That feeling when you gotta focus

Why I'm taking a Substack sabbatical

Apr 12, 2023

Greetings loyal readers.

Have I ever told you how much I appreciate the fact that amid a limitless sea of content you chose to click SUBSCRIBE on my little newsletter? It means everything to me.

It’s been a few weeks since I posted.

As you probably know, I am creating Channel 3 Gaming, which will be THE social network for gamers. We had a big release on April 1 (which was also my 40th bday if you can believe it 😮👴). So I took a break from writing Substacks to write code (and a pretty extensive stakeholder update email I sent out after the release).

I have good and bad news.

Good news is: Channel 3 is going really great! I absolutely adore the work, the people, the community, the process… all of it.

Bad news: it is CRUNCH TIME. Startup life is incredibly difficult. This stage of the company’s life is really essential. So I gotta focus on Channel 3.

I will be taking a sabattical from telling The Dad story. I will NOT be posting every Monday for the foreseeable future. (I may pop in time to time as the urge strikes.)

In the meantime, please reach out if there’s ever anything I can do for ya.

2023 is going to be an amazing year.

See you around.

-Joel

If you’re interested, here is that stakeholder update email I sent about Channel 3…

Season 4 Update

Hey there, it’s Joel. It’s been a while since I’ve chatted to… well, most people because… STARTUP LIFE . I hope you’re doing well.

If you're reading this, I value your opinion and want to keep you informed about Channel 3.

The heart of Channel 3 beats in a quarterly rhythm, based on 3 month seasons. Season 4 just dropped on 4/1. This is the first ever season update email.

I’d love if you’d keep Channel 3 in the back of your mind as you hear of interesting things in the gaming/esports space.

Check out channel3.gg or create an account at channel3.gg/join.

Let's-a-go.

-Joel

Founder, Channel 3 Gaming

Reminder: Channel 3 will be THE social network for gamers.

CONTENT: gaming posts, memes, news, clips. (Gaming content engagement rates are much higher on Channel 3 than “traditional” social platforms.) “Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/TikTok for gamers.”

REVIEWS: game ratings, reviews, backlog, lists. “Goodreads/Letterboxd for gamers.”

EVENTS: experiential… IRL/virtual events, leagues, tournaments, duels, challenges, daily minigames (a la Wordle but about gaming).

All community-driven and gaming-optimized.

GAMIFY EVERYTHING.

The first 9 months, by the numbers

1,296 registered users (40% growth in last 3 months)

71,337 posts
188,996 1UPs (post likes)

13,000+ DAILY post impressions

3,331 games in library, growing DAILY
21,130 game ratings and reviews
8,316 games on lists

198 events hosted
3,990 unique event attendance
596 quests available
12,460 quests completions
22,970 daily minigame plays

450 prize wheel spins
11,858,776 XP
Countless GGs

Current status

Personally, I am LOVING all of this. I have never worked harder in my life. But I feel so creatively fulfilled and happy. Thrilled with the journey.

Channel 3 is now 9 months old. It is going better than I ever hoped but perhaps progressing slightly slower than I expected.

The platform features are coming together nicely. User engagement is OFF THE CHARTS. The active users are enthusiastic and totally get it. In Minimum Viable Product (MVP) terms: Channel 3 checks all the boxes.

Although mighty, the user base is relatively small (1.3k). I anticipated doing a user growth push earlier but I’ve opted to hold off and build the platform further first. Gotta build a strong foundation before scaling.

In terms of funding: this whole thing is bootstrapped (no funding other than my own). I’ve considered options, but as it stands, that’s how it will be for the short term. Other than capital expenditures, Channel 3 pays for itself, through Turbo, a subscription-based revenue model. Currently, ~10% of registered users subscribe at $5 per month.

When we’re ready, investment will be pure growth fuel … primarily staffing, tech, and paid marketing. We’ll get there.

We just wrapped up season 3 and it feels like momentum is building.

For example, The Dad Gaming hosts weekly Rocket League tournaments using Challonge, Facebook, Discord, and various spreadsheets. They’ve done this for 180+ weeks IN A ROW. On 2/7, we began running these tournaments completely in Channel 3. HISTORIC. This was the combination of many features: user registration, check ins, teams formed on the fly based on skill, 4 qualifying swiss rounds, and a finals bracket. We’ve used Channel 3 every week since. Thrilled with how it’s gone.

Season 4 was released on Friday 3/31. The reaction has been amazing. There have already been 3,000 messages sent using the new chat feature.

The goal in Season 4 will be to combine Tournament Organization features with Club features to onboard more gaming clubs and communities. They’ll use Channel 3 as a social platform for posting content and updates, but also for real-time chat, events, leagues, and challenges. If you know of gaming clubs that would like to give it a shot, let me know. We can make it do exactly what they want.

Community onboarding will be key for growth and will build the foundation of users, culture, community, and positivity. Once a foundation of inclusive and highly engaged users and Clubs are in place, it will be time to SCALE SCALE SCALE.

This year is going to be exciting.

People

I will NEVER forget the early users who believed in this vision from day 1. I honestly get emotional thinking about it. It means so much to me.

This goes 3x for the following folks who pour their time and creative energy into making Channel 3 the best dang place on the internet. Just like me, these people work hard on this because they love the platform and love the community.

Heads of Content and Events, hosts of Party Night, hosts and creators of the Channel 3 podcast, and general Channel 3 Gods: Dan Tucker, Hector Reyes
Tech: jdaviesiii, joob
Head of Rocket League: Jsu
Event hosts and tournament organizers: MadHarryRackham, Brian McGuinness, Dani Ahrens, Bucket, Hoosier, Bvr, CknBromein, Rosey, GongShowDad, LionoftheWest, GrumpyTrashPlayer, Ohmyfavourite, PapaB, Thunderpump, Gargada, Trashdoc, BlockMamba
Librarians: Hector Reyes, Dan Tucker, buddhastank, dadalorian83, dos andres, Brian McGuinness, Darth Smeagol, jedijohann, ohtwotwo