AI NEWS PAGE DOSSIER
Apple and Microsoft strategy → Stratechery → Aggregation Theory: the business-model map for the AI era.
Thompson turned product and strategy work at Apple, Microsoft, and Automattic into an independent publication, then built a subscription business around explaining technology companies rather than simply reporting them. Aggregation Theory became his signature framework, and the same business-model lens now runs straight through the AI boom.
2010
While in business school, Thompson interned at Apple University. He later wrote that the experience heavily influenced his thinking about Apple's strategy, helping turn a longtime interest in technology into the analytical lens that became Stratechery.
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Mar 25, 2013
Thompson launched Stratechery in March 2013 as an independent site focused on the strategy and business of technology.
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Apr 16, 2014
Thompson launched the paid Daily Update membership model in April 2014. Stratechery's current biography says the publication has been his full-time job since that year.
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Jul 21, 2015
Thompson published Aggregation Theory, arguing that internet economics shift power toward services that own the consumer relationship while commoditizing suppliers and distribution.
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May 12, 2020
Thompson and John Gruber launched Dithering, a paid short-form technology podcast that extended the Stratechery subscription model into audio.
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Sep 20, 2022
Thompson launched Sharp Tech and expanded the subscription into Stratechery Plus. In his 2022 year review, he called the emergence of AI the biggest technology story since mobile and cloud.
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