Substack Unconference #001: 581 days to Montreal

First data and what we are actually building

I hit send on the first essay last week. Cross-posted it to our Sacred Business Flow list of roughly 26,000 people. Watched the numbers roll in. 9,328 opened it. And then... 9 clicks.

Nine.

I stared at that for a while. The essay was getting some solid reads. But almost nobody walked through the door I thought they would be excited to enter.

Here’s what I realized when I slowed down to give it some thought: I wrote something that landed as content, not as an invitation. The piece sold the idea that building business online as a solopreneur can be a lonely game but I don’t know if the invitation or call to action was strong, or compelling enough.

The 69 of you who found your way here anyway? Most of you came through substack notes, thanks to a handful of wonderful people here who were kind enough to restack that initial post. The platform and the generosity of others did the real work.

So. Lesson one, week one: write a clear invitation, not just “the why” behind it.

Let me try again.

WHAT WE’RE ACTUALLY BUILDING

September 2027. Montreal. Five hundred creators - writers, podcasters, coaches, artists, educators, anyone building something meaningful online - all descending on the city for four days.

Every morning, we gather in a historic theater to hear stories and be inspired by people who’ve built incredible things here on Substack. The real stories: the fears, challenges, the moments they almost quit. The parts that typically don’t make it public.

Every afternoon, the city becomes the venue. Attendee-led meetups scattered across Mile End and the Plateau — someone like Rachel Connor hosts a writing circle at St-Viateur Bagels, someone else runs a hike up Mount Royal, there’s a podcast swap in a café, a watercolor sketch session by someone like Maria Gehrke in a park, a “failed projects” confessional on a bench somewhere. You don’t sit in breakout rooms assigned by track. You find your people between sessions.

No corporate sponsors. No booths. No lanyard culture. No name tags that tell you someone’s title so you know whether they’re worth talking to.

Just the people making a living from what they publish, together in one place, making magic together.

That’s what we’re building. Everything else - the venue research, the budget spreadsheets, the subscription tiers is just us sharing our journey towards making it real.

And Carolina and I will be building it in front of you, one week at a time.

THE PROGRESS REPORT

The Number This Week

69 subscribers. 3 Founding Builders. $750 in pre-production revenue. 4.9% of free subscribers became builders, which is pretty close to what our model predicted, but we need to find ways to grow the volume faster if if we are going to make this happen

Venue: First Response

Carolina Wilke reached out to four Montreal venues. We heard back from the Rialto Theatre in Mile End - the neighborhood that makes the whole “distributed afternoon” model work. Main hall: 829 conference capacity. $10,000-$12,500 CAD per day depending on the day of week. Adjacent rooms available for breakout sessions. We’re going to keep that conversation moving forward as we also wait to hear from the other potential venues.

🗣️ What I’m Hearing

To name a few, Landon Poburan DMed me saying he’d been thinking about something similar just the day before. Zach Homol and Adam Quiney - two coaches I deeply respect both reached out saying they want to be part of this somehow. And I’m going live Monday with Philip Hofmacher from Write Build Scale to talk about what we’re building. People are paying attention.

✍️ What We Worked On

Built the entire structure for how these weekly emails will work for the next 19 months. We are starting with a two-track communication model: this free update for everyone, and a deeper Builder Brief for the paid tier.

People’s attention is stretched, so I feel we need to get really good at having every email doing triple duty. We need to build community, create shareability, and move this thing forward.

So we have the starting point for that playbook. Now we’ll just follow it for a few weeks and see if we need to make any adjustments.

Here’s something I’m wrestling with, and I’d love your take.

A structural question:

Should this be a flat gathering where there’s no separation between speakers and attendees, where the only way to be “on stage” is to show up and host a meetup like everyone else? Or should we have a few paid keynotes who bring a certain draw to the room - someone whose name alone would make you clear your calendar?

The way we are currently thinking about it, the afternoons will already designed to be flat where you host, you attend, and you wander. But the morning theater sessions could go either way. Big names who draw a crowd, or community voices who live what we’re actually about. One thing I’m pretty sure we want to be clear about is that this event is for those who are actively creating on Substack, or at a minimum are Substack curious.

A deeper question:

I’ll be honest about something else. A lot of the people in my world that are part of the Sacred Business Flow community Carolina and I have been building for years are introverts. People who struggle with visibility. People for whom the idea of a conference might sound more exhausting than exciting.

A question I’ve been asking myself: am I building this for them, or am I building something they’ll have to talk themselves into attending?

Here’s what I believe, but I don’t know if I’m right: a gathering designed the way I’m describing where the afternoons are small, self-organized, and human-scaled might actually be the kind of visibility that introverts are willing handle if this is going to truly support their journey as a creator. Not “networking.” Not working a room. Just hosting a walk, or a writing session, or a conversation about something you care about. Showing up as yourself. Being seen by fifteen people who came because they wanted to be there.

I think there is a way this could bethe conference for people who hate conferences.

Or maybe I’m kidding myself.

What do you think? Drop into the comments or hit reply.

In This Week’s Builder Brief:

The actual email from the Rialto Theatre with pricing. The full first-week numbers broken down. And the strategic questions I’m not ready to publish here including whether we should add a lower-priced paid tier to this publication and an idea about streaming the main stage through Substack Lives.

→ Become a Founding Builder

The 3-Person Challenge

This week, I’d like to directly aask every subscriber to personally invite 3 people who should know about this. Not blast your list, but to do it personally. DM them. Text them. Something tot the effect of “Hey, you should see this.”

Think of the writer, podcaster, or coach in your orbit who’s been doing this work alone and needs to know something like this exists. Especially if they’re an introvert. Especially if conferences usually feel like too much. Send them this issue and ask what they think.

We’re at 69 subscribers. If 20 of you do this, we double by next week. That’s not insignificant, and I never doubt the power of small actions taking my many who share a common desire or goal.

The people who find this in Issue #001 are the ones who’ll shape this thing.

Carolina and I don’t have all the answers. That’s probably obvious by now.

What I have is a vision that won’t leave me alone, a spreadsheet that says this is possible, and a small number of people who’ve already said “I’m in.” This week that group got just a little bigger. The Rialto responded. A few more voices said yes. Dr Sam Illingworth posted a Note.

JHong showed support.

We also got our first two recommendations!

We’re 581 days out. Nothing is locked. Everything is still a question. And that’s perfect for this moment because the people who show up in this phase are the ones who’ll actually hold this together.

If that’s you, reply and tell me: what would make this worth the trip to Montreal? And if you’re an introvert who usually avoids this stuff, I especially want to hear from you.

Phil

P.S. Josh Woll was technically our first Founding Builder, though I’m still not entirely sure how he signed up before we even sent the first email. Mac Dohm came in this week after I sent him a voice note - just me rambling about the vision for close to ten minutes. And Cheri Seagraves showed up too. Three Founders in the room. Their names are on the About page now. Yours could be next.

P.P.S - If anyone has the ability to personally connect me with Rick Rubin, I’d love to try to get him involved. And Chris Guillebeau - he’s created magic like this before and I’d love to glean a bit of wisdom from his path.

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Gratitude

Gratitude to these other supporters who have been helping to get the message out: Daria Cupareanu, Francis Nduati, Csabi Berger, Matt From Mindset Matt, Mia Kiraki 🎭, Mugais Jahangir, Mack Collier, Jennifer Houle, Karen Spinner, Shannon Bindler, Edward Zaydelman, Filip Sardi 🌊, Ali Walton, and many, many more ❤️