After watching this WSJ interview with Beehiiv Founder and CEO Tyler Dink, I had to capture my thoughts. So if you wanna know them…scroll on.

And there’s a lot to the interview beyond what I address, so I encourage you to watch.

Simple advice. And not a new concept. But it’s become increasingly difficult to ignore.

For much of the last two decades, digital publishing followed a familiar pattern: create great content, earn traffic from platforms, and build a business around the audience they sent you.

Then the rules started changing.

Facebook reshaped the News Feed. X deprioritized outbound links. Search evolved. And now AI can answer questions that once sent readers directly to publishers.

None of these shifts are inherently bad. They're simply reminders of an important truth:

If someone else controls distribution, they also control your growth.

That's why, throughout my career and looking ahead at what is coming next, I've been less interested in chasing volume (like pageviews) and more interested in building quality relationships. That has been hard to reconcile with how much of media has been traditionally monetized. But those grounds are unstable too, so you might as well acknowledge everything is shifting so you can figure out how to adapt more nimbly, something many organizations struggle with. We don’t like change, but we don’t control the speed of change either.

In my last role, my work wasn't simply about increasing traffic. It was about creating products and experiences that encouraged people to come back, personalize their experience, subscribe to newsletters, download our apps, enable push notifications, and ultimately choose to have an ongoing relationship with the journalism. This is why I enjoyed adding events to my toolkit as well as being able to focus on niche audiences.

Those choices matter. An email address isn't just another KPI. It's an artifact of trust.

A registered user isn't simply a metric. It's someone who has invited you into their daily routine.

That's why I believe email remains one of the most valuable channels any organization can invest in. For my friends starting their own projects, no matter what direction they are going in, I tell them, let’s start to capture email addresses. Unlike social platforms or search algorithms, an email list is an audience you've earned. It's a direct connection with people who have chosen to hear from you.

The same principle applies whether you're a newsroom, a nonprofit, a university, a startup, or an independent creator.

AI is transforming how people discover information. That's exciting, and it opens up incredible opportunities. But it also makes one thing even more valuable: authentic relationships.

The organizations that thrive won't necessarily be the ones producing the MOST content. They'll be the ones that earn trust, create value consistently, and build direct connections with the people they serve.

One idea Tyler shared in this interview with WSJ particularly resonated with me. He described beehiiv not as a destination, but as infrastructure. The goal isn't to own the relationship between creators and their audiences. It's to give creators the tools to own that relationship themselves.

That distinction matters. It's the difference between renting an audience and building one.

As I think about what's next in my own career, I keep coming back to that idea and the mindset I’ve always had about the work I do.

Technology will continue to evolve.

Platforms will continue to change.

AI will reshape how content is discovered.

But organizations that invest in first-party relationships, earn trust, and truly know their REAL audience will always be better positioned than those relying on someone else's algorithm, research or opinion.

The future belongs to those who own the relationship.