Substack is doubling down on Canada as part of its global push to strengthen subscription-led media. At the center of that effort is Mark Swierszcz, Head of Partnerships for Canada, the platform’s first dedicated partnerships lead in the country and a longtime operator across technology, culture, and creators.

Mark joins Substack with more than a decade of experience in Canada’s digital creator market, having run digital strategy at MTV and MuchMusic, led YouTube’s Creator Strategy, and served as Creative Effectiveness Lead at Google Canada. Now based in Toronto, he is tasked with growing Substack’s creator, brand, and ecosystem partnerships in what has become the company’s third-largest market globally.

His mandate is clear: help Canadian writers, journalists, and cultural voices build subscription-based businesses rooted in direct audience relationships. 

“I’ve always found myself at the intersection of tech and talent, from the MuchMusic and MTV era, to YouTube, and now Substack,” Mark says. “I’ve spent my career working with creators and cultural voices who shape how we think and what we talk about.”

Why Canada, Why Now

Substack, founded in 2017 in San Francisco by Chris Best, Jairaj Sethi, and Hamish McKenzie, provides tools for writers and creators to publish newsletters, podcasts, and community content while monetizing directly through paid subscriptions. The company’s revenue model centers on taking a percentage of subscription income, aligning its financial incentives with those of its publishers.

Canada has emerged as a major market. According to company data, there are now more than half a million paid subscriptions across thousands of Canada-based publications. Mark’s appointment follows that organic growth and signals a shift from passive expansion to local, on-the-ground partnership building.

Over the past year, Mark watched what he describes as a meaningful migration of creators toward subscription-first platforms. 

“I watched a growing number of creators, writers, and journalists pivot toward building direct relationships with their audiences on Substack,” he says. “It felt like a meaningful shift, not just another platform trend. I saw an opportunity to help Canadian voices take part in that shift and build sustainable businesses around their work.”

The problem Substack aims to solve is structural: social platform algorithms prioritize engagement and advertising scale, leaving many creators struggling to maintain visibility and a predictable income. 

“As advertising-based algorithms on social media platforms expanded their influence, I saw many quality voices, especially Canadian voices, get drowned out by feed and algo optimization,” Mark explains. “It felt like the right time to jump on board and ensure those Canadian voices were getting a shot at speaking directly to their audience.”

From Algorithmic Attention to Economic Alignment

For Mark, what differentiates Substack from prior waves of creator platforms is its economic architecture. Coming from a background in brand advertising and YouTube partnerships, he is familiar with attention-based monetization. Substack’s structure, he argues, operates on a different set of incentives.

“When I spent time on Substack, I started seeing a much deeper, elevated, and educated corpus of content and commentary,” he says. “What felt familiar was the ambition and craft. Many of the writers and outlets I’d followed for years were there, building premium layers to their work. What felt fundamentally different was the alignment of incentives.”

That alignment, he adds, was reinforced by conversations with publishers. “After speaking with several creators, it became clear that they weren’t just experimenting – they were advocates. They felt empowered by the control, impact, and revenue model in a way that’s rare in media.”

Unlike ad-driven platforms, where revenue is tied to time spent and scale, Substack only earns money when creators do.

“We want to make sure we have extremely aligned incentives and optimize for value instead of attention,” Mark says. “We only succeed when publishers build paid relationships with their readers. That creates a structure where depth, trust, and long-term sustainability matter more than virality.”

Defining Partnerships in a Creator-First Ecosystem

Mark’s role at Substack extends beyond onboarding creators. He frames partnerships as a long-term relationship-building function rather than a growth hack.

“Partnerships at Substack are defined by the establishment of trust and deep empathy with creators who are betting their livelihoods on the platform,” he says. “The role of the partnerships team has evolved to building long-term relationships and making creators ‘aware of what’s possible’ within the subscription model.”

That approach draws on his previous experience at YouTube and Google, where he worked closely with agencies, artists, and cultural leaders. “I want to make sure that we are always thinking long-term, and have the creator’s interests in mind,” he says. “We’ve seen a lot of success globally with speaking directly with writers, creators, and outlets and understanding what their long-term goals are in terms of audience and format.”

Substack’s partnerships model also incorporates product feedback loops. “Many product features and tweaks have been guided directly by the publishers and creators who are on Substack and using our tools – and we are all stronger for it,” Mark says.

The Subscription Mindset

While launching on Substack can generate early momentum, Mark emphasizes that subscription businesses require a different mindset than social growth strategies.

“One of the biggest things creators often tend to underestimate is that building a long-term subscription business is about relationships, not just content,” he says. “Early momentum often comes from growth or a strong launch. But sustainability comes from retention. The most durable subscription businesses treat their audience as a community, not a follower count.”

He believes that the shift from reach to retention carries implications for how creators measure success. “When we think about success for creators, we look well beyond subscriber numbers,” Mark explains. “Reach can be exciting, but it doesn’t always reflect depth. What matters most to us is impact.”

The digital industry veteran points to paid subscriptions as the clearest indicator of sustainability. “Paid subscriptions represent real support and real revenue for writers and creators. They signal trust, commitment, and sustainability. Free subscribers are important for reach and discovery, but paid relationships are what enable creators to build durable businesses around their work.”

Trust plays a central role in that equation. “Trust is a very hard thing to earn, and is easily lost,” he says. “At Substack, our incentives are simple. We don’t make money unless creators do.”

Mark adds that the inbox itself reinforces that dynamic. “Arguably, the inbox is one of the most personal digital spaces people have. When someone subscribes to a publisher, they are inviting that voice into a space typically reserved for colleagues, friends, and family. That is a meaningful act of trust.”

Balancing Global Playbooks with Local Nuance

Substack’s Canadian investment forms part of a broader international expansion strategy, with additional partnership leads planned across regions. For Mark, the challenge is balancing global consistency with local culture.

“We maintain a general playbook across all markets rooted in our value system, but there is room for local nuances in each local culture, language, and categories,” he says. “The underlying economic architecture remains the same globally.”

Canada presents a particular set of opportunities and constraints. “Canada, in particular, has always had a unique ability to both participate in and critically engage with U.S. cultural conversations,” Mark says. “The opportunities are enormous. Especially for globally relevant voices, but scale and visibility can be challenges.”

Direct audience relationships, he argues, mitigate those scale constraints. By monetizing smaller but highly engaged communities, Canadian creators can reduce reliance on algorithmic visibility, according to Mark.

The Next Wave of Independent Media

Mark frames the current moment as part of a broader movement in digital publishing. “We are in a third or fourth wave of ‘new media’, where a direct relationship with audiences is becoming more and more important,” he says. “Freeing audiences from an algorithm has allowed Creators to go directly to their audiences and build much deeper, meaningful, and lucrative relationships.”

He believes the sustainability of independent media depends on continuing that shift away from advertising-centric incentives. “For a long time, much of digital media has been shaped by advertising models that prioritize scale and attention,” he says. “If independent media is going to flourish, the incentives need to continue shifting toward direct audience support.”

For now, Mark remains focused on discovering both established and emerging voices. “I’m excited to see established Canadian voices find success on Substack, but I’m also really eager to find new voices that resonate with Canadians and a global audience,” he says.

Photo source: Substack