Every Tuesday, I send a newsletter with more on:
• Building an audience
• Earning a living as a creator
• Scaling a software company to $100M
Get a sneak peek and view my past issues here:
It's crazy to me that a college student and a billionaire own basically the same phone and laptop.
For all the inequality in the world, access to tech in the developed world is a remarkably level playing field.
It's crazy to me that a college student and a billionaire own basically the same phone and laptop.
For all the inequality in the world, access to tech in the developed world is a remarkably level playing field.
T-Mobile is acquiring Ryan Reynold's Mint Mobile for $1.35 billion.
Here are 6 things I learned from studying his work and why I think Ryan Reynolds (
@VancityReynolds
) is the greatest marketer alive today:
Struggling to connect on your remote team?
We’ve built a 68 person remote team that’s driving $29 million in annual revenue.
Here are 10 ideas for building great culture in a distributed team: 💻🌐
Struggling to connect on your remote team?
We've built a 67 person remote team that loves to work together while driving $29 million in annual revenue.
Here are 8 ideas we use for building a great culture in a distributed team:
💻🌐
10 years ago, I started my first SaaS company. In that time, I’ve grown it to $33.4 million in annual recurring revenue.
Here are 10 lessons I’ve learned over the last decade:
My SaaS business hit $1,500 MRR and then got stuck.
Until I learned an important trick…
Here’s the exact method I used to scale to $100k MRR in the next 12 months:
Did you know that 50% of motels in the United States are owned and operated by people of Indian origin?
This is the story about a Patel Motel Cartel.
It's my favorite example of hard work, community, and investing profits to build wealth.
Struggling to connect on your remote team?
We’ve built a 68 person remote team that’s driving $30 million in annual revenue.
Here are 10 ideas for building great culture in a distributed team: 💻🌐
Struggling to connect on your remote team?
We’ve built a 68 person remote team that’s driving $32 million in annual revenue.
Here are 10 ideas for building great culture in a distributed team:
💻🌐
In the last 5 years, we’ve paid $3.9 million in profit sharing to the ConvertKit team.
While most companies hope to return money to shareholders in a moonshot acquisition, we’ve created a unique model to help our team think like owners.
Here’s how our compensation model works:
Can you start a billion dollar blog?
In 2010 Emily Weiss, a fashion assistant at Vogue, started her own fashion blog. She bought a camera, domain, & 2 months later the site was live. Into the Gloss showcased the real-world beauty routines of fashion influencers & celebrities.
“...America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest..."
This Andy Warhol quote is fascinating to me:
My SaaS business hit $1,500 MRR and then got stuck.
Until I learned an important trick…
Here’s the exact method I used to scale to $100k MRR in the next 12 months:
Did you know that 50% of motels in the United States are owned and operated by people of Indian origin?
This is the story about a Patel Motel Cartel and it's my favorite example of hard work, community, and investing profits to build wealth.
You can buy basically the best phone available for $1,000. If you had $100,000 to spend there isn't anything that is really any better.
Same for computers.
We don't hear about the insane consumer tech of the ultra rich because everything is available at mass market prices.
In 2021, Spotify reached out to buy
@ConvertKit
for hundreds of millions.
I said no.
Instead we came up with an innovative way to get liquidity for our team:
It's crazy to me that a college student and a billionaire own basically the same phone and laptop.
For all the inequality in the world, access to tech in the developed world is a remarkably level playing field.
Gumroad is raising prices to 10% plus credit card processing fees in a month. There’s no need to pay 13% to sell digital products.
Check out ConvertKit Commerce to sell products for just 3.5%.
Comes with automation, landing pages, and more.
In the last 5 years, we’ve paid $3.9 million in profit sharing to the ConvertKit team.
While most companies hope to return money to shareholders in a moonshot acquisition, we’ve created a unique model to help our team think like owners.
Here’s how our compensation model works:
The difference between you and the creators you follow is they are creating while you are consuming.
Here are 13 tips to kickstart your creator journey:
With over $84 million in lifetime sales,
@ConvertKit
is my biggest product success—but it's far from my first product.
It's easy to share wins, but building in public means sharing the full journey. So here are the 10 products I created before hitting it big with ConvertKit:
⬇️
A billion dollar brand began with a blog:
Emily Weiss started her own fashion blog in 2010 back when she was an assistant at Vogue.
Into the Gloss showcased the real-world beauty routines of fashion influencers & celebrities.
The difference between you and the creators you follow is they are creating while you are consuming.
Here are 13 tips to make the switch from a consumer to a creator:
Now that COVID-19 is a full pandemic we know many creators will soon be in a tough spot.
Today at
@ConvertKit
we are announcing The Creator Fund: a $50,000 fund to help cover rent, childcare, medical expenses, or groceries for any creator who needs it.
ConvertKit just passed $100 million in lifetime sales.
It's easy to share wins, but building in public means sharing the full journey.
So here are the 10 products I created before hitting it big with
@ConvertKit
:
⬇️
My real estate strategy:
Buy 1 property per year.
Never sell.
Repeat for 30 years.
Sure, you can make money on a flip, but I much prefer building equity, appreciation, and cash flow by holding for the long term.
This is not to say that it's the same to be rich or poor—I know, I grew up poor.
But it's still remarkable that the very best consumer technology is broadly accessible to nearly everyone in the developed world.
My SaaS business hit $1,500 MRR and then got stuck.
Until I learned an important trick…
Here’s the exact method I used to scale to $100k MRR in the next 12 months:
Hiring managers: put the salary range in your job listing.
It saves everyone time, sets expectations up front, and avoids candidates feeling like it’s a bait and switch.
ConvertKit is about to cross $100m in total revenue.
It’s easy to share the wins, but building in public means sharing the losses too.
