Polymarket wants writers to get into prediction markets.
Substack is helping them do that.
Good morning everyone. Free letter today.
I have four tabs open in my browser looking at the work of Sam Whitney, who worked on the imagery for this fantastic Wired story about the gay men who run Silicon Valley that had me do a triple-take when I opened up X this morning.
Today’s letter includes: Qatari money is coming for independent film studios, Polymarket wants you (and your wife) to bet on cultural moments, sold out co-working spaces, and a documentary about one of New York Magazine’s best writers.
Charles Porch, Instagram’s VP of Global Partnerships, is leaving Meta after 15 years to join OpenAI as their VP of Global Creative Partnerships. Don’t know much about Mr. Porch but he has great taste in wedding cakes. He spent the last 15 years negotiating deals between Instagram and people like Beyoncé and the Pope… we can assume we’ll see more stars working with OpenAI in 2026. In October, The Information reported that over 600 former Meta employees now work at OpenAI. I wonder where they’ll be recruiting from for this $300k+ social media creative director job.
The Roxy is hosting a drag Oscar viewing party. There will be a martini bar inside of the theater. It sold out since I first discovered the event last night, but perhaps it will inspire more of you to host your own.
New amulets just dropped in The Met’s gift shop. New York-based jewelry designer Pamela Love launched a jewelry collection with The Met this month
BODE is opening a store in Tokyo, the New York-based brand’s first store in Asia. I’m not familiar with Brutus, the publication that published the story about the new store, but I really dig their web design.
From the Feed Me Tip Line: Someone texted, “People who say that dating in New York is hard need to get off the apps and instead walk through the gaggle of hotties smoking cigarettes outside the E 22nd Lutheran church (next to Lucia).” I asked them to set the scene: “It’s about 6:30p on any given weeknight. The sidewalk on the north side of 22nd street between Lex and 3rd is obstructed with a host of hot men. Curly hair, appropriately cropped jackets, some tasteful piercings, tats. Cold brew in the right hand, cigarette in the left. They’re talking, laughing, trying to take a step in the right direction. No performance here baby, just brotherhood.”
Chris Best, the CEO of Substack, is “hyped” about the platform’s new partnership with Polymarket. It includes updates to Polymarket’s embedding feature, which has been available since 2024. Polymarket is also part of Substack’s sponsorships pilot, so you’ll see ads from them in more newsletters this year. Substack’s announcement letter demoed the feature via shit you should care about and a Polymarket wager about Harry Styles, which tells you this isn’t just about new revenue streams for Substack; it’s about Polymarket positioning itself alongside cultural conversations. I’m guessing we’ll see more female-focused marketing from Polymarket in 2026. I get concerned when people speak about Substack as if it’s a sorority or a community — it is a venture-backed tech company. Here’s how some writers have responded to this news:
Alex Konrad@alexrkonradI’m curious about the economics of this deal. It’s being framed as a service that Substack writers should be glad to get for free. But if it’s like other exclusive partnerships (Kalshi and CNBC etc.), Polymarket is probably paying Substack... and not the writers themselves.
Polymarket @PolymarketPolymarket 🤝 Substack We are excited to announce our exclusive partnership with Substack. Starting today Substack authors can natively integrate data from the world's largest prediction market. Journalism is better when it’s backed by live markets.2:06 AM · Feb 19, 2026 · 8.6K Views2 Replies · 2 Reposts · 24 Likes
hunter harris@hunteryharris“Journalism is better when it’s backed by live markets.” ????Polymarket @PolymarketPolymarket 🤝 Substack We are excited to announce our exclusive partnership with Substack. Starting today Substack authors can natively integrate data from the world's largest prediction market. Journalism is better when it’s backed by live markets.1:12 PM · Feb 19, 2026 · 40.5K Views8 Replies · 49 Reposts · 956 Likes
sarah hagi@KindaHagieveryone who keeps presenting substack like it’s a real alternative to traditional media needs to wake TF upPolymarket @PolymarketPolymarket 🤝 Substack We are excited to announce our exclusive partnership with Substack. Starting today Substack authors can natively integrate data from the world's largest prediction market. Journalism is better when it’s backed by live markets.4:49 AM · Feb 19, 2026 · 11.4K Views60 Reposts · 470 LikesSagaponack General Store is hiring college kids as baristas and cashiers this summer. Email info@sagaponackgeneralstore.com to apply.
Production company Department M is in talks to acquire a significant stake in Neon. When I read the news last night, I texted my movie group chat which includes our very own Teddy Kim. This morning, he sent me this:
“Neon has had the For Sale sign up since at least 2022, when billionaire Steven Rales passed on buying. Warner Bros was reportedly taking a look recently and ended up poaching three key execs instead, including star CMO Christian Parkes. While the distributor is almost guaranteed an Oscar win next month for Best International Feature, the story of the last few years has been more prestige than profit. Neon’s streak at Cannes is at six Palmes d’Or and running, but the box office returns of these niche movies don’t make enough to pay for all the expensive marketing and awards campaigns.
It’s interesting that the funding behind Department M is coming from Qatari sources, given Neon signed a deal with the Qatar Film Committee last fall to co-develop and produce 6-10 films over the next 4 years. It seems like any deal here could take over billionaire Dan Friedkin’s majority stake in the company and presumably inject some much needed new capital as well. If Neon can’t figure out how to make its P&L work in the long term, let’s at least hope that Qatari money subsidizes more international arthouse films, and not the somehow very expensive and completely forgettable“content” that Department M’s Mike Larocca was making with the Russo brothers at AGBO.”
California’s first Sant Ambroeus is supposed to open later this year. It looks massive.
Who here works out of The Malin? The coworking space business launched in 2021 with a first location in SoHo, eventually expanding to Austin, Savannah, and Brooklyn Heights. I’ve only been in their spaces once, and within minutes I spotted the founder of a PR company I’d worked with, the founder of a water filter startup I’d gotten ads for, and someone whose newsletter I had read before. This week, the company told me that its original SoHo outpost quietly added a new floor of “Enterprise Suites,” private offices accommodating up to 24 desks, priced as high as $60k/month. They sold out immediately. I also learned that The Malin is preparing to open event spaces in their D.C. and Chelsea locations. With the explosion of brand events from businesses of all shapes and sizes (book clubs, newsletter launches, panels panels panels), it appears that The Malin is figuring out how to meet the demands of their members. I just wish some of their spaces felt a bit less… fake-nice lobby. In a 2025 Inc. story, writer Jennifer Conrad pointed out that WeWork raised about $12B in venture funding before crashing, while The Malin has raised a total of $6.5mm to date, and were on track to do $20mm in revenue last year.
We’re getting a Jerry Saltz documentary! Yesterday, New York Magazine’s art critic of almost 20 years posted that he’d wrapped up shooting a doc. Based on the photos, it appears to be about him and his wife Roberta Smith (who was co-chief art critic at The New York Times, where she worked for over 32 years).
Etsy shares are surging after eBay announced they’d be acquiring Depop from them for around $1.2B. eBay shares are also up. Smart move on them to court younger customers.
Those men all have cold brew and cigs because they’re at an AA meeting. Not sure what the big book would say about picking up dates there lol
"I’m guessing we’ll see more female-focused marketing from Polymarket in 2026." I'm really curious how this will look, and frankly it stresses me out!