The Substack Podcast

The psychotherapy room is, by design, one of the most private spaces in human life, but Esther Perel has devoted much of her career to opening the door. Addressing relationships, cross-cultural psychology, and the contours of belonging, she brought therapeutic ideas out into the world through a body of work that spans talks, books, and her hit podcast Where Should We Begin?, which has reached millions of listeners across nearly a decade. In her Substack publication Entre Nous with Esther Perel, she says she’s found a gathering place for it all: “I always talk about how I wanted to bring the therapeutic ideas into the public square,” she told us. “Now I want to create a public square.”
On the day of the 20th anniversary re-release of her book Mating in Captivity, a cultural touchstone on the topic of desire, we’re sharing a conversation between Esther and Hanne Winarsky, Substack’s head of new media, recorded at Temple Bar in SoHo, New York. In this second episode of Open Tab, Esther discusses how she hires and has built her businesses, how work has replaced religion as a source of meaning, whether AI can give good therapy, and how she’s made it her life’s work to re-create the proverbial village online.
New episodes of Open Tab drop weekly through June. You can watch on YouTube, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and always find the full series on Substack.



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For our inaugural episode of Open Tab, we knew we wanted to speak with Emily Sundberg. Emily’s the founder and daily writer of Feed Me, a business, tech, and culture newsletter that’s been described as “must-read (and much-read).” She publishes almost every weekday— something like 250 sends a year—covering everything from DTC darlings and media industry churn to New York hospitality and new world etiquette. In the process, she has been profiled by the New York Times and Air Mail, becoming known as a “media it girl” and “one of the most talked-about writers in business and culture journalism.”
Emily has worked in media and tech but built her current audience of over 10,000 subscribers natively on Substack, post by post. She told us she sees Feed Me as a studio, with extensions like a podcast, job board, and thriving subscriber comments section where she’s “never scared that anything bad is happening.”
Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie sat down with Emily at Old Town Bar in Manhattan’s Flatiron district to talk about building her independent media business from scratch and the glimmers of hope she sees for media on Substack and beyond.
Location: Old Town Bar, Flatiron, NYC. Order: 1 Guinness each


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Most of what we hear from media insiders is a story of decline: collapsing economics, algorithmic chaos, layoffs, and LLMs nipping at journalists’ heels. But a new class of independent media founders is creating powerful businesses around their own work and direct relationships with readers, listeners, and viewers—highly-profitable, multi-format, and built without first raising millions of dollars or a complex infrastructure stack. They’re finding ways to make creative livelihoods that don’t depend on the goodwill of a platform or a print masthead.
Open Tab is a new interview series hosted by Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie and Head of New Media Hanne Winarsky, who sit down with a different independent media founder each week to ask them how they did it. Every episode of the show is filmed at a neighborhood bar, restaurant, or café where the guest likes to spend their time. And in each conversation, Hamish or Hanne joins with, “I’ll have what you’re having.” Episode one comes out tomorrow, May 7.
The guests are writers, editors, and creators who have built thriving media businesses and communities from the ground up. Among them: a techno-optimist with a thousand-year view, and a relationship therapist with a warning about AI’s impacts tomorrow. A journalist who wrote the definitive book on Elon Musk—before, he says, Elon tried to buy up every copy. A tabloid insider who spent years protecting a secret source and then became a whistleblower himself. Internet natives and legacy media icons who have reported on power and celebrity from up close. Some built their audience entirely from scratch; others arrived with a career’s body of work and found a home for it here.
We kept returning to the unvarnished reality of building something on your own: the appetite for risk, the rewards of independence, and what it means to do this in a time when a single person with a point of view can rival—and often exceed—the reach of the most storied media institutions.
New episodes of the show will drop weekly through June. You can watch on YouTube, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and find the full series here on Substack.
The most ambitious media founders in the world are building on Substack.