Here are the 10 products I launched before hitting it big:
Did you know that 50% of motels in the United States are owned and operated by people of Indian origin?
This is the story about a Patel Motel Cartel and it's my favorite example of hard work, community, and investing profits to build wealth.
In the last 6 years, we’ve paid $5.3 million in profit sharing to the ConvertKit team.
While most companies hope to return money to shareholders in a moonshot acquisition, we’ve created a unique model to help our team think like owners.
Here’s how our compensation model works:
For anyone thinking of investing in
@Gumroad
today you should know one thing:
The team that originally built Gumroad doesn't have equity.
They all lost it when Sahil tanked the company. You can't claim to be creator focused and not actually take care of creators.
Figma just sold for $20 Billion.
The highest price ever for a private SaaS company. An incredible 50x multiple their $400 million ARR.
Here are the 10 reasons Figma dominated the design world:
Just signed a contract to buy the house next to us! That means our farm is going from 4.5 to 9 acres.
We'll be working on turning it into a destination airbnb on the farm. Maybe a tiny house community as well.
Closes September 22nd!
Can you start a billion dollar blog?
In 2010 Emily Weiss, a fashion assistant at Vogue, started her own fashion blog. She bought a camera, domain, & 2 months later the site was live.
Into the Gloss showcased the real-world beauty routines of fashion influencers & celebrities.
My software company hit $1,500 MRR and then got stuck.
...Until I pivoted marketing tactics.
Here’s the exact method I used to scale to $100k MRR in the next 12 months:
Struggling to connect on your remote team?
We’ve built a 71 person remote team that’s driving $34 million in annual revenue.
Here are 10 ideas for building great culture in a distributed team:
💻🌐
Every professional should start an email list, but not everyone should write a weekly newsletter.
Here's what you should do instead:
1. Choose a topic that you know well. That could be UI design, real estate floor plans, buying businesses, e-commerce, or something else.…
You can buy basically the best phone available for $1,000. If you had $100,000 to spend there isn't anything that is really any better.
Same for computers.
We don't hear about the insane consumer tech of the ultra rich because everything is available at mass market prices.
The Ladders of Wealth Creation breaks an insanely complicated topic of building wealth into the component parts and skills to give you a roadmap of what to do first.
Look at this graphic, then we’ll break down each step.
On Monday I wanted to help fight the racism & police brutality systemic in our country, but felt that another social media post would be inadequate.
36 hours later 2 Black Lives Matter billboards went up in Boise with more on the way.
Here’s what I learned in the process:
I was the first indie creator to cross $10k in sales on Gumroad.
But when they stopped improving the platform, I built my own.
Here are 6 things you'll love about ConvertKit Commerce:
InVision announced last week they are laying off 50% of their team (400+ people).
They definitely made missteps as a company. But from the outside it seems like Figma completely ate their lunch.
What made Figma so successful?
Have you ever had someone apply to a job who seemed too good to be true?
For the last 18 months we've had dozens of fake applications to our roles. All with stellar resumes, all created by the same person (we think).
The level effort is insane.
⬇️
Set a Daily “Make Something” Goal
Grab a sticky note and write “make something today"--stick it to your computer monitor.
Your goal is simply to make something--anything--every single day.
Set the bar low and make it achievable.
Creation will start to become a habit.
Apple’s original iPod shipped in November of 2011 just 290 days after Tony Fadell was hired to create it in January of that year.
A surprising number of other well-known projects were accomplished in an incredibly short amount of time.
Here are some of my favorites:
I sold 1% which was enough for Hilary & I to retire our parents. We gave them money to accelerate their retirement to today rather than 5 years from now.
Those conversations were special.
My step-dad passed away 4 months later. He died knowing my mom was 100% taken care of.
It blows me away how big our market is. MailChimp is at $1 billion in annual revenue.
That means at $34 million ConvertKit is 3.4% of their revenue.
Not 34%, 3.4%.
I’m excited to announce we just acquired
@SparkLoopHQ
which is going to allow creators to make a living in a totally new way.
Here’s why this acquisition is a game changer for the creator economy:
Today it hit me: I started a business that makes $100,000 a day.
That's pretty wild.
Even more special to me is that it helps 50,000+ creators earn their living.
In the last 7 years, we’ve paid $6.9 million in profit sharing to the ConvertKit team.
While most companies hope to return money to shareholders in a moonshot acquisition, we’ve created a unique model to help our team think like owners.
Here’s how our compensation model works:
.
@ConvertKit
just crossed $19M ARR!
At the beginning of the year we set $20M as our goal & it seemed like a stretch. Now we have 52 days for $83,333 in MRR ($1,600 per day).
We're close, but going to have to pick up the pace to make it happen!
Anyone ready to switch to us?
Separate Creation & Consumption
Computers are for creating, not consuming.
Go to all your social sites and sign out. Set up your computer as your creation hub.
Use your phone or tablet for consumption.
One device is used for creating, the other for consuming.
When it comes to goal-setting, we usually ask ourselves:
“What do I want?”
I propose adding more nuance with two more questions…
• What are my values?
• What do I want?
• Who will I have to become to achieve it?
With over $128 million in lifetime sales,
@ConvertKit
is my biggest product success—but it's far from my first product.
It's easy to share wins but building in public means sharing the full journey.
Here are the 10 products I created before hitting it big with
@ConvertKit
:
⬇️
We just raised salaries again at
@ConvertKit
. We now pay at the 75th percentile for tech companies in the US.
My favorite thing is team members who have grown their careers with CK as we've grown. Plenty who started at $40-50k and now earn $140k+.
The craziest thing I own is a small portion of a California ghost town called Cerro Gordo.
A few early investors wanted to sell their shares, so I just spent ~$200k to buy them out and invest in restoring the town.