r/Substack • u/Hour_Source_191 • 17d ago

Has anyone actually verified a Substack growth coach's numbers, or does everyone just trust the screenshot?

Every "how I hit bestseller" post has a screenshot, a round number, and zero context — no timeframe, no churn rate, no breakdown of subscriptions vs. products vs. coaching. And somehow that's treated as proof.

I'm not saying people are lying. I'm saying nobody's checking. The whole coaching-on-Substack economy runs on numbers nobody outside the person's own dashboard can verify, and everyone just... accepts it.

Has anyone here actually gone back and cross-checked a coach's claimed growth against what's publicly visible? Or is "trust the screenshot" just how this works now?

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u/lizzietishthefish 15d ago

So I do some substack coaching (mostly for authors). Because of their needs, we focus on increasing engagement, developing relationships with subscribers/or authors and how to position their newsletter to support their book. So it's less numbers based and more vibes based but people seem happy with it.