Tyler Denk, co-founder and CEO of beehiiv, reflects on designing Morning Brew's referral architecture.
Disclosure
Denk earns $20,000–$30,000 monthly writing a newsletter five hours a week
“As a side project, I put five hours a week into between 20 and 30,000 dollars a month.”
Insight
Denk: Newsletter growth requires compounding eight to ten distinct acquisition channels
“There is no silver bullet from going from zero to 90,000 in a year. It is a compounding of, like, eight to 10 different things, which we'll walk through, that all add, you know, a hundred subscribers a week here, a hundred subscribers a week here, a hundred su…”
Insight
Denk: Immediate welcome emails are the best time to drive subscriber actions
“You're also, you have someone's attention who just converted. And you are top of mind for them. It's a perfect place to push them or incentivize them to take an action.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Denk: Many newsletters earn thousands of dollars passively per week via beehiiv
“That is the boost network, which we'll get further into, but also how a lot of these newsletters are earning thousands of dollars per week passively. They're driving new subscribers, which is good for them in their newsletter. Along the way, one in five people…”
Insight
Denk: Gating web versions of newsletters creates effortless, recurring lead magnets
“You've already done the hard part of, I've already written the 1500 words to build this post. I've already published it. Now I just want to attract other people who may not have received it because they're not a subscriber yet to come click on this page and pu…”
Insight
Denk: Writing online weekly is the highest-leverage career move he has made
“Writing weekly and sharing my thoughts online has probably been the highest leverage thing that I've done in my entire career. It's opened so many doors to angel investing, meeting other founders, meeting people who are doing really cool shit and are either in…”