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Starting today, writers and creators can publish video posts directly from the Substack app, making it easier than ever to share videos, connect with subscribers, and earn money—all from the palm of your hand.
Since launching the Substack app, we've prioritized making it a seamless tool for creators. First we introduced mobile text publishing, allowing writers to share their work from anywhere. Now, we're making it possible for video creators to publish directly in the app, opening up new ways to connect with subscribers.
Previously, creators could share video posts only on desktop, limiting their ability to publish on the go. This update marks the first time they can upload, publish, and monetize video directly from their phones. Each video post reaches subscribers instantly through email, app notifications, or both, ensuring a direct connection with their audience.
Here's how it works:
* Tap the + icon to create a new post
* Select Video and choose a file from your gallery (supports files up to 20GB)
* Add a title and description
* Choose whether to notify subscribers and paywall the post
* Click Publish
The power of video on Substack comes from the subscription model. Not only does every post reach subscribers directly, but creators can easily share their work across the Substack network, expanding their reach and finding new potential subscribers. With millions of weekly active users and 1 million posts discovered daily, the Substack app has become the leading driver of subscriber and revenue growth for publishers building sustainable, independent businesses.
Political analyst Aaron Parnas had early access to the feature and has seen its impact firsthand. “The ability to publish directly from my phone has transformed how I share breaking news and analysis with my subscribers,” says Parnas. “I can now reach my audience instantly, wherever I am.” Aaron recently won Substack’s TikTok Liberation Prize, awarded for showcasing the power of the Substack model and inspiring video creators make the leap. He’s leaned heavily into video and has built a thriving community of loyal subscribers that supports his work directly.
This is just the first iteration of in-app video publishing. We're already exploring features that will make video on Substack even more powerful, including trimming and editing tools, free preview options, enhanced analytics, and improved playback controls.
Learn more: How to publish a post from the Substack app
We're committed to making it easier for creators to share their work in whatever format they choose. While there's still work to be done, this update marks an important step toward that goal. Try publishing a video post in the app today, and let us know what you think in the comments.



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Ahead of a big weekend for football, Substack’s Austin Tedesco went live with Peter Moses to discuss Browns Film Breakdown, a multimedia publication that covers the Cleveland Browns in depth. Here are a few highlights from their conversation, including insights on providing value across multiple mediums, determining the right publishing cadence, and finding your niche.
On the decision to start a Substack
Peter Moses: We’re breaking down films of the Browns so you can understand the why and the how of what they’re doing, and relate to them better as a fan and understand what’s happening on the field. [It’s a way to] feel better connected to the team and the community. We’re trying to kind of be antithetical to the hot takes on socials or call-in radio, things like that.
So we looked at a bunch of different places and options and then found our way to Substack. We really found everything we needed in one place, so we could launch this thing within a matter of weeks before the season went live.
[There were] plenty of things that we learned this year, things that went well and did not go as well. But doing it on Substack gave us an opportunity to launch something that we think has legs for, hopefully, seasons and years to come.
On finding the right cadence
Peter: In an early conversation that we had, you were like, “Don’t overload the amount of content you’re putting out.” Jake [Burns]’s experience, coming from a digital print site, was pumping out four or five articles a day. And so for us, what we learned over the season and how we’re moving forward with our content, is one newsletter every morning. And “newsletter” and “article” for us are now becoming synonymous.
We have something coming out every morning that also has a link to the podcast. And then video will come out on the site as we see fit. But I think we really tried to come out of the gate [with a lot of content]. And some of the feedback we got from people who jumped in and out of subscribing was, “There’s too much content here for me. I don’t feel like I’m able to fully maximize my subscription, because I can’t keep up.” So, not that less is more, but just kind of understanding what the cadence should be, where it doesn’t feel like you are being overwhelmed, and also making it accessible for people who want to plug in in different ways.
Austin Tedesco: You don’t want the notifications or emails to start to feel like homework to people, right? Like, you get meaty, you get in-depth—that’s so much of the value prop of what you do. You’re like, “You’re going to understand what’s happening in some sort of defensive or offensive set in a way you never would, by listening to Jake or watching Jake or reading Jake” or any of your other contributors. But if you miss two, and then the third one comes and you’re like, “Oh man, I still don’t have time for this,” then people get less excited than if it’s digestible or less voluminous.
On providing value across mediums
Peter: Browns Film Breakdown, the podcast, is our best marketing tool at this point. It’s been around for almost eight years and it comes out every day, or almost every day, year-round. We’re exploring pulling sections of some of those podcasts to Substack only. So if someone loves the podcast, doesn’t want a newsletter, doesn’t want to see the film, but wants to support Jake in the podcast, they feel as connected as someone who wants to watch every offensive snap from their Week 4 game against the Cincinnati Bengals and have Jake break that down over video.
So that’s the biggest thing we’re trying to learn. How can we make everyone feel like their level of involvement is worth that subscription, even when those involvement levels vary?
On starting a niche publication
Austin: If someone is interested in starting this kind of thing themselves—and I think especially in the kind of thing we’re talking about, where it’s like, “I think I could be an expert in a niche and build community around it”—what’s one piece of advice you have for them?
Peter: That’s a great question. I think it’s very basic, but I would say, you know, be the content that you’re interested in consuming yourself on a daily basis.
And so for us, first and foremost, we love this team, we’re obsessed with it, and we want to provide community for people who are like us, who want to relate to this team in a way that feels different from what’s out there.
And I also think, something that I’ll say specifically in sports, is just because someone is doing something that you’re interested in doesn’t mean that there’s not space for you to pursue it as well.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com