315: Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium, On Human Curation, Subscription-Driven Quality, and Fixing the Internet

Tony Stubblebine is the CEO of Medium, the widely popular publishing platform that recently surpassed 1 million subscribers. A serial entrepreneur, Tony is also the founder of habit coaching companies Coach.me and Lyft Worldwide and is the publisher of Better Humans on Medium. He is a passionate advocate for writers and a frequent speaker on the intersection of human creativity and technology, emphasizing why bots won’t replace human ingenuity. Tony holds a BA in Computer Science from Grinnell College, where he proudly supports the Pioneers.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• How Medium's recommendation system was overhauled under Tony's leadership to prioritize human curation over algorithmic popularity, creating a platform that values thoughtful content.
• The transformative decision to adopt a subscription-based model, allowing Medium to focus on delivering content readers are happy to pay for, rather than relying on ad-driven engagement.
• The balance between human curation and algorithms in delivering a "sane, thoughtful, and informed" reading experience that supports both freedom and quality.
• Medium's mission to deepen readers' understanding by emphasizing human wisdom over pure knowledge, highlighting the importance of life experience in creating impactful content.
• Why Medium minimizes the presence of AI-generated content, focusing instead on curating thoughtful and valuable human contributions for its readers.
• Tony's perspective on fixing the "broken Internet" by proving that business models focused on delivering value, rather than grabbing attention, can be successful and sustainable.

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