You're not the customer anymore

Hello again my friend,

Last week I talked about the all-important priorities. How it’s not just about how hard you work, and what you choose to work on matters more. But this week’s events brought up a big question. What happens when big companies, technology or not, go dark. Like Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars, they’re tempted by the dark side, until they eventually join it.

This week, Substack made one of the most user-hostile moves I’ve seen in tech. It’s a warning shot for anyone who earns a living online.

This isn’t even just about writing platforms or payment fees. It’s about what happens when a small group of people, under pressure to deliver returns, start prioritizing investors over users.

In tech, we call these decisions dark patterns, designs or policies that actively work against the customer’s best interest to a degree beyond simply increasing business income. Genuinely ad for customers.

But what happens when those patterns aren’t just UI tricks, but full-blown business models?

Today, we talk about how Substack joined the dark side and why this matters far beyond publishing.

Let’s get into it.

The “Creator Economy” is a market for people who create and publish content. The original premise for this industry is to empower regular people to make a living as creators, without having to go through large institutions.

No more gatekeepers. No more middlemen. No more needing to “get in the club” to earn a living from your work. For someone like me, in a Canadian suburb, this was a dream we couldn’t achieve before the creator economy.

The promise was clear: Let creators own the relationship. Write what you want. Build your audience. Get paid directly. Substack would take a 10% cut and stay out of the way.

Why? Because those institutions control all the power. And for talented people who come from nothing, or lacked connections were helpless and disenfranchised. It was an incredible promise that empowered millions to earn a living on their terms.

That promise didn’t last.

Substack just rolled out a new payment option: Apple In-App Purchases.

On the surface, this sounds convenient. Millions of people pay with Apple, and tapping “Subscribe” through your phone is fast and easy.

And to be fair, it’s extremely convenient. So in that way, it’s somewhat beneficial.

But here’s the whole story:

This isn’t a small inconvenience. It’s an entire business being rerouted through corporate toll booths, siphoning away money and ownership from the person who actually built the audience.

All of this was done without user consent. Why?

Because Substack is under pressure. Their last valuation was $1.1B. They’re clearly not growing enough to return on that investment. When you raise money at that level, and can’t grow, you get desperate.

They’re not the only ones doing it either.

This isn’t just bad product thinking. It’s bigger.

When startups (specifically their leadership) raise large amounts of venture capital, they trade freedom for fuel. The expectation is growth. Fast, exponential, relentless growth. And when that growth slows, something has to give.

That something is usually the customer experience.

Substack started with a clean value prop: “We only win if you win.” They’ve flipped the model. They win even when you lose, because someone else (Apple) is taking the hit, and your readers are picking up the tab.

Substack’s team likely didn’t set out to screw writers either. They probably had good intentions when they started the business. But pressure distorts the most important thing, priorities. The company’s decisions are no longer for the writers who made the platform popular, they’re for the investors who expect a return.

And it’s not just Substack.

The creator economy has many players, and Substack isn’t the only one succumbing to the pressure.

It’s a tax on independence and it’s growing across the entire industry.

For the record, beehiiv takes 0%, we just charge a flat monthly fee.

The real issue here is not just about “evil” companies per se. It’s about the individuals who make the decisions, feel the pressure, and choose wrong. Now, I don’t know the people making these decisions at all. I’ve never met them.

But I also know that extreme pressure can make otherwise good people make mistakes in the moment. Like when these decisions were made.

The blame falls on the few people at the top. Malicious or not, it’s something that can crush thousands of livelihoods.

The bigger issue is that it’s not just tech. What happens when people who make decisions that impact your life, community, and society choose wrong (even if they’re otherwise ‘good’ people)?

You may not be a writer. But this dynamic plays out in every industry.

When small groups of decision-makers prioritize investors over customers, something will eventually give. Sometimes subtly. Sometimes irreversibly.

What happens when:

That’s what makes dark patterns so insidious. They’re not just shady UX, they’re symptoms of misaligned priorities at scale.

We like to imagine that “good people” at the top will make “good decisions.”

Do you believe the top brass at these companies will choose right by you, the nameless, faceless customer they will never know, nor ever see?

Something to think about.

There’s no fancy regulation that will fix this overnight. But we still have some power.

We choose who we support. We choose where we build. We choose where our money goes.

The next time you’re picking a platform, tool, or service, or even voting, consider the people at the top making the decisions, and if they, long-term, will have your back.

Thanks for reading.

PS: I’m biased because I work at beehiiv (we compete), but I’m also a builder, and what I’m saying is still true.