Apr 2, 2024 · 19m · founders-journal
Growing Morning Brew from 0 to 10,000 Subscribers
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Morning Brew co-founder Alex Lieberman breaks down the four step-by-step distribution strategies used to scale the business newsletter from zero to its first 10,000 subscribers. He highlights how entrepreneurs can leverage grassroots outreach, low-friction in-person pitches, campus ambassador programs, and automated milestone referral loops to achieve early traction.
Statements from this episode (7)
Lieberman: Newsletters Can Start Monetizing Around 10,000 Subscribers
“On today's episode, I'm going to talk about how we got from zero subscribers when we first started Morning Brew to 10,000 subscribers, which I would say is roughly the point at which you can actually start making money off an email newsletter.”
Lieberman: Morning Brew Predecessor Market Corner Reached 250 Subscribers in Two Months
“So let's just say by the time that Market Corner, which was around for two-ish months before we turned it into Morning Brew, and I brought on Austin as my co-founder, let's just say Market Corner got to 250 subscribers, so that's zero to two 50.”
Lieberman: Passing Physical Sign-Up Sheets in Classrooms Converted 90% of Students
“We probably would collect on average 90% of a class,”
Lieberman: Hub-and-Spoke Marketing Yields Far More Leverage than 1-on-1 Sales
“So a hub is something, a digital channel or an in real life channel that gives you leveraged access to a lot of spokes. Spokes are your, the ideal customer you want to get in front of. Again, we didn't think about it in this way at the time, but it's how I thi…”
Lieberman: Elite Student Leaders Make Poor Brand Ambassadors Due to Overcommitment
“The first time we tried an ambassador program, we went for quality over quantity. So we took a bunch of ambassador applications. We only accepted like 10 ambassadors, and they were the people who were like the best students, involved in the most business clubs…”
Lieberman: The Best Ambassador Programs Automate Entry and Reward Top Performers
“And so ultimately, where we shook out is the best possible ambassador program is this hybrid we did, where we let in
Like, we made it a quantity game, so we let in every ambassador, but a lot of it was automated until they proved that they provided good work a…”