$0 to $1M in 12 Months - The Newsletter Platform Playbook
What Beehiiv Does
Beehiiv is a newsletter platform built for growth. Founded by three ex-Morning Brew employees, it gives creators and publishers the same powerful tools that helped Morning Brew scale to 4 million subscribers - referral programs, custom websites, monetization through ads and paid subscriptions, and advanced analytics. Today, Beehiiv powers 90,000+ newsletters sending 3 billion emails per month, with $30M+ in annual revenue.
The Problem They Solved
When Tyler Denk was at Morning Brew, they received hundreds of emails every week asking: "How did you build that referral program?" Newsletter creators wanted what Morning Brew had - but existing platforms like Substack and Mailchimp couldn't deliver. Substack took a cut of revenue and lacked customization. Mailchimp was complex and expensive. Nobody offered a built-in referral program. Tyler saw the gap: give everyone access to the exact tools that made Morning Brew a monster.
Watch: Tyler Denk on My First Million - The Beehiiv Playbook
The Growth Story
Tyler Denk went from having 49 cents in his bank account to building a $30M revenue company in 4 years. But the journey started with a lesson in founder-market fit. While at Morning Brew, Tyler tried launching a crypto hardware wallet business on the side - without knowing anyone in crypto, owning any Bitcoin, or having any credibility in the space. He sold exactly 3 units and still has 997 in his basement.
The contrast with Beehiiv couldn't be sharper. As Morning Brew's second employee, Tyler had built the referral program that drove over 1 million subscribers. He knew the newsletter space intimately. When he launched Beehiiv with co-founders Benjamin Hargett and Jake Hurd (all ex-Morning Brew), he had what he calls the "kill shot": "I ran growth for the fastest-growing newsletter in the world. Now I'm building the tools for you."
For a year before launch, Tyler worked nights and weekends while at Google, building Beehiiv as a side project. But he didn't just build - he spent that year connecting with hundreds of newsletter creators on Twitter. He followed everyone talking about newsletters, DMed them, learned their pain points. By the time Beehiiv launched, Tyler had a waitlist of 400 highly-qualified leads who had already told him exactly what they needed.
The launch itself was scrappy. Tyler tweeted about a waitlist with "limited spots remaining" (a complete lie - there were unlimited spots). He used fake urgency and scarcity. But it worked: 400 signups. Then came the most counterintuitive move. Due to email security concerns, Tyler couldn't just let anyone blast emails. So he implemented the highest-friction signup ever: every user had to wait for manual approval.
Tyler turned this disadvantage into his biggest early growth lever. For every signup, he'd click through to their Twitter and LinkedIn, follow them, and send a personal DM: "Hey, I'm the co-founder. Thanks for signing up. Let me know how I can help." Users went from annoyed to amazed. Many followed him back and became superfans, amplifying everything Beehiiv shipped.
From the Founder
Key Growth Tactics
The Weekly Feature Drumbeat
At launch, Beehiiv had almost nothing. Users could send an email - barely. No automations, no customization, no features that competitors had. Tyler's solution: ship one marketable feature every single week. The key word is "marketable" - each feature had to pass the tweet test. If Tyler couldn't write a compelling tweet about it, it wasn't worth building yet.
Tyler prioritized features using a three-part framework: (1) Prevent churn - if a user threatens to leave, build what they need. (2) Unblock growth - when multiple prospects say "I can't switch until you have X," build X. (3) Maximum hype - features like the Morning Brew referral program or AI writing tools that generate buzz and spread organically.
Building in Public (The Investor Update Hack)
Tyler sends investor updates to 500+ people - including investors who passed on Beehiiv. This creates accountability, FOMO, and a way to nurture relationships without endless coffee meetings. The transparency paid off: Beehiiv raised their $12.5M Series A in just one week because investors had been following the journey for months.
Simple Pricing That Sells Itself
While competitors had complex pricing based on subscriber counts and email volume, Beehiiv launched with a dead-simple offer: $99/month for everything, unlimited emails. Was it the most optimal pricing model? No. But Tyler could explain it in a tweet. And in the early days, making it easy to say yes matters more than maximizing revenue per customer.
The Pump Channel
Every Beehiiv employee is distribution. New hires learn how to use social media to amplify the company. There's an internal Slack channel called "Pump" where any positive mention of Beehiiv gets shared. The entire team then engages - likes, retweets, replies. This grassroots amplification creates the impression that everyone is moving to Beehiiv.
Key Takeaways for Builders
- ✓Founder-market fit is your kill shot: Tyler's credibility from building Morning Brew's referral program (1M+ subscribers) made the pitch irresistible.
- ✓Talk to hundreds of customers before launch: Tyler spent a year DMing and connecting with newsletter creators on Twitter, understanding their exact pain points.
- ✓Turn your disadvantages into advantages: A high-friction manual approval process became a personal touchpoint - Tyler followed and DM'd every new user.
- ✓Ship one marketable feature every week: Work backwards from "what's the tweet?" to prioritize features that prevent churn, unblock growth, or generate hype.
- ✓Build in public and share investor updates widely: Transparent growth updates created FOMO, attracted investors, and raised their Series A in just one week.