Founder Profile
Chris Best
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Chris Best?
Chris Best is a founder of Substack Inc., which was founded in 2017 with Hamish McKenzie and Jairaj Sethi.
- Company founded
- Substack Inc.
- Founded
- 2017
- Co-founders
- Hamish McKenzie and Jairaj Sethi
Background
Chris Best studied at the University of Waterloo and co-founded Kik Interactive, the Canadian messaging app company, where he served as CTO before starting Substack.
Founding Story
Chris Best is the co-founder and CEO of Substack. Before Substack he co-founded Kik. He has led the company through its Series A (2019), Series B (2021), 2023 community round and $100 million Series C (2025), and has publicly defended Substack's hands-off approach to content moderation. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Sources
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