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It's been four weeks since Issue 1. Here's where Materiality is now and what changes from this issue forward.
The free tier stays free forever. This was non-negotiable before launch and remains non-negotiable. The weekly issue, the website archive, the Tool Stack v1 spreadsheet, the editorial standards — all free. If Materiality earns its way into your inbox each week, that's the whole point.
Paid tier opens today. Optional, $19/month or $179/year. What it adds for the small number of readers who want more depth:
Founding-member offer: first 50 paid subscribers lock in $179/year for life. Standard rate rises after we cross 50.
Subscribe to the paid tier: [link in beehiiv]
If the free tier is what fits your firm — keep it. We won't paywall the things that make the free tier valuable.
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We got [N] reader replies after Issues 1, 2, and 3. Top three questions, abbreviated and anonymised:
#### "Which tool would you most want us to test next?"
The vote tally so far:
Test schedule confirmed: Black Ore Tax Autopilot deep-test runs in [month], original-testing-protocol piece in Issue [N]. FloQast queued for the month after.
#### "We're a 5-person UK firm. Should we use Karbon or IRIS?"
Honest answer: depends on your client mix. UK-only practice with mostly UK-based SMB clients → IRIS or CCH iFirm fit better. Mixed practice with US/AU clients or NetSuite-side enterprise clients → Karbon's broader integration ecosystem wins.
We're working on a UK-specific issue (probably Issue 7 or 8) covering IRIS, CCH iFirm, Sage UK, and where Karbon/Xero fit for UK firms. Reply with "UK" if you want it sooner.
#### "How are you planning to stay vendor-neutral when sponsors start paying you?"
Specifically and structurally:
If we ever drift from this, the readers who care will leave, and the publication's value will dissolve. Editorial integrity is the actual moat.
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We're publicly listing the founding sponsors who committed during the launch window. [3 sponsor names — list locked at Day 27]. Their support funded the lights for the first three issues; their willingness to be founding sponsors before any audience proof point is what made the launch possible.
Editorial coverage of their tools remains independent. We'll cover them positively, neutrally, or critically based on what we find when we look at the tool — not based on the founding-sponsor relationship.
The founding-sponsor program closes today (Day 28). Standard rates apply for sponsorships from Issue 5 onwards. Vendors interested in standard placements: sponsor page.
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Cadence locks at one issue per week from here. Tuesday mornings, geo-staggered for global readability.
Reply with the issue date + the claim. Corrections published prominently in next issue.
Last week's corrections: None reported.
— Dan Editor & Publisher, Materiality
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If Materiality earned its way into your inbox these past four weeks, the highest-leverage thing you can do right now is forward Issue 1, 2, or 3 to one colleague who'd find it useful. Word-of-mouth from someone you trust beats any marketing channel we have.
Three colleagues who would benefit from one of:
If you've got 60 seconds, that forward is the single thing that compounds the value of this publication for everyone.
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Materiality is published from Auckland, New Zealand by Dan Ibbotson (Sole Trader). Built using Claude (Anthropic) under human editorial supervision. Materiality is editorial; not legal, financial, tax, or accounting advice.
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