blue Sky. He left Substack and went, built his own platform.
• 17:51
  He's like, "I lost subscribers, but I gained revenue, and I, churn went down. Like, the quality of my audience is now higher." So- Interesting... it kinda set up, to me,
• 18:01
  what I think is a pretty common occurrence where people use the platforms to achieve some sort of notoriety and attention, and then they have to eventually, like, reach escape velocity and, like, pull themselves off it, right?
• 18:12
  Like, there are TikTok famous comedians that end up, like, touring and then having a mailing list and a concert schedule, right? Like, and then they don't need TikTok as much anymore, right?
• 18:20
  And I feel like that's the goal if you're gonna use these platforms. It's, like, accelerate up and then not need them rather than focusing exclusively on them. And-Substack, you know, they just...
• 18:29
  Newcomer just reported this. They're, like, raising money. They're raising, I think, like, $25 million right now, and it's a big question.
• 18:35
  Is this, like, a Shopify scale business where, like, all ideas are going to be exchanged on Substack, or is it just, like, a glorified email newsletter?
• 18:42
  But either way, they are under immense pressure to grow in scale, and those goals may be incongruent with your goals as a publisher. And- Yeah...
• 18:50
  these are, like, the things we all have to consider when we hitch our wagon to these platforms. Yeah.
• 18:54
  You know, this makes me think of something else that Eric and I talked about recently, which was, like, over the last y- whatever, call it, call it 10 years roughly, many content marketers, myself included, one of the muscles they strengthened was optimization for the distribution channels.
• 19:08
  And I think an important lesson that I'm taking away from this is that's not the muscle. The muscle is how do you come up with good ideas? How do you tell a good story?
• 19:17
  And then, you know, the channel optimization sort of comes up on an as-needed basis. You know what I mean? And to your point, it's like you need to learn how to use LinkedIn so that you can get off of LinkedIn. Right.
• 19:28
  Because it's essentially done. Over time, LinkedIn will make it so difficult to reach people that it won't be worth it anyways. I think we're there. Honestly, I think that's where we are. Like- Yeah.
• 19:36
  I complain about LinkedIn on this podcast a lot. This is instructive, though. Why do you think that is? Why do you think it's LinkedIn versus any other platform right now?
• 19:43
  Because, like, so we're getting traffic, slow decline, and Twitter, like, totally dried up. 'Cause it's the last one, right? Yeah, yeah.
• 19:50
  It is the last lily pad everyone leapt to to be like, "Well, at least this is working," and now it's not, right? And I feel like everyone's like, "Ah."
• 19:57
  So they're just, like, honed in on, like, uh, LinkedIn and what's wrong with LinkedIn and here's how you operate, here are some hooks for LinkedIn and, like, here's what you need and, like- Yeah... good luck, right?
• 20:05
  'Cause that is just gonna shrink and shrink and shrink, and even if you win today, you're gonna lose tomorrow. And I, I just think it's a waste of time, and I, I advise that to my clients. I'm just like, "You don't..."
• 20:11
  Like, as individuals, use it, fine. But, like, as companies, like, to have a strategy, like, it's not worth it. [laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's... [laughs] Okay. What's the optimistic view on all this?
• 20:20
  I mean, one, as you mentioned, there's this pretty significant silver lining of actually there's a business case to create cool, weird, niche, experimental content again. Yeah. That hasn't existed in a while.
• 20:31
  What else, though? Like, and I guess one thing that I've been thinking about a lot in particular is the individuals who make up this industry. Like, is there going to be enough room for all of us? Yes.
• 20:40
  I just think it's going to look... Well, it's hard to say. Whenever there's a technological disruption, you know, the people who need to up-skill aren't necessarily the people who were in it, right?
• 20:50
  Like, I always think of, as an example, like, I grew up in a factory town, and then the factory left, and theoretically, those factory jobs became white-collar jobs, but not for those individuals, right?
• 20:59
  Like, they had to go do something else, right? Right. So I don't know how much one-to-one, like, transfer this is gonna have, but I think it depends, like, why people got into this business in the first place.
• 21:08
  Like, did you like writing? Did you like video? Do you just like marketing? Do you like w- interviewing people and research?
• 21:16
  And I think your answer to that question depends on whether there's, like, quote, unquote, like, "room for you," right?
