The Architects of the Attention Economy Are Building an Antidote: A Financial Deep-Dive into ‘Tangle’

In a move brimming with irony and ambition, two of the master architects behind our modern digital landscape are embarking on a new venture designed to solve the very problems their creations helped spawn. Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, and Evan Sharp, the co-founder of Pinterest, are back. This time, however, they aren’t building another engine for the relentless attention economy. They’re building an escape hatch: a new app called ‘Tangle’, designed as a direct “antidote to social media.”

Backed by a fresh round of funding, Stone and Sharp are openly confronting what they see as the “devastation” caused by online excess—a digital world optimized for fleeting engagement, outrage, and endless scrolling. This venture is more than just another app; it’s a referendum on the multi-trillion-dollar business model that underpins Web 2.0. For investors, finance professionals, and business leaders, the launch of Tangle poses a critical question: Can a platform built on depth, nuance, and “slow conversation” find a viable economic model in a market conditioned for speed and scale? And what does this signal for the future of digital commerce and the broader tech economy?

The Diagnosis: How the Financial Model Broke Social Media

To understand the mission behind Tangle, one must first diagnose the illness it aims to cure. The dominant social media platforms of the last fifteen years were not built primarily for human connection; they were built as extraordinarily efficient advertising machines. Their core financial model relies on capturing and holding user attention for as long as possible to maximize ad impressions and data collection. This is the “attention economy” in its purest form.

This economic incentive has profound consequences. Algorithms are not optimized for truth, well-being, or constructive dialogue. They are optimized for engagement, and the most engaging content is often the most emotionally charged, divisive, or sensational. As Evan Sharp noted, this system has led to a state of “performative” online behavior, where individuals feel pressured to project an artificial version of themselves. The result is a digital public square that is often toxic, shallow, and mentally exhausting.

The financial architecture of these platforms is a marvel of modern financial technology, but it’s an architecture with misaligned incentives. The “product” is not the service offered to the user; the user’s attention is the product being sold to advertisers. Tangle’s thesis is that this fundamental economic flaw is the root cause of social media’s societal ills.

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The Founders’ Paradox: From Architects to Reformers

The credibility of Tangle’s mission rests heavily on the shoulders of its founders. Both Stone and Sharp have unimpeachable track records in building platforms that have reshaped global communication and commerce. Their involvement is a powerful signal to the investing community that this is not a niche experiment but a serious attempt to define the next chapter of social technology.

Here’s a brief look at the giants they built:

Their past successes make their current pivot all the more compelling. They understand the mechanics of virality, engagement, and monetization at a level few others do. Now, they are attempting to channel that expertise into building something that deliberately avoids the addictive feedback loops that made their first ventures so financially successful. This is a high-stakes bet against the very economic model they helped perfect.

Tangle’s Proposition: A New Economic Model for Conversation

So, what exactly is Tangle? According to the founders, it’s a space for “deeper, more thoughtful conversations” organized around shared interests. Unlike the chaotic, real-time feeds of Twitter (now X) or the visual onslaught of Instagram, Tangle is designed to be asynchronous and intentional. The goal is to foster communities where expertise and nuance are valued over “hot takes” and performative posts.

The platform encourages users to create and join “tangles”—dedicated spaces for specific topics—where they can contribute to ongoing conversations. The emphasis is on quality over quantity, a philosophy that directly contradicts the core metrics that drive the stock market valuations of its predecessors.

This raises the most important question from a finance and investing standpoint: How will it make money? The founders have remained tight-lipped on the specifics, but the platform’s ethos points away from advertising. Potential models could include:

• Subscription Tiers: A freemium model where users or community creators pay for advanced features, moderation tools, or access to exclusive groups.
• Creator Monetization: A suite of fintech tools that allow experts or creators to monetize their content directly through tips, paid newsletters, or exclusive access, with Tangle taking a percentage. This would position Tangle as a competitor to platforms like Substack or Patreon.
• Decentralized Ownership: In a more forward-looking scenario, the platform could explore blockchain-based models, giving creators true ownership over their content and community, and creating new economies around digital assets. This would require sophisticated financial technology and a robust banking and payment infrastructure.

Whichever path they choose, the monetization strategy will be the ultimate test of Tangle’s viability. It needs to generate enough revenue to satisfy venture investors without compromising its core mission of being an antidote to the attention economy.

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The Investment Landscape and Market Signals

Tangle is not operating in a vacuum. It has successfully raised new funds from prominent venture capital firms, including Table Management and Jonesy Capital. This financial backing is a significant vote of confidence. Venture capitalists are not philanthropists; they are making a calculated bet that there is a substantial, addressable market of users fatigued by mainstream social media and willing to pay for a better experience.

This trend towards “slow tech” and subscription-based community models is gaining traction across the economy. We see it in the rise of paid newsletters, private podcasts, and expert-led communities. The success of these smaller ventures suggests a growing consumer appetite for high-signal, low-noise digital environments.

The key metrics for Tangle’s success will look very different from those of traditional social media. Instead of Monthly Active Users (MAUs) and Time Spent, investors will be looking at metrics like:

If Tangle can prove that a model based on these new metrics is economically sound, it could have a ripple effect across the entire financial technology and media landscape, potentially devaluing the attention-based models that have dominated the stock market for years.

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Conclusion: A High-Risk Bet on a Healthier Digital Economy

The launch of Tangle is one of the most fascinating stories in the tech world today. It is a story of redemption, of creators trying to rectify the unintended consequences of their own innovations. But beyond the narrative, it is a formidable business and financial experiment. Biz Stone and Evan Sharp are not just launching an app; they are challenging the fundamental economic principles that have governed the internet for a generation.

For business leaders, Tangle is a case study in market disruption driven by a change in social values. For those in finance and investing, it represents a high-risk, high-reward bet on a new paradigm for digital value creation. Its success or failure will provide critical data on whether consumers are truly ready to pay for digital peace of mind and whether a more humane and thoughtful internet can also be a profitable one. The entire tech and trading world will be watching to see if this antidote is one the market is willing to swallow.