1) Expanding on the newsletter as a SaaS product with my 3 learnings.
I have been a SaaS investor for most of my investment career. While writing a paid newsletter might seem like a little out of left field, to me, it is the MVP way in which I've been creating a SaaS product.
I have been a SaaS investor for most of my investment career. While writing a paid newsletter might seem like a little out of left field, to me, it is the MVP way in which I've been creating a SaaS product.
2) My focus has moved from product creation to marketing, to sales conversion and to churn management in the last 10 months.
I think this view of the newsletter as knowledge-as-a-service will gain more prevalent traction in the future. (It is a known concept in China - 知识付费)
I think this view of the newsletter as knowledge-as-a-service will gain more prevalent traction in the future. (It is a known concept in China - 知识付费)
3) Learning 1: Twitter as the top of the funnel is a great place to start. There's a match in conversion. People are used to reading here, it's not a jump to convince them to read more in longform.
But as that yield decrease (as it always does with marketing channels)..
But as that yield decrease (as it always does with marketing channels)..
4) it works to move into other mediums to more additional promotions. Ideally, podcasts since that's also a substitute for information absorption.
I'm playing around with Youtube but not convinced about the conversion there.
I'm playing around with Youtube but not convinced about the conversion there.
5) Learning 2: Charge more.
That's always what I was telling to SaaS companies. If you can charge more, that means you have a defensible product since the price is not the concern for adoption.
The price elasticity of demand is different for every genre, so research is needed
That's always what I was telling to SaaS companies. If you can charge more, that means you have a defensible product since the price is not the concern for adoption.
The price elasticity of demand is different for every genre, so research is needed
6) Charging more also means you're limiting your demand and that is a good thing.
What takes an SMB SaaS often out is the volume of customer demand relative to their serving capacity. Charging more and keeping your service base management is actually smart for a one-man band
What takes an SMB SaaS often out is the volume of customer demand relative to their serving capacity. Charging more and keeping your service base management is actually smart for a one-man band
7) There's a lot of emotional labour needed for customer support which is orthogonal to the deep work needed for newsletter writing. The less of it for a writer, the better
https://twitter.com/lillianmli/status/1410521116729241601
8) Learning 3: Churn is what will kill you
I'm still trying to get on top of this, but I think it's terrible that the stereotypical 5-7% churn per month is taken as given in the newsletter world right now.
That means you need to grow 5% a month just to stay still.
I'm still trying to get on top of this, but I think it's terrible that the stereotypical 5-7% churn per month is taken as given in the newsletter world right now.
That means you need to grow 5% a month just to stay still.
9) That's why the first thing you reach PMF traction should be ways to think about making your product sticky. Most people opt for community offerings or now job boards. All good things.
But second-order effects is even quicker newsletter fatigue. So what people aren't doing?
But second-order effects is even quicker newsletter fatigue. So what people aren't doing?
10) In summary:
- Work out a stable top of the funnel but always be working to find new ones
- Charge more, spend less time on customer service. Winning
- Focus on churn, it is the silent killer in the long run since the constant running leads to fast burn-out
- Work out a stable top of the funnel but always be working to find new ones
- Charge more, spend less time on customer service. Winning
- Focus on churn, it is the silent killer in the long run since the constant running leads to fast burn-out
11) I'm not saying I've figured it out. I'm currently 8 on the paid technology substack rankings. Plenty of people ahead of me.
Figure out what works for you.
While we see the growth paths from the top 0.001%, assume that trend will not be you. It will keep you saner that way
Figure out what works for you.
While we see the growth paths from the top 0.001%, assume that trend will not be you. It will keep you saner that way
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
