hi everyone,

we wanted to share an update regarding our previous financial update. If you haven’t read that post yet, go check it out first.

in this post we want to respond to some common questions and suggestions, provide an update on what we’re planning to do next, and tell you how you can help.

the numbers

first off: an update on how numbers have changed since our update on Monday. we’ve seen a large increase in cohost plus subscriptions, exceeding our expectations significantly. these numbers are accurate as of yesterday, March 14th (stripe only updates every 24-48 hours):

this is all, objectively, really great! it has been motivating over the last few days to see how much cohost means to a lot of y’all. even with this boost in MRR, we’re still operating at a loss of, on average, $17k per month, so we’ve got some other plans to help make that up.

the good news is the cash infusion from this recent subscriber wave (a bit over $20k after payment processing) combined with some funding offers we’ve received means we’re comfortable saying we’ve got at least six more months to make up that shortfall in one way or another.

more details follow! keep reading!

my possession-based roguelike midboss, where you defeat enemies, steal their bodies, and unlock their abilities for your own use, is in the itch.io selects bundle B!

you can pick up midboss, hidden folks, arietta of spirits, sokobond, future unfolding, and ducky's delivery service for $22

Paintings of old men ! And their cats.

i recommend you read the "tiktok ban" bill (linked in this article). i am already seeing people downplay it and some people blow it way out of proportion. here's what i'm reading:

• it's not just about tiktok, it's any app/webapp/social media that lets you post and see content where the app is owned/operated by a person or corporation based in a 'foreign adversary' country. it counts as little as 20% ownership as "ownership" in this case
• any apps that count to the president as social media, and that count as being 'controlled by a foreign adversary' can be nominated to be banned.
• ISPs/VPNs/companies/parent apps have to comply if they serve US citizens, and presumably there will need to be monitoring to ensure compliance. there are zero provisions for what that monitoring might be like in the bill. so, zero restrictions on what data streams they can tap into. so now instead of a company in china having your data, the us govt has your data... yaaaay....
• funnily enough business/consumer review apps are exempt. i could easily see shit going down in the amazon (equivalent) comments

there are more things mentioned (like a brief mention of a prerequisite of 1,000,000 MAU, and other conditions to qualify or disqualify). it sounds to me like it's a combo of restricting free speech, anti-competitiveness, and additional reasons to install more monitoring. i encourage you to read the words of the bill itself and not just take my word for it.

(i encourage legal professionals and other IT folks to correct me on this- though please include sources, and will add on any comments that i can verify. i'm trying not to spread misinformation)