Never quit your side hustle for a staff job
Nick and Kate discuss the origin and evolution of their media newsletter Embedded, from its accidental launch on Substack during the pandemic to nearly being absorbed into The Atlantic. They reflect on early mistakes, the value of reader monetization, and why declining The Atlantic's offer was ultimately the right decision.
Summary
Nick and Kate recount how Embedded began when they were both laid off from Influence.co, a failed startup where Nick was hired to build a media arm and subsequently hired Kate as a full-time writer. After the company failed to raise Series A funding, they decided to continue their momentum on Substack as a pandemic side project, with an agreement to only continue if it remained fun and to reassess after three months when their severance ran out. They attempted to get Substack to pay them to join the platform early on but were rejected by Jasmine Sun, leading them to feel they were late to capitalize on the newsletter boom. Nick later leveraged Embedded's success into a position at The Atlantic as their first-ever newsletter editor, overseeing a subscriber-only program with nine writers. Kate joined him there as newsletter engagement editor. The Atlantic offered to bring Embedded in as a property of the publication, which initially seemed appealing to Kate as it would provide legitimacy. However, Kate was juggling multiple job offers at the time, and the hosts now reflect that accepting The Atlantic's offer would have been a mistake, though they haven't publicly discussed this before. Nick emphasizes that their key learning was the importance of implementing paid subscriptions earlier, noting that readers will pay for quality content they value and want to support, similar to the OnlyFans model but with a less sexual dynamic.
About this episode
Plus: Inside the Substack office, AI sponsorships, and a question about Readme...
Key Insights
- Nick believes their biggest strategic mistake with Embedded was not implementing paid subscriptions from the beginning, as they now see evidence that readers will consistently pay for content they value.
- Nick leveraged his Embedded newsletter success into a staff position at The Atlantic as their first newsletter editor, but that experimental program was not sustained long-term by the publication.
- Kate initially found The Atlantic's offer to absorb Embedded as a property appealing because it would grant the newsletter perceived legitimacy, but both hosts now view accepting that offer would have been detrimental to their project.
- The hosts initially felt they were late to the Substack wave and were denied direct financial incentives from the platform, yet they retrospectively describe themselves as OG newsletter creators—a gap between their real-time perception and eventual market positioning.
- Nick and Kate structured their original commitment to Embedded with a built-in exit clause: they would only continue if it remained fun and would reassess after three months when their severance ended.
Topics
Transcript
Welcome to media_gossip, Embedded’s special weekly edition of … media gossip, sent every Friday. You’re getting this because you subscribe to Embedded, but you can opt out here . Nick’s Riff This Week No, you’re not washed : “Millennials have been telling ourselves for years that ambition and adventure are behind us, that we are the athleisure, Starbucks, and Target generation, and it’s comfort or nothing from here on out.” Plus: The rising star of dad rock I finally got a chance to see the New York Substack office for Sophia Bush ’s fireside chat with Hunter Harris . Sophia said she asked for Hunter specifically when Substack was first organizing the event, which I was charmed by. I think,…
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