Alex Lieberman, Morning Brew // Building A Digital Media Empire, Growth Playbooks + A $75mil Sale

Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders

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

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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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