• 21:21
  Because I think for the optimizers, the tinkerers, the people who are into, like, the kinda growth hacky stuff, I think that's getting harder, and I think there's less of them.
• 21:31
  And I think if you are a writer or a producer, like a content producer, the bar at which you need to meet to have something that is individual and worth distribution is now up.
• 21:42
  So you need to meet that bar, and some people don't have any interest in meeting that bar or are unable to meet that bar, right? And that's the thing that keeps me up at night.
• 21:48
  I'm like, is the amount of rigor that need, this stuff needs going to pass me by, right? Especially as, honestly, like, I get older. Like, eventually, I'm gonna be out of touch with all this stuff, and I...
• 21:57
  [laughs] Who knows when that day comes, but it comes for all of us, right? So, like, that's something, like, I think about, like, all the time.
• 22:02
  So I encourage everyone not to just try to retrofit the new model into their understanding of the old model, and instead dial all the way back to first principles, like, what are we trying to do here? Yeah.
• 22:13
  And in many cases, what we're trying to do here is build an audience of people who could one day potentially buy the thing we're selling, right? Yeah.
• 22:20
  And the means at which you accomplish that is, like, pretty open-ended and, like, pretty domain specific or audience specific or vertical specific.
• 22:27
  And I think when you start to, like, solve that puzzle, that's where I think it's really interesting, and, like, the things, the creativity can then expand. Yeah.
• 22:34
  You know, one thing I've been thinking about lately is that the lines between roles are blurring, and I think that's actually a really cool opportunity where you can be pretty generalist and offer quite a bit of value to a business.
• 22:46
  So, like, if it used to be that, you know, the designer, the designers design something, then the developers code it, then the product marketers tell people about it, and then, um, content people try to create awareness.
• 22:57
  Like, it's not going to be that there's, like, separate and very distinct groups of people with specialized skillsets doing each thing.
• 23:03
  Like, I could imagine a marketing interview where the interviewer asks the content, the person with a content background, like, "Tell me about some SaaS products you've built," [laughs] or some... You know? Like- Yeah...
• 23:13
  and it's like that, it may actually be required that you can bring at least some of that to the table because it won't just be that you stay in your content lane anymore. Yeah.
• 23:22
  The thing I look for when I'm, like, hiring on behalf of the clients or, like, hiring contractors or freelancers, honestly, is, like, domain expertise. Like- Mm...
• 23:30
  if I am hiring for whatever, like, a fintech writer, like, I just care, like, you really know fintech, right? Like, that's what I really care about.
• 23:37
  And, like, we can edit and we can coach on, like, execution and design and video all we want, but, like, the saying something I haven't heard before or saying something that is so interesting and useful to me is the currency, right?
• 23:50
  Like, it's not necessarily it's packaging as much, right? Like, you're willing to read a 6,000-word Substack if it's interesting.
• 23:58
  I've worked places where there's 12 email nurture campaigns that are all opened 80% because they're so compelling and on the target to the target audience, right?
• 24:07
  Like, we've watched 45-second videos and an hour and a half YouTube videos. Like, you... We will all consume anything in any format if it, like, is interesting to us or useful to us. And, like- Yeah...
• 24:17
  so I just start there, and, like, I worry about the m- form almost, like, s- last, right? It's like- Yeah...
• 24:23
  w- it's what you're gonna say and how smart is it first, and then you worry about distribution, then you worry about, like, channels. And that's just not the way I think a lot of-This has worked in the past, right?
• 24:34
  Like, I was a social media editor, or I was a video person, or I was a writer. And instead, it's an adherence to the idea. And I think that's where being a generalist kind of fails you.
• 24:44
  Like, you need to be like a tactical generalist, but like a strategic, you know, sp- specialist. I don't know. Um... Yeah. I mean, or what are you seeing? I mean, people are posting job listings on Twitter all the time.
• 24:54
  What's your read? What's the Jimmy Daly economic report? They're kind of the same. Really? Why do you think that is? I think that there's like a...
• 25:01
  This sounds so, like, jargony, but I think there's an, like, a company-wide AI adoption trend that hasn't hit full steam yet, you know?
• 25:10
  And I think a lot of companies are thinking about, like, "Well, what if we hired a content marketer, but they're, like, 25% more productive?" Mm-hmm. And I, I think that is not going to last that much longer.
• 25:20
  Like, I was actually reading an article about this the other day about just, like, AI adoption. And this company in, in the example they were citing was a marketplace.
