5 Substacks That Help Shape Business Casual (Batch 1)
A curated list of newsletters on ethical business, cannabis infrastructure, systems thinking, and cultural change—recommended by the team behind Business Casual.
5 Substacks That Help Shape Business Casual (Batch 1)
What we read—and who we trust—when building something from the ground up.
Business Casual isn’t just a brand. It’s a build. A quiet infrastructure project wrapped in clothing, research, and philosophy.
Along the way, a few voices have shaped how we think. These are the people who show up early, write with clarity, and help decode the systems we’re building in and against.
1. Nick’s Newsletter
One of the first voices to show up—and still one of the most consistent.
Nick was our very first subscriber. That matters. His writing is sharp, strategic, and generous with insight. The kind of thinking that makes you stop mid-scroll and take notes. I’m loyal to those who start with us—and Nick’s been here since Day 1.
2. Jake Van Clief
A builder behind the curtain—Jake helped shape the vision for Business Casual.
Jake isn’t just a writer I admire—he’s a founding contributor to the thinking behind what we’re doing here. His posts wrestle with systems, scale, economics, and ethics in a way that leaves no easy answers. If you like our tone, structure, or seriousness—it’s probably because Jake helped influence it.
The Pause Before the Pivot: Cannabis, COVID, and the Return of the Hidden Market
“In the stillness of a disrupted world, the next great wave waits without urgency. It does not beg to be seen. It only asks that we stop looking away.”
3. Culture Study by Anne Helen Petersen
The cultural lens that helps make sense of work, pace, and burnout.
Anne writes about labor, lifestyle, and sustainability—not just in theory, but in lived experience. Her work reframed how I think about time, ambition, and building something human in a system that rewards speed and detachment. Culture Study brings weight to soft systems.
4. Not Boring by Packy McCormick
High-energy vision with structure behind it.
Packy makes business optimism look smart again. Not Boring explores everything from Ethereum to regulated biotech—and somehow makes it all feel actionable. His writing helped us realize we could approach cannabis licensing and plant medicine research with the same momentum as any great product launch.
5. The Generalist
Where business models, ecosystems, and long-form thinking collide.
The Generalist reads like it was made for people who take ideas seriously. It maps emerging sectors in ways that challenge how we think about scale, category, and edge. When I need to zoom out and remember what this work could look like at full scale—I come here.
What else belongs here? What should we read?
More soon. Batch 2 will feature the thinkers helping shape the future of cannabis, EDS care, plant medicine, and patient-first research.
[📩 Subscribe if you haven’t already. Every drop we make funds real infrastructure. Every rec we give? That’s us showing you who’s building with us.]