The asset I most value is my credibility.
The reason so many people read my writing and find it useful is that they see me as a credible source of information: in a world full of clickbait and misinformation, I have a reputation for providing an independent voice that occupies that rare middle ground between "AI will kill us all" doomerism and "AI will solve everything" hype.
Credibility is hard to earn and easy to squander. I've been blogging for 24 years now, which has helped me build credibility with a large array of people across many different interest areas.
The modern influencer business model is to grow an audience and then sell things to them, through partnerships and sponsored content. I refuse to do that, because it strikes directly at that credibility. The moment you say "I've partnered with X to tell you about product Y" you're no longer an independent voice.
Nilay Patel of the Verge (and the excellent Decoder podcast) refuses to read ads from sponsors himself, at significant financial cost to his publication. I've adopted the same policy - I will not let anyone else pay me to put words in my mouth, because it strikes directly at the credibility I value so much.
Until a few months ago the only money I made from my blog was an https://ethicalads.io banner which pulled in a few hundred dollars a month (more if I had a high traffic piece). It helped cover some of my hosting costs for my various projects.
That changed in February - https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/19/sponsorship/ - when I added a Troy Hunt-style sponsor banner to my site (no cookies, no JavaScript) - currently sold by an agency called Freeman & Forrest. Sponsored slots are sold on a weekly basis and get a mention in my email newsletter in addition to the blog banner.
I'm earning enough from those that I no longer feel the opportunity cost of not going and getting a proper Silicon Valley engineering job.
If I was a publication like the Verge I'd have a complete firewall between editorial and advertising. I don't have a team, but I've tried to replicate that as much as I can by having Freeman & Forrest sort out the sponsors while I stay hands off. I'll veto sponsors if I have to (no prediction markets etc) but thankfully that hasn't been necessary so far.
I maintain a disclosures section on my blog here: https://simonwillison.net/about/#disclosures - which was inspired by Molly White's: https://www.mollywhite.net/crypto-disclosures/
I'm currently considering extending that to more of an ethics statement like this one on the Verge: https://www.theverge.com/ethics-statement
The Verge policy I'm currently not fulfilling is "Our policy against receiving anything of value from companies we cover includes, but is not limited to, things like gifts, meals, discounted services, or paid trips and junkets. Vox Media and The Verge pay for all travel expenses to all events, including transportation, food, and hotels." - I've occasionally accepted flights, dinners, accommodation and some pretty absurd swag (Microsoft just gave me a jacket with my name stitched onto it as part of the GitHub Stars programme, and a bunch of gadgets in a pelican case) which didn't bother me so much when the blog was a side project, but I think I need to start refusing those kind of gifts.
The day after the jacket I wrote a piece about their new models - https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jun/2/microsofts-new-models/ - which I later had to update because I missed some crucial details. Was I subconsciously influenced by the freebies? I don't think so, but the whole point of "subconsciously" is you don't know for sure.