I'm taking the paywall off this newsletter.
Every post is free now, including the entire archive.
That screenshot shows about $11,000 in annualized revenue. I’m choosing to give that up and I’m also paying over $1,200 to refund the unused portion of paid subscriptions.
Giving up recurring revenue and paying money to do it probably needs a little explanation.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows over here…you should have seen my girlfriend’s face when I told her the numbers.
I want more people to experience what I’ve been building. To try something I share, recognize something in their own work, and turn it into something useful for others.
A lot of this decision came after going through a “Big Why” exercise. (Thank you to Bari and Blue Baumgardner for pushing me to do it. If you don’t know them, you should, they rock.)
In the exercise, one part of what I wrote stayed with me…
“I want to help people see the value in what they already have and bring it into the world.”
There’s often something in someone’s expertise, thinking, or work that they’ve sensed but haven’t known how to express. I love digging into that and making it tangible enough that they can look at it and say, “Yes. That’s what I’ve been trying to show people.”
I want them to see that it was there all along, believe in it, and feel proud to share it.
That’s the magic for me.
And I want more people to experience it.
Right now, there’s a paywall that limits who gets to try what I share here and who they can pass it along to. Taking it down gives the work more room to reach people.
I’m also bringing the Cognitive Fingerprint community into AI Strategy Exchange. One community means I can give it more attention instead of splitting my time between two.
Nothing about the newsletter itself or the care I put into it is changing.
You’ll still get the ideas, experiments, and things I’m building. Bringing this work together gives me more freedom to do more of it, without balancing multiple separate priorities.
I’ll also share offers here when they’re relevant to the work. Making the newsletter free lets me be more comfortable doing that while keeping everything I write available to everyone.
To all my paid subscribers, thank you.
Your support has meant a lot to me and helped me keep writing, experimenting, and building what I’ve been sharing here.
Refunds for the unused portion of your subscriptions are being processed. They may take a few days to appear in your account. I’ll send you a separate email explaining the community changes and your option to join AI Strategy Exchange at your existing monthly rate.
As more things start to look and sound the same, I want to help people express what’s uniquely theirs and turn it into something useful for others.
Making this work available to more of you feels worth the bet.
-Max