1:11:15How to build a $100M+ newsletter business
From My First Million · Published Jul 4, 2025 · Watch on YouTube
TL;DR
Two newsletter founders (Morning Brew and The Hustle) compare their year-by-year revenue, subscriber growth, and key lessons from starting in 2015 to selling in 2020 (Morning Brew for ~$100M+, The Hustle for ~$75M).
Key insights
- Starting in college gave Morning Brew a "fake timeline" of 1.5–2 years without needing revenue, a major advantage.
- IQ arbitrage: moving from a high-intelligence field (Wall Street trading desk) to media made them the smartest in the room.
- Both founders were offered jobs instead of investment by media veterans (John Steinberg, Ben Lerer) who dismissed newsletters as small – that rejection became a long-term chip on their shoulders.
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