Exactly. And although Substack has done a good job of building their brand, on the technical side they have pretty much zero "moat". The service they provide is

Exactly. And although Substack has done a good job of building their brand, on the technical side they have pretty much zero "moat". The service they provide is incredibly simple. It never made sense as a VC-funded massive growth business. It would have been better off as a self-sustained private company, almost along the lines of Craiglist. Patreon finds itself in a similar boat.