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#746April 4, 20251:13:28

The Step-by-Step Playbook We Used to Build a $100M+ Newsletter B…

About This Episode

Sam Parr and Shaan Puri sit down with Morning Brew co-founders Alex Lieberman and Austin Rief to provide a detailed, year-by-year post-mortem of how they built and sold two of the most successful business newsletters of the modern era. The episode covers their early rivalry, revenue and subscriber milestones, the implementation of the Entrepreneurs Operating System (EOS), and the intense emotional process of selling their companies to HubSpot and Axel Springer.

Episode Description

[free] Episode 693: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talks to Alex Lieberman ( https://x.com/businessbarista ) and Austin Rief ( https://x.com/austin_rief ) about how to build a profitable newsletter.

Show Notes

  • 0:00Intro
  • 3:120 to 100K subscribers
  • 9:18Nontraditional hires
  • 15:26100K to 1M subscribers
  • 35:00Entrepreneurs Operating System
  • 43:278-figure Exits
  • 55:28How to start a newsletter in 2025
  • 1:02:57Newsletter ideas

Check Out Shaan's Stuff

  • Shaan's weekly email
  • Visit
  • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
  • Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC

Key Takeaways

1

Adopt the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) based on the book 'Traction' when your business hits the $5M-$10M revenue range to transition from a founder-led hobby to a professional company.

2

B2B media is more resilient to advertising pullbacks than general consumer media because niche audiences allow for higher CPMs and more direct monetization opportunities.

3

Prioritize organic product-market fit for at least 1-2 years before scaling with paid acquisition to ensure your core content is strong enough to retain users long-term.

Business Ideas Mentioned

Physical Industry Insider Magazines

Content & Media

Alternative Investment Media for Retail

Content & Media

Modern Retail Investor Intelligence Service

Content & Media

View all ideas

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Quick Stats

Duration1:13:28
Guests1
Ideas Discussed3
Topics4