When I joined the AI Collective team at the beginning of the year as Creative Director, DC Decoded was just an idea.

Now, let me make one thing clear. Ideas themselves are not bad. They’re great! We wouldn’t possess anything we currently have without the initial idea.

But ideas are a dime a dozen.

The much harder part is knowing how to execute the good ideas. And boy, did DC Decoded teach me how to do that.

Starting from 0 subscribers and 0 posts at the beginning of February, I am so proud to have led the growth of this podcast to 650+ subscribers (mainly AI professionals in DC) and 20+ episodes with 10+ other pieces of content.

We have had 15 amazing guests on including:

Catherine McMillan | Nate Burola | John Heflin Hopkins-Gillespie (3x!) | Wolf Ruzicka | Erica Shoemate | Ryan Malani | Juan Manuel Contreras (2x!) | Andrew Gamino-Cheong | Monica Lopez | Austin Nellessen | Victor Shilo | Cameron Powell | Allison Shapira | Glenn Parham | The Era Arc

Not only that, we have been fortunate enough to be recommended by eight wonderful tech and non‑tech Substacks out there including:

The AI Collective Community Newsletter | The Era Arc | Faster, Please! | The Influence Model | Mindful Notions | AI Supremacy | The Responsible AI Chronicle | Deborah’s Substack | Paradigm Shift

And of course, we were also very lucky to be backed by companies like Notion to offer free AI to startups and SMBs* and swag/education to interested community members.

This Substack would not have been possible without the DC team including:

Catherine McMillan | Jabari Grubb | Elif Polat | Brian McAbee | Liz Farrell | Brittney Stewart | Noah Frank | Liel Zino | Anna D’Aprile | and more!

Now? We’re expanding the show.

DC Decoded started as a way to highlight the incredible AI talent in DC. A second reason was to dispel the age‑old notions that DC is just policy and law. And I’m pretty confident we are actively doing that.

We will continue to do so with our new host, Elif. Check out her first episode ft. yours truly here: https://samligenaicollective.substack.com/p/the-one-with-sam-li-our-need-for?r=553qru

While I’m very proud that the majority of our subscribers are still members of the DC AI community, I couldn’t help but notice we had a growing group of non-DC based people who were finding us from a variety of sources: Other Substacks, social media, and of course, word of mouth.

What makes this Substack unique is not that we are AI‑focused, or that we are city‑focused, but it’s that we blend both incredibly well. As our audience changes and grows, we want to make sure they get the most value possible!

More specifically: Through a mix of in‑person and online experiences, we make sure that when people tune in to our written, audio, or video content, they receive a nuanced understanding of how AI is affecting the city they are living in.

Until today, the “city” part of our “city and AI” mix has been limited to being DC.

Which is why I’m so excited to announce our new and improved Substack: Cities Decoded.

“What makes this Substack unique is not that we are AI‑focused, or that we are city‑focused, but it’s that we blend both incredibly well.”

As I move to New York (more info next week on LinkedIn), I thought a lot about what I wanted to do with this Substack. Should I just let Elif do DC Decoded and leave it behind? Should I start a new Substack? Should I come back to DC and do episodes when I could?

None of those felt right because they didn’t represent what this audience ultimately wants: To understand how influential cities in America are helping or harming the progress of AI.

To be clear on what is happening on a practical level:

* We have the amazing Elif continuing season 2 of DC Decoded: The AI Collective. Her latest episode is here:

https://samligenaicollective.substack.com/p/the-one-with-deniz-houston-why-ai

* We are starting NY Decoded: The AI Collective, hosted by me, new episodes starting January. DC Decoded subscribers will be automatically added; you are welcome to unsubscribe at any time (though I hope you will give the new show a chance!).

* We are expanding the DC Decoded brand to Cities Decoded, encompassing the separate DC Decoded and NY Decoded podcasts

It’s an exciting time. If you have any interest in helping with guest recommendations/connections/other podcast stuff, my Substack and LinkedIn messages are always open.

Thanks very very very much to all 650+ of you for a wild ride this year through DC and now including NY. I hope to see you at an AI Collective event very soon. And as always, there is so much more to come.

Welcome to the Cities Decoded community. I am beyond happy and grateful that you are here.

Onwards and upwards!

-Sam

*Get 3 months of Notion AI/Business FREE for your SMB/startup. I get a commission for every approved signup.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samligenaicollective.substack.com