A newsletter on the business models of new media.
Media is just art with a business model.
Hi! I’m Shaiyan. As an early employee at Shopify and Substack, I’ve been lucky to spend the last ~decade working directly with thousands of internet businesses on the frontiers of media. Nowadays I run Pay Attention, a wet lab for new media companies. Media, like art, feels like an Archimedes lever into humanity’s collective unconscious. We should use that power responsibly. How is media evolving? What sorts of businesses might come of that evolution? How can Pay Attention help make those businesses a reality?
If you operate a media company or work in content in any capacity, I’m confident this newsletter will help you do your best work. I won’t always have answers, but I promise to explore interesting questions.
For $12/month or $120/year, you can expect a post a week from one of a few different series:
I. GAME TAPE: Transcribed conversations on the evolving shapes of media. I bring in a guest to riff on a specific stunt, show, or other new media property. These are often more abstract conversations about why media might be evolving in the way that it is.
II. DEEP DIVES Longform analysis on the most interesting new media businesses. There are generational media businesses hiding in plain sight, such as the Acquired podcast or Dude Perfect, and I’m surprised that more people aren’t trying to replicate their success. These are concrete, tactical posts on what’s working in media today.
III. STRATEGY If the deep dives are an outline of what’s working today, then think of these strategy posts as theories on what might work tomorrow. Once in a while, I’ll try some dumb stuff on the internet1 to test/prove whether my theories actually work. You’ll be the first to hear how these experiments go.
(I love my trickster fox stealing fire from the gods)
If there’s something you think I should cover, or would like to work together on your media business, you can reach me at shaiyankhan@gmail.com