• 25:28
  So they have developers, and then they have people working on various parts of the product that are experts in security and payments and compliance, and it's like, it was sort of explaining how, like, if the compliance person has a project that requires a developer to fix, it's, like, insanely inefficient.
• 25:43
  So, like, today, the developer does it, and they use AI to speed up the process a little bit.
• 25:47
  But the future version of it is that the compliance or payments person can b- essentially vibe code their own solution because they have the domain expertise. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
• 25:57
  And I think that there's gonna be a version of this, the sort of the next version of this, which I just don't really see that much in content yet, where it's all the AI is so native to the entire business
• 26:07
  that the roles are gonna be completely different. Yeah. Like, no one's gonna hire a content marketing manager because, like, the- we don't need this single lane to depend on because kind of everybody could do this.
• 26:19
  Yeah, and you're mentioning that in context of in-house, but also I think, as a rule, if things are just gonna atomize even more, right? If something was one site, it's gonna be seven sites. If it was...
• 26:29
  You know, like, everything's gonna shatter. Like, every audience and size is gonna just keep getting smaller and smaller and niched down. And I actually think if you... If I was in-house...
• 26:37
  Or not even in-house, but if I had, like, some sort of domain expertise, rather than work for a company that knows about compliance, I would just be an independent publication that wrote about compliance and attract the audience that those people wanted to reach, right?
• 26:51
  Like, we're going back to, like, the media days. Like, start- Right... why do you need a brand to sponsor your content, right? Do it yourself.
• 26:57
  And those brands are so thirsty for [laughs] attention and audience, they will gladly pay you, right? And it's, like, something I know you and I, you've talked about in the past.
• 27:05
  There's a version that's where all the content, all the blogs or whatever, the thought leadership is decoupled from the brands again, right? 'Cause- Yeah...
• 27:11
  they were independent outlets, and then they all globbed onto these companies 'cause that's where the money was, and I think they're gonna start, like, leaking out again. Yeah, yeah.
• 27:17
  I feel like Lenny Rachitsky is, like, the ex- That's a great example... extreme outli... I mean, I think he's an outlier with a million subscribers, but he did exactly what you're explaining. I disagree he's an outlier.
• 27:28
  Like, there... It's just an industry we pay attention to, but, like, I've stumbled across the weirdest, most successful newsletters.
• 27:36
  Like, when I'll, like, be on a call with a client, and they'll be in, like, the insurance space, and they'll be like, "Yeah, this influencer who does workman's comp benefits has a newsletter of 50,000 people.
• 27:44
  It's incredibly successful. Like, we need to be in that newsletter. We need to be in the..." I'm almost like, oh, like, he's the Lenny of this, and- Yeah... it's a mistake. It's a myopia that, like, marketing,
• 27:53
  like, marketers can have in general, which is, like, there are other niches and verticals that we have nothing to do with that have, like, somewhat solved this stuff or have long solved this stuff or are, like, you know, existing in parallel to this stuff, and it's worth exploring what those are.
• 28:09
  Yeah. Actually, I was on a call with a SAS company not that long ago, and we were talking about content, and I was asking about their, like, "How big is your TAM?" And they were like, "It's Lenny's audience.
• 28:19
  Like, every person we wanna reach is on his newsletter list already." Yeah. "Like, he just figured out how to get to them way better than us and every other company in this kind of product and space." Yeah.
• 28:30
  'Cause he has domain expertise, right? And he's also, like, talented, obviously, but, like, the domain expertise is the first criteria for making that happen. So going back to, like, owning your platform, right?
• 28:41
  Like, as a business it's helpful, but, like, as an individual, it's also trending that way too, right? Like, why do you need some company to give you the permission to publish online?
• 28:51
  Because if none of these platforms are working anyway, you can go toe-to-toe with the big guys, right?
• 28:55
  Like, you posting on LinkedIn is gonna get read just as much as, like, giant SAS company get posting on LinkedIn, right, if the topics are right. And I just think this is all, like, so exciting on an individual level.
• 29:06
  It's just different, right? And it requires, like, a different kind of hustle and a different kind of expertise. And I prefer this, even if it's, like, short term scary.
• 29:15
  I would rather exist in two, 2025 world than have 2021 forever. I agree with you there. It kind of actually feels a little bit like the NIL world. Yes. That's a great way of putting it.
