What is The Profile?

The Profile is a media company and weekly newsletter devoted to the most extraordinary people alive — founders, investors, executives, and iconoclasts who’ve built something the world hadn’t seen before.

Every Sunday, I go deep and feature profiles that answer these questions: How does this person actually think? What do they know that others don’t? What did it cost them?

Who writes it?

I’m Polina Pompliano. Before starting The Profile in 2017, I spent years at FORTUNE magazine writing more than 1,300 articles and running Term Sheet, the flagship daily newsletter covering venture capital and private equity.

I left to do one thing well: profile the most extraordinary people in the world.

Since then, I’ve built The Profile into one of the most-read newsletters for founders, investors, and operators who believe that studying exceptional people is one of the highest-leverage things you can do.

I also wrote Hidden Genius, a book distilling what hundreds of the world’s top performers have in common. Spoiler: it’s not the habits.

What readers say

“I don’t think there is a newsletter I love more than The Profile.” — David Hoang

“Not all business and life lessons can be distilled into equations. I love The Profile because it offers such a human way of learning from other people’s paths.” — Lola Wajskop

“Nothing makes Sunday mornings better than a coffee and The Profile.” — Ali Hamed

oh and here’s a testimonial from Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson himself: