Alex Lieberman is the co-founder & CEO of Morning Brew. They're a leading new media startup with over 2.7mil newsletter subscribers, making them one of the largest daily newsletters around.

Alex & his co-founder sold a majority stake in the business to Insider Inc for a reported $75mil in Oct 2020.

After listening to this conversation, you'll understand:

• growing from a newsletter to a full-on media business
• 3 step audience funnel: rented, owned + monetized
• hub + spoke model
• how they got their first 1000 subscribers by doing things that don't scale
• growth stages: from 1k to 10k, 100k and 1mil+ subscribers
• how to grow through email swaps, paid ads + partnerships
• a framework to reinvent old formats like Shark Tank or QVC

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/businessbarista

Watch with visuals referenced on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/12KYBLPvEIg

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Preview + What You’ll Learn
• 0:02:17 - Sponsor Break
• 0:03:08 - Interview Start
• 0:03:44 - Grandma Likes Morning Brew
• 0:04:59 - Growing From Newsletter To Media Brand
• 0:07:23 - Acquired For Reported $75mil By Insider Inc
• 0:08:21 - Scale of Morning Brew: 2.7mil subscribers
• 0:11:28 - Audience Building Done Well
• 0:14:02 - Audience Funnel: Rented, Owned, Monetized
• 0:17:39 - “Who Is This NOT For?”
• 0:21:47 - Audience ≠ Distribution
• 0:25:25 - Unwritten Contract With An Audience
• 0:26:27 - Focus vs Breadth of Interests
• 0:29:05 - Ask Yourself Why 3x
• 0:33:14 - Hub & Spoke Model For Audience
• 0:38:23 - Getting First 1000 Subscribers + Growing Through Referrals
• 0:41:10 - Stages of Growth From 1k to 100k to 1mil
• 0:43:42 - When To Grow Through Paid Ads
• 0:47:20 - Growing Through E-Mail Swaps + Paid Ads
• 0:49:28 - Programmatic E-Mail Ads
• 0:50:43 - Snapchat Ads, YouTube Influencers + Channels That Worked
• 0:53:23 - Cross Promotion + Strategic Partnerships
• 0:55:59 - Signals Of Consumer Intent From E-Mail Clicks
• 1:00:13 - Multimedia + How To Grow A Podcast
• 1:02:11 - Re-Inventing What Worked In Legacy Media Business
• 1:05:05 - Macro + Micro Of Promotion
• 1:08:07 - 3 Types Of Content That Work Well For Podcast
• 1:08:38 - Timely News Hooks
• 1:10:26 - Evergreen “Service Content” - Solve Problem or Passion
• 1:13:35 - Vulnerable Content + Imposter Syndrome
• 1:19:04 - Future Of Monetization
• 1:24:14 - Talent vs Learned Skill
• 1:26:00 - Jay-Z, Mr. Beast + Ownership
• 1:30:03 - Building A Writing Habit + Ship 30 For 30
• 1:32:13 - Accountability
• 1:35:11 - Business Idea: Shark Tank For The Digital Age
• 1:39:09 - Re-inventing old formats: QVC + who wants to be a millionaire
• 1:42:51 - Dealing With Bad Times + His Dad’s Loss
• 1:48:01 - Survivor Guilt

Thank you to our sponsors:

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http://www.JoinSpace.co

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Dru Riley is the founder of Trends.vc, a community + newsletter that helps 35,000 entrepreneurs discover new markets + ideas.

Trends makes tens of thousands of dollars/month in subscription revenue + was ranked "Product of The Month" on Product Hunt.

In this conversation you'll learn about:

– the meta-trends behind what Dru writes about, the things that don't change, after studying the things that do change

– democratization, positive-sum networks + fractional ownership

– trends he's excited about including: DeFi (decentralized finance) + DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) and NFTs (non-fungible tokens)

– the 80/20 of his research + editing process, including how he processed 172 podcasts for 1 recent report

– we go behind the mind & discuss some of his rules for life, we touch on incentives, stories + courage

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/DruRly

Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/q5rdqLzy-Gw

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Preview
• 0:02:46 - Intro To Dru + Trends
• 0:04:57 - Scale of Trends
• 0:05:39 - Software Engineering Background + Knowing When To Leave
• 0:08:14 - Starting Books In The Middle
• 0:11:46 - Making First $15 after saving up $250k
• 0:21:00 - Rejecting An Offer Of Investment
• 0:22:22 - Decision Dilution + Stakeholder Types
• 0:25:14 - Content vs Trust Treadmill
• 0:26:01 - Refining Like A Standup Comedian
• 0:28:34 - Signals To Look For In Feedback
• 0:31:37 - Meta-trends
• 0:33:45 - Democratization
• 0:36:18 - Ability To Build Smaller
• 0:38:06 - Coders vs Builders - “Code Is Being Commoditized”
• 0:40:57 - Decentralization
• 0:43:06 - Positive Sum Networks
• 0:45:26 - What are DAOs (decentralized autonomous orgs)
• 0:46:53 - Fractional Ownership
• 0:48:45 - NFTs
• 0:51:41 - Direct To Consumer
• 0:52:44 - Research + Writing Process
• 0:54:57 - Processing 172 Podcasts
• 0:59:10 - Podcast Speed + Dopamine Hits
• 1:02:15 - Edit - “How Many, How Much”
• 1:03:52 - Filtering Feedback
• 1:05:49 - Constraints
• 1:08:34 - Starting From Scratch Today
• 1:11:37 - Behind The Mind - 100 Rules To Live By
• 1:12:15 - Hard choices easy life. Easy choices hard life.
• 1:13:05 - Think Grey, Not Black + White - Annie Duke
• 1:14:09 - Stories vs Insight
• 1:16:59 - Incentives
• 1:17:56 - “Life Is Short, Not Fair”
• 1:19:27 - Don’t Try To Change Someone’s Worldview
• 1:21:20 - “It’s Not About The Bag”
• 1:23:24 - Memento Mori
• 1:24:29 - Life Is Not Baseball - Play Asymmetric Games
• 1:25:23 - Courage

Thank you to our sponsors:

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup:
http://www.microacquire.com

Lexi Lewtan the founder of Centered, where she's building the Masterclass for Mental Health.

Previously she ran operations for AngelList's Talent Platform, scaling it from zero to $20m
in revenue.

She has a deep background in the startup world, previously working at Hired & betaworks.

In this conversation you'll learn:

• lessons in recruiting & the 80/20 of hiring
• the business model behind AngelList Talent & Hired
• tools to help you deal with focus, anxiety, depression & work stress
• the difference between CBT & DBT
• why depression feels like playing life on "hard mode"

Let us know what you think on Twitter, I'm @bzaidi and she's @lexilewtan

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Preview
• 00:02:12 Lexi Intro – Betaworks, Hired, AngelList, Centered
• 00:03:36 Hired Raised $150mil – What Went Wrong?
• 00:07:23 Moving to AngelList
• 00:09:34 Superpower
• 00:12:24 Experiments at AngelList
• 00:15:50 Hiring Pricing Model – 15% of salary vs flat fee
• 00:21:30 Lessons In Recruiting
• 00:23:54 Scraping & Growth Hacking
• 00:26:57 80/20 Of Recruiting
• 00:29:35 Advice To New Grads
• 00:33:46 Centered Origin Story
• 00:35:57 CBT vs DBT
• 00:40:17 Tools For Mental Health
• 00:42:54 Focus: Planned Obsolescence
• 00:44:45 Motivation + Values
• 00:48:04 Tool for managing anxiety – “shut the door”
• 00:49:28 Managing Depression
• 00:51:00 Inner Child Exercises
• 00:53:37 Journaling
• 00:56:08 “Life Becomes Hard Mode” - Defining Depression
• 00:59:55 Future Of Mental Health

Thank you to our sponsors:

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup:
http://www.microacquire.com

Jake Gibson is the co-founder of NerdWallet & Founding Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, a $75mil venture fund, investing in the future of Fintech alongside Sheel Mohnot.

He's been involved in fintech for over a decade. Prior to NerdWallet, he studied math and quantitative finance at MIT and traded interest rate derivatives at JPMorgan.

Let us know what you think on Twitter: @bzaidi & @iamjakestream

Full video with timestamps on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/s-Tcuootl7s

In this conversation we discuss:

• NerdWallet's business model + growing to a $500mil+ valuation
• the transition from founder to investor + the 80/20 of investing
• mental models to figure out your next step
• why "everything is fintech" + examples of this thesis
• DeFi, NFTs, stock market highs & ideas from a global fintech market

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Preview
• 00:02:20 Intro To Jake + Nerdwallet
• 00:06:57 Nerdwallet Deep Dive + $500mil Valuation
• 00:15:02 Opportunity: Nerdwallet Model In Other Verticals
• 00:18:40 Audience First Business in 2021
• 00:22:24 Trend: Audience Business Selling To Software Companies
• 00:26:09 Founder To Investor
• 00:31:12 Mental Model For Thinking About Next Step
• 00:35:29 "I want to be rich" - more context
• 00:39:48 Finding Motivation In Struggles
• 00:42:43 Role of Luck, Golden Handcuffs + Lifestyle Creep
• 00:48:51 80/20 of investing
• 00:51:31 "Everything Is Fintech" - Raising A $75mil Fund
• 00:56:04 Starting A Neo Bank
• 00:57:48 Fintech Opportunity In Ridesharing, Tesla & Airbnb
• 01:02:37 Facebook + Whatsapp Payments
• 01:03:06 Asia Market + WeChat Model
• 01:05:24 Problem vs Product…Verb vs Noun
• 01:10:54 Jake's Take on DeFi
• 01:16:40 NFTs + NBA Top Shots
• 01:20:59 Tesla's Balance Sheet
• 01:23:00 Elon + Chamath: Meme Masters
• 01:23:19 Global Market Ideas
• 01:29:09 Why Do We Have Stock Market Highs?
• 01:31:54 Investing Advice To A 25yr Old