Ben Putano 📚
@BenjaminPutano
Technology and business book publisher | Founder of @Damngrav Book Company | Writing tech's morning newsletter ➡️ https://damngrav.substack.com/
Here's an interesting trend I've noticed among non-fiction authors: The Direct Pre-Order. Instead of doing pre-orders through Amazon, B&N, and other major marketplaces, you sell your books directly through your own (or your publisher's) online store. Why do this? There are…
When I was a kid, I thought the Guinness Book of World Records was the pinnacle of human achievement. Kinda miss those days.
It's wild how hard media businesses are. They look awesome from the outside, but making money is tough
My digital media startup hit 30 MILLION monthly readers. We thought we'd won. But it became a masterclass in how vanity metrics can destroy you. The survival code for 2025's content wars:
We have a new fastest growing startup in history ❤️ damngrav.substack.com/p/daily-grind-…

Today's daily grind: Reading in the age of AI damngrav.substack.com/p/daily-grind-…

What is the future of reading -- and for books -- in the age of AI? It's something I grapple with daily. Last night I read a New Yorker article that helped me to imagine both hopeful and tragic scenarios for our world. First, the hopeful: Maybe AI will play a positive role in…

Calvin French-Owen called OpenAI “perhaps the most frighteningly ambitious org I've ever seen.” French-Owen recently left OpenAI after roughly a year, where he mainly worked on Codex, the startup’s new AI code editor. Yesterday, he shared a long list of reflections on the…

Big news for Windsurf employees: The startup has been acquired by Cognition, the AI software engineer startup recently valued at $4 billion. What a roller coaster for the Windsurf team: - Friday morning: The OpenAI acquisition of Windsurf was called off due to disagreement…

Looking for a Chicago photographer and videographer for @MikeShannonMJS's launch party next week!

Sometimes publishing a daily newsletter is not moving fast enough x.com/cognition_labs…
Cognition has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf. The acquisition includes Windsurf’s IP, product, trademark and brand, and strong business. Above all, it includes Windsurf’s world-class people, whom we’re privileged to welcome to our team. We are also honoring…
Big news this weekend: Windsurf (formerly Codeium) gutted by Google acqui-hire. The implications span far beyond the AI talent war… it threatens the very fabric of the startup-employee pact. damngrav.substack.com/p/daily-grind-…

We take employee equity in startups for granted, but it was THE key innovation that jumpstarted the VC-driven technology industry. It was Arthur Rock himself who designed it. If the Windsurf deal with Google is as bad as it seems -- where founders/key investors make bank and…

Sam was feeling himself when he hired Jony Ive. All it did was piss off the big boys
OpenAI @sama is pretty fucked right about now > lost half of their top talent over the past two weeks > basically all of their leadership over the past two years > sama told microsoft can’t get access to windsurf’s IP > microsoft paused negotiations with @sama > openai…
RSVP #100 just checked in! @MikeShannonMJS's book launch party is gonna be a PARTY. Looking for sponsors who want to get in front of Chicago's best and brightest entrepreneurs. @DrayDrayW we ready for this??
Chicago Tech Week is right around the corner! Tim Huelskamp, CEO of 1440 Media, is joining @MikeShannonMJS and me to talk about building in Chicago and Mike's new book, Sweaty Equity. Space is limited now, so RSVP to save your spot
I love riding @michaelmiraflor's viral coattails
Yeah but they should work as ticketing agents!
Excited to finish my first FULL week of writing The Daily Grind! I had a hypothesis that writing a daily newsletter would actually be easier than a weekly newsletter… at least for me. I am much more consistent when I build something into my daily routine. So far, so good. If…

I feel so dumb... why can't I just click the @readwise Chrome Extension and save an article? Why does it take me to my Readwise home page? I must be missing something
I don't know why but I hate scrolling through substack. Feels like Twitter that's trying way to hard not to be. idk I can't exactly put my finger on the feeling. I miss when it was all long form