A Year In... And the Next Chapter for The Market House
That was a quick year. From a surprise email to 300+ conversations — thank you for pulling up a chair.
Hi there,
Just over a year ago we sent out an email to a tiny list of people with the subject line:
Almost immediately we got replies, including:
We’ll remember this reply, and others like it, for a long, long time.
Because to be honest, we didn’t know what the hell we were doing operationally — we learned a ton of stuff on the fly (and are still learning). So it was reassuring to learn that people were excited about our plans.
What we did know is that we wanted to have great conversations about markets, with great people, for a great audience.
24 hours after that email, we hosted our first live session on YouTube, with the wonderful
. We didn’t have a name, but we did have an echo as we hadn’t figured out the sound yet(!)We also had no funding or safety net — just a conviction that if we curated conversations about markets worth having, people would pull up a chair.
And you did.
The early comments let us know we were on the right track…
Over the past year, we’ve shared more than 300 conversations with an incredible roster of guests we are eternally grateful for.
And now it’s time for the next step. Today, we’re launching The Market House membership (or, to put it in a more straightforward way, we’re putting up a paywall).
Why Membership?
We’re building The Market House for investors, thinkers, and market-watchers who want clarity and good conversation on tap. Think of it as your local bar: cozy, smart, welcoming, good company (and a hidden gem…!)
Membership means we can keep building The Market House, and keep raising the bar for the conversations we bring you.
And — real talk — for the last year, we (three of us) have been doing this entirely for free, while juggling freelance work to pay the bills.
Support will give us a mandate to commit more of our time to making The Market House a truly valuable, long-lasting place for you, and for our guests, to hang out in.
What Market House Members Will Get
Phase 1 in the rollout will include some new shows that are only available to Market House members:
For the Record: Focused, narrow sessions on specific topics and questions. The first episode with Michael Kao is dropping later today, where we get into the question, “What if peace breaks out?”
Frequency: 1 per monthMajor Notes: Every life has a soundtrack… We want to get into the defining notes. In Major Notes, our guests unpack 5 key moments: a note of risk, a note of joy, a note of failure, a note of luck, and a note of repetition. Part trading memoir, part life confessional, it’s about the music underneath the markets and what we can all learn from it.
Frequency: 1 per monthMacro Sessions: Big picture conversations with special guests, available to Market House members first. First up, a conversation with Juliette Declercq.
Frequency: 1 per month
So that’s 3 brand-new shows every month, plus priority member questions on Talking Markets, all included in membership.
That’s the start… but we want to build the House with members. We want to add more benefits, but we want them to be what you actually need.
We’ll be sending a short survey to members in the next couple of weeks to canvas thoughts. The House only works if we build it together…
What Stays Free
Talking Markets, our flagship 3x a week live show, will remain free. So will the write-ups that follow each show. And every now and then, we’ll keep sharing other interviews outside the paywall.
A Thank-You (and an Invitation)
If you’ve enjoyed Talking Markets, and if you’ve found clarity in any of the 300+ conversations we’ve already shared, we’d love you to become a member of The Market House.
Membership isn’t just about unlocking more content. It’s about making sure this space continues to exist, and about building the House together.
If you’d like to support us, you can join through the big-but-not-obnoxiously-big green button below:
And if you’ve read this far — we know we’re at the point in the Oscars speech where the band starts playing us off the stage — we’d like to thank some people:
To our guests: Thank you for trusting us with your ideas and your time (and thank you specifically on the Substack front to
, , , , , , and many others who were so welcoming when we were trying to figure out what the hell we were doing here).To everyone who’s watched, read, or left a comment: Thank you for showing us this was worth building.
To the early pledgers who backed us before the doors were even open: Thank you for giving us the confidence to take this leap.
And to the members who have joined us already today: Thank you for making our day — we will work hard to over-deliver on our plans for the Market House…!
The Market House was never about growth at all costs. It’s about clarity over noise. Civility over shouting. Good conversation on tap.
Thank you for pulling up a chair. We’re excited to see where we can take this next, together.
— Maggie & Laura
Co-founders, The Market House
P.S. You can always reach us at info@maggielakemedia.com or here on Substack if you have ideas, thoughts, or would simply like to have a chat.
It's been really fun working with you. I love seeing you and your team take this to the next level.