Max Read is a Brooklyn-based journalist, media critic, and newsletter writer who runs Read Max, a Substack publication covering tech culture, internet phenomena, AI, and digital media with acerbic wit and analytical depth. Former Editor-in-Chief of Gawker and founder of New York Magazine's Select All vertical, Read is one of the sharpest observers of how platforms reshape human behavior - a thinker who treats the internet with the seriousness of a literary critic and the irreverence of someone who has watched it eat itself alive.
Noah Smith is an independent economist-turned-writer best known for Noahpinion, one of Substack's largest economics newsletters with over 414,000 subscribers. A former Bloomberg Opinion columnist and ex-finance professor at Stony Brook University, he writes about technology, macroeconomics, geopolitics, and domestic policy with a techno-optimist, center-left lens. He also co-hosts the 'Econ 102' podcast with Erik Torenberg and is working on an English-language macroeconomics book.
Sumaira Mirza is the Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy Pakistan, one of the country's most decorated advertising creative leaders with over two decades of experience across WPP and Publicis Groupe networks. Known for campaigns that blend cultural sensitivity with bold social impact — including 'Message in a Mithai Box,' which provided legal support to abused women — she has served on juries at Effie Global Best of the Best, Spikes Asia, AdStars, and Dragons of Asia. In 2024, she became only the second Pakistani ever selected for the Effies Global Best of the Best jury. She is also an adjunct faculty member, a regular contributor to Aurora Magazine, and a participant in Ogilvy's elite APAC 30 for 30 Leadership Program.
Zvi Mowshowitz is a writer, AI safety analyst, and former professional Magic: The Gathering player. He is best known for his Substack newsletter 'Don't Worry About the Vase,' which publishes detailed weekly AI updates and rationalist commentary to over 33,000 subscribers. Inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Fame in 2007, Zvi is also the founder of nonprofit policy think tank Balsa Research and co-founded MetaMed, a personalized medical research firm backed by Peter Thiel. He is a prominent voice in the rationalist and AI safety communities, known for his p(doom) estimates of 60-70% and his systematic, data-driven approach to understanding AI risk.
Anne-Laure Le Cunff, PhD is a French-Algerian neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and author based in London. After leaving a marketing career at Google, she founded Ness Labs - a bootstrapped newsletter and community focused on science-backed mindful productivity - while simultaneously earning her MSc and PhD in Applied Neuroscience at King's College London. Her 2025 book 'Tiny Experiments' (Penguin Random House) proposes replacing linear goal-setting with a circular, experimental approach to growth. As a UKRI-funded postdoctoral research fellow at King's College London, she studies the evolutionary neuroscience of curiosity and has proposed the 'Hypercuriosity Theory of ADHD'. Ness Labs has grown to 120,000+ newsletter subscribers and a paid community of 2,000+ members.
Freddie deBoer is an American author, cultural critic, and PhD-wielding contrarian who has spent 17 years making everyone on the internet uncomfortable - including people who agree with him. A self-described Marxist who despises most of the left, his Substack newsletter 'cool but rude' has over 67,000 subscribers hungry for unvarnished takes on education, identity politics, media dysfunction, and mental illness. Author of three books - The Cult of Smart (2020), How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement (2023), and debut novel The Mind Reels (2025) - deBoer writes with the conviction of someone who has nothing left to prove and everything left to say.
Nic Carter is a General Partner at Castle Island Ventures, a crypto-focused VC firm investing in blockchain infrastructure and the restoration of property rights on the internet. A former Fidelity analyst turned prolific writer, co-founder of Coin Metrics, and host of the 'On The Brink' podcast, Carter is one of the most influential voices in Bitcoin - known for his rigorous defense of Bitcoin's energy consumption, his early advocacy for proof of reserves, and breaking the 'Operation Choke Point 2.0' story that triggered multiple Congressional investigations. Outside of finance, he's an amateur MMA fighter who competed in Karate Combat under the nickname 'Tungsten Daddy.'
Nicolas Cole is a digital writer, serial entrepreneur, and one of the most-read writers on the internet - accumulating over 100 million views across platforms. He co-founded Ship 30 for 30, the largest cohort-based writing program online, alongside Dickie Bush. A former #1 most-read writer on Quora out of 200 million users, Cole built a ghostwriting agency (Digital Press) scaling to $2M+ annual revenue, co-created Category Pirates newsletter with Eddie Yoon and Christopher Lochhead, and launched the Premium Ghostwriting Academy - a 7-figure program in under 90 days. Author of 'The Art & Business of Online Writing,' he runs a portfolio of writing businesses generating over $5M annually, training thousands of writers worldwide.
Nikhil Krishnan is the founder and 'Thinkboi' behind Out-of-Pocket, a healthcare newsletter and education platform that makes the bewildering business of American healthcare funny, accessible, and actually worth reading. A Brooklyn-based writer, creator, and early-stage investor, Krishnan grew up in a family of physicians and parlayed a career in healthcare research at CB Insights and clinical trial partnerships at TrialSpark into one of the most original media brands in health tech - one that includes a newsletter with 30,000+ subscribers, educational crash courses, a medical bankruptcy card game, a children's book about clinical trials, hackathons, and a scout fund backing early-stage healthcare startups.