• 29:25
  We s- explain what NIL, NIL is for anyone listening Yeah... who's mentioning it. Name, image, likeness, whereas it used to be that, like, in NCAA, like, say you're a softball player, and you're great at it. Yeah.
• 29:32
  Like, you play softball. That's what you do.
• 29:34
  And now, because the laws have changed and you can commercialize your name, image, and likeness if you're very good at softball and you're good at using the platforms where you can reach people, you can be a millionaire.
• 29:45
  [laughs] It's like you can make- Mm-hmm... a lot of money. Yeah.
• 29:47
  And these brands are dying to use you to reach the people that they wanna reach across big sports like football and basketball but across niche sports as well.
• 29:56
  It's a great analogy, and it's another example of, like, get out of marketing world and look around, and it's an also example of, like, the atomization of everything.
• 30:02
  Like, these student athletes don't need the colleges as much as they used to anymore, right? The NCAA may not exist in, like, 10 years. Right.
• 30:12
  So there's ways in which that is incredibly disruptive and actually, like, kind of corrosive to the sport.
• 30:17
  On the other hand, it's incredibly empowering and more in the direction of the people getting paid who should be paid, right? Like- Yeah... and it's gonna take, like, a decade to shake out, but it will, right?
• 30:27
  Whether you end up with, like, everyone's in the SEC or whatever, but, like, it's going to shake out. And it's the same thing is going to happen now, like, to the internet. So, like, and this is what I mean.
• 30:36
  If you are spending your time, like, optimizing your LinkedIn hooks, like-There's just such a huge opportunity out there if you wanna, like, be aggressive and, like, and explore.
• 30:44
  And that's why I'm encouraged and excited. Like, I don't think it's the time to be down. Yeah, no, I agree. I sort of see...
• 30:53
  It's, like, so easy to focus on, like, the existential fear of some of this, but the other side of the coin is basically a gold rush. Yeah.
• 31:00
  You know, like, there's just massive opportunity popping up all over the place, and it's just a matter of... I mean, you gotta identify it. You have to execute it, but it is there.
• 31:09
  Also, yeah, everything I say could be not true in a few months, and that's fine. It's almost like a resetting, right? Like, people build up a bunch of experience, and a lot of that experience no longer matters.
• 31:16
  And that is, in some ways, terrifying if you've built up a lot of experience, but in, in other ways it's empowering 'cause it's like, oh, if I was in the middle of the pack, I can jump to the top of the pack now.
• 31:25
  Like, right now, right? If I do this right. And that goes on a personal level, like from a career, but it also goes to, like, companies.
• 31:30
  Like, smaller companies can take on the incumbents in a way, in a more aggressive way because these massive audiences and budgets that they've amassed, like, matter less and less now. Mm. Yeah. That's cool.
• 31:41
  All right, cool. I actually feel like that's, like, a pretty optimistic place [laughs] to put a bow on this because I feel like it- Yeah, yeah. No, I know. I, I feel more optimistic now than when we started.
• 31:49
  And you know, and usually this is the part of the podcast where I'm like, should we send people to your personal website or your LinkedIn or like... I, I know you use LinkedIn at least some.
• 31:57
  Like, where are the best places to point folks to connect with you?
• 32:00
  Kcheckstudios.com, there's a newsletter field, and I am taking my own advice, and every other week I post some kind of observation similar to what an analysis that we've discussed.
• 32:09
  So for example, two weeks ago, I published a much more expanded version of my LinkedIn take, which is, you know, they adjust the algorithms. They make it harder to get off the platform.
• 32:18
  Savvy people leave, so they adjust the algorithm, so it's even harder to get off the platform, and s- savvier people leave.
• 32:23
  So what you're left with is an audience of a bunch of people, like, hacking it together, and it's, like, not enjoyable for anyone.
• 32:28
  And most platforms have gone through some version of this death cycle, and they're in different phases of this death cycle. And once you see it, you can't unsee it.
• 32:36
  And so I break down, like, why that happens, how that happens, what you should do about it.
• 32:39
  So the newsletter every other week is hopefully, like, a reflection of what I am seeing through client work that hopefully helps you as a reader navigate this. Amazing. We will link to that in the show notes.
• 32:48
  Sean, thanks for doing this. Appreciate it. TLDR is always own your platform. Always own your platform. Thanks, man. Have a good one. [laid-back music]