Ben Thompson's Stratechery is what's good.

Ben Thompson was arguably the first person to realize the immense leverage of the email inbox — long before everyone had an email newsletter, there was Stratechery.

Everyone on the internet has an email address. That's why, in 2016, Ben started a paid email newsletter.

I know, it sounds kinda crazy if you haven't been part of the whole thing. Hell, paying for emails is almost as weird as paying for digital art that anyone can download.

Realizing that there was no need for a "middle-man" publisher (the role a traditional newspaper or magazine would fill), Ben started emailing his columns directly to subscribers. He publishes a Weekly Update for free, and charges $12 a month or $120 per year for access to three Daily Updates per week, landing at $1 per month for each daily update. A few months ago he started doing audio versions too, in a member's only podcast form that's like getting an article as an audiobook.

It's safe to say that Ben's business model worked — paid newsletters have become so popular that entire companies like Substack, Revue, and Ghost are dedicating to turning the paid newsletter model into a product.

It's Ben's unique insight, though, that is the reason you subscribe to Stratechery. He has this way of cutting through the noise of the latest news in the tech and media industries by looking at things from such a high-level that his writing borders on the philosophical. It's great.

Read or listen to Stratechery.

Even if you don't want to shell out for the Daily Updates, Ben's Weekly Articles are always worth paying attention to.