How does a fiction writer build one of the most influential tech publications on the planet – by publishing 15,000-word essays for an audience that everyone says has no time to read?
Mario Gabriele, founder of The Generalist (163K+ subscribers, $22/month), broke every conventional rule of media and won. In this episode, Joe and Shane sit down with Mario to steal the secrets behind his unlikely media empire – from his origin story as a VC associate writing fiction before work every morning, to his counterintuitive bet on depth over speed, to why he thinks it’s extremely good to quit things.
Guest links:
The Generalist: https://www.generalist.com/
Mario on X: https://twitter.com/mariogabriele
Mario on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariogabriele/
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00:00) How long should a newsletter be?
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03:47) Mario Gabriele joins the show
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13:36) The origin story: “the right amount of delusional”
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20:04) The under-competed part of the attention stack
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28:07) Joe’s $70K bet on The Generalist
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38:30) Illogical bets on depth: what’s actually worked
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43:31) Can AI replace long-form writers?
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49:22) “It’s extremely good to quit things”