Thread by @JMatthewMcGarry

It's time to set the record straight.

@ShaanVP spread lies and misinformation about me on the My First Milion Podcast today.

Here's what actually happened:

First off, I don’t want to air out dry laundry in public.

But when Shaan Puri talks shit about you on a podcast with 100k+ downloads – I have no choice but to defend myself.

On to the story:

I worked with Shaan on Milk Road from Feb 2022 to Dec 2022.

I was the first hire. My job was to help them grow with paid ads.

It went great.

I drove over 163,000 subscribers with Facebook and TikTok ads.

During our best months, our cost per subscriber (CPA) was <$1.00.

(A $1 is extremely good)

I also set up their co-reg affiliate marketing - this drove 60k+ subscribers.

On the MFM pod today Shaan said this:

“There’s a guy [Matt McGarry] that worked for you and worked for us at Milk Road who’s telling every newsletter – ‘I’m the key to the growth of The Hustle, Milk Road, of everybody's f*cking newsletter company. I did it. I’m the best."

This is a gross exaggeration.

Here’s what I’ve actually said:

- I did paid growth for Milk Road and The Hustle.

- I’ve helped Milk Road grow from 10k subscribers to over 250k

- The paid growth I did for Milk Road drove over 85% of their growth

Shaan goes on to say…

“For us [Milk Road] this guy is massively overstating what he did.”

I’m not overstating. Those are the facts.

- 163,000+ subscribers from Facebook and TikTok ads
- 60,000+ subscribers from co-reg affiliate marketing

= 223,000+ subscribers from paid acquisition

That’s 89% of the 250,000 subscribers Milk Road had in Dec 2022.

Did I do everything for Milk Road?

No, and I never claimed to.

There’s more…

Shaan Puri:

“This guy does this sales deck that says like – ‘I did everything for Milk Road. I figured it all out. I did all these things.’ Is that legit? I’m like no.”

I don’t have a sales deck and never have.

I've only said what I actually did on Twitter & on client calls.

Shaan Puri:

“When we sold the company, he went and put up a Twitter thread saying: ‘Milk Road sold, and here are all the things that they do to grow’ “We asked him to take it down… he tried to say no again and I was like wow… that is insanely unprofessional”

I did write a thread about Milk Road’s growth after the sale was announced.

Here’s the link to read it: typefully.com/t/0JcyxIW

Shaan asked me to take it down.

I didn’t immediately then after a few back-and-forth messages I did.

Why did I post it and not delete it?

I was angry for 3 reasons:

1/ I wrote the thread immediately after seeing Shaan’s sale announcement thread and podcast.

In both, he mentions Milk Road’s “All Star Team”.

I didn’t even get a first name mention.

https://twitter.com/ShaanVP/status/1603544652438568960

I was the first hire. My work drove 85%+ of their subscribers.

Yeah, I was a contractor.

But another contractor was mentioned on this list too.

Early on, I was putting more work into Milk Road than my full-time job.

I felt like part of the team. But Shaan didn't see that.

2/ That same day Milk Road announced they were hiring my replacement

I was doing an incredible job. This came out of nowhere.

The job description was exactly what I did.

https://twitter.com/kendallsaville/status/1603390275631587328

3/ I never got a private “thank you” from Shaan or Milk Road.

Of the 25 newsletters I’ve worked with, Milk Road was the worst…

They were always demanding, and rarely grateful for anything.

I felt disrespected.

I knew I was burning bridges before posting the thread.

Yet, in the thread, I shared general information.

Nothing that could hurt Milk Road.

Back to Shaan’s lies in the podcast:

Shaan Puri: “More than 50% of our subscribers [for Milk Road] were organic.”

Not true. Not even close.

But to be fair, I don’t expect Shann to know the numbers well.

Milk Road was a part-time thing for him and he didn’t lead growth.

Shaan Puri: “He [Matt] was the one who has like… co-reg we should do this. And we tried it…”

I set VERY clear expectations about co-reg:

- It's cheap growth NOT a high-quality
- These subs have low intent and low CTR
- Test co-reg with a small percentage of our budget

Back to Shaan…

“Let’s test this co-reg thing… [To gauge subscriber quality] We sent them an email that said ‘If you read the Milk Road and you like it, reply’... I think we literally got like 3 replies.”

As expected.

I made it clear that co-reg was a way to get cheap subscribers.

It will not lead to high-quality subscribers, that click ads, reply, or buy products.

Then Shaan says something completely untrue:

“That same guy [Matt] goes and peddles that [co-reg] to all the other newsletters”

That’s just a lie or complete ignorance.

My agency GrowLetter has worked with 25+ newsletters.

We helped just 3 newsletters with co-reg.

I’m very clear on how to use co-reg.

And I don’t recommend it for 99% of newsletters.

Instead, GrowLetter helps newsletters get high-quality with Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok ads.

I wish I didn’t need to post this.

But in the small newsletter community, everybody knows everyone.

Shaan’s using his platform to make me look like a lying asshole.

It’s not true.

I’ve worked hard to help newsletters and share true information that actually helps people.