Product Manager, Substack
$160-215k
Platform for writers & podcasters
Open for applications
Platform for writers & podcasters
501-1000 employees
Open for applications
$160-215k
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To give thinkers, writers, and creatives the opportunity to pursue their curiosity and make money at the same time.
Role
Who you are
- A deep understanding of Substack’s product, use base, and market position
- An ability to roll up your sleeves and do what needs to be done with limited resources and support
- Comfortable operating at every level of abstraction (from high level product/business strategy to “what should the CTA say” level details)
- Strong analytical skills, competence in SQL (at least enough to guide an LLM to do your bidding!), and experience with BI tools like Periscope — growth frameworks like cohort analysis and growth accounting should be second nature
- Strong communication skills — must be able to write a compelling strategy doc, internal or external blog post, and present to the company regularly
- Ability to collaborate well with company leadership and other teams
- We value aptitude, drive, and execution ability more than having many years of direct product management experience (but having real product experience at a similarly high-growth company is definitely useful). Here are some attributes of successful PMs at Substack:
What the job involves
- The PM team at Substack is small, scrappy, and covers a lot of ground
- You’d be joining as only the third PM, responsible for a large product surface area and on the hook for ambitious goals
- PMs at Substack don’t have a wide array of other specialists to lean on
- We get into the details with designers and engineers, talk directly with users, and handle much of the go-to-market motion themselves
- We often write our own copy, run our own analyses, and conduct our own research. If this sounds more exciting than daunting, that’s a good sign
- Form a deep understanding of the current state of play in your domain and identify the biggest opportunities for development and growth
- Build a compelling roadmap at the short term, medium term, and long term horizons
- Help design and spec projects across the spectrum from experiment, to feature, to large-scale initiative
- Work closely with the leadership team to ensure that your team’s product strategy and the overall company strategy are in lock-step at all times
- Fully own the product marketing and go-to-market strategy for everything your team ships
- Partner with your EM counterpart to inspire and lead a full-stack team of engineers, designers, and product analysts — creating clarity and accountability for them at every level
Our take
Substack provides an online platform for journalists and writers to manage subscription-based newsletters. Substack has attracted a range of writers and publishers who wish to connect with their audiences while being removed from social media and other ad-based models.
For an industry that has seen a steady decline in its fortunes since the rise of digital, Substack offers journalism an alternative to the advertising-driven clickbait-focused model that has dominated the last decade. Substack has amassed more than 35 million subscribers.
The subscription newsletter space is a competitive market, but Substack claims to provide greater freedom to writers than its competitors. Writers produce their newsletters on the site for free, charging an optional subscription fee (minimum of $5/month) of which Substack takes 10%. The company continues to seek out ways to diversify its offerings.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Few candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
62% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
Nov 2024
$10m
ANGEL
Apr 2023
$7.8m
LATE VC
Total funding: $100.3m
Company benefits
- Remote work support - All employees receive a generous allowance to customize their home offices
- Comprehensive health care - Substack covers 100% of premiums for employees and their dependents, and fully funds HRA plans
- Parental leave - We want employees to be fully present for the new members of their family, so we offer generous parental leave
- Flexible vacation and paid time off - You’re the best person to decide when you need a day—or a week—off to travel or decompress. Our flexible vacation policy puts you in control
- Company holidays and Winter shutdown - In addition to flexible time off, we honor 12 paid holidays annually on average. And we close the office between Christmas Eve and New Year's day to recharge each year
- Phone & internet stipends - Many of our employees work from home or on the go. So we offer full time employees a monthly stipend to cover for phone and internet costs
Company values
- What you read matters - So we hire people who care deeply about reading and writing
- Subscriptions are better than ads - The business model matters – subscriptions put readers and writers in charge, and they create an incentive system that fosters great work
- We work in service of writers - Our teams build both for and with writers, providing Substack writers with the best terms, services, tools, and programs on offer
- We believe in the free press and in free speech - We do not believe these things can be decoupled. You can read more about our views on content moderation on our blog
Company HQ
The East Cut, San Francisco, CA
Articles
Leadership
Chris Best
(CEO)After several software internships, they co-founded Kik Interactive in 2009, serving as CTO until 2017. At this stage, they founded Substack, and have served as CEO ever since.
Hamish McKenzie
(Chief Writing Officer)Previously a journalist for several publications include The Independent and Time Out. Lead Writer for Tesla and Editorial Advisor to Kik Interactive.
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