The Generalist - The Generalist: Year Two

Friends,

It’s been quite a year at The Generalist.

There have been difficult moments, of course. The broader sentiment around tech, venture capital, and crypto has sometimes cast a slightly blue pallor over the year. But when I think of the past twelve months as a whole, I feel proud of our progress and incredibly excited about the future.

Since our last annual update, we have made big strides forward on product, business model, and operations. We have continued to grow this audience and increased engagement from an already high level.

There is much more to come. The past twelve months have increased our conviction in what we’re building and our desire to create something larger than ourselves. On that subject, we have some big news: we’re hiring our first writer. If you want to join us on our mission to build the most thoughtful tech publication in the world, learn more here.

To dig into the highs and lows of this past year – and get an inside look at a creator company maturing into something greater – jump in.

P.S. We’re going to be ending our year with The Generalist’s first-ever mailbag. Curious what my writing process looks like? Interested in my favorite book, app, or film of 2022? Eager to delve into the dark recesses of my mind? Desperate for photos of me during my long-haired culinary school days?

Share your questions, broad and niche, virtuous and deranged, in this Google Form.

I’ll share answers to my favorites next week.

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The Generalist: Year Two

If you only take one thing away from this briefing, let it be this: we are hiring our first-ever writer at The Generalist. Come join us on our mission to build the most thoughtful tech publication in the world.

Actionable insights

If you only have a few minutes to spare, here's what investors, operators, and founders should know about The Generalist’s second year of operation.

• Pushing on product. The Generalist made significant strides forward across its various products. Our writing has become sharper, the website is cleaner, and we have a well-produced audio format. We’re continuing to invest in raising our bar.
• Slower growth, higher engagement. We didn’t grow as quickly as last year, but still managed to add a decent number of new readers. Encouragingly, as we grew, our engagement actually improved. This was a strength of The Generalist’s historically but is now a real differentiator.
• A business model unlock. Last year, we made most of our revenue from subscriptions. While we continued investing in this business line, the introduction of sponsorships has been extremely impactful. It now makes up the majority of our revenue.
• Running a company with your spouse. I brought aboard a game-changing COO this year. She also happens to be my wife. Working together was not a decision we took lightly, but has proved to be a great one.
• Looking ahead. The Generalist is in a better position than ever. We have the capacity to support a team and invest in our future growth. To that end, I’m extremely excited to share that we’re hiring a full-time writer to join us.

***

The other night, I watched an episode of Only Connect, the diabolically tricky British trivia show. One of the contestants professed they had thrown themselves a party when they turned 10,000 days old. Of course, it made me wonder how many days old I am (12,081) and, a few days later, how old this publication is: 846.

It feels like a tiny number. And yet, about a month ago, being a writer for The Generalist became the job I have served in the longest. (I was an intermittently good, often frustrated, always restless employee.)

As we reach the end of 2022, it is a good chance to look back on these last 846 days, particularly those that have made up this year. It has been a year of evolution and formalization, noticeable improvement and running-in-place, great disappointment and illumination. Though there have been hard times – perhaps more this year than last – I couldn’t be more excited about where The Generalist is as a publication and a business.

As long-time readers will know, The Generalist has a history of building in public. We shared our first “launch” deck on Twitter, posted quarterly reports in our early days, and recapped our first year of operation. Today’s piece is in keeping with that theme: a report and analysis of the past twelve months, both the good and bad.

Why share all of this? I hope that it gives readers a view into how we work and what it takes to run this business, and that aspiring writers might find its tactical elements useful. Additionally, concerted reflection is helpful for my improvement and the progress of The Generalist. More than ever, we are in the early days of building something meaningful and impactful. I hope to have many more days to give to this company and more words to write.

In a meme

​​​​​​​​​​​​​For the pictorially inclined, here's the whole piece — all 7,400 words of it — in a single meme.

Puzzler

​​​All guesses are welcome and clues are given to anyone that would like one. Just respond to this email for a hint.

It’s Riddlin’ Season. The last few editions have featured a slew of successful sleuths and this time was no different. Lauren B snuck, skulked, and surmised her way to the much-coveted first-place spot, followed by friends Joshua K, Madonna, Lindsay G, Steven R, Patelbha, Femi B, Robert M, Joe E, Bruce G, Jack W, Krishna N, Yaakov C, Gary J, Sean M, Jai G, Jack S, Chani B, James M, Sunil A, John G, Sylma, Josh S, Sunil S, Toby O, Jeremy D, Prakash H, Drew M, Stephen C, Don M, Will R, James Y, L L, Scott M, Kelly O, Nnamdi E, Daniel K, and Andrew S. All found the apposite response to this question:

The answer? A fence. There you have it!

Wishing you all a lovely rest of your day and a very happy holiday season.
​
Until next time,

Mario