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My First MillionHow To Grow A $75M Newsletter Business | Morning Brew Co-Founder (#398)
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CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 2:41
Morning Brew's Scale and College Origins
Austin Rief shares Morning Brew's current numbers and how he joined Alex Lieberman's early newsletter at Michigan. He explains why age and being in college kept them from raising venture capital, and how his parents' graduation condition shaped his path.
- •Morning Brew is at roughly $70-75M revenue with double-digit profit margin and about 250 people
- •Alex's first newsletter was a Word document PDF attached to an email, called Market Corner
- •Being in college meant no venture funding, which Austin credits for their success
- •A summer in investment banking pushed Austin to go full time
- •His parents agreed to the plan on the condition he graduated
- 2:41 – 7:41
Rivalry with The Hustle
Sam and Austin recall how they saw each other as enemies in the early newsletter days while studying each other's work. Austin describes printing out both newsletters daily and the write-grow-sell focus of 2018.
- •Austin first treated The Skimm as the enemy, then Sam
- •Sam admired Morning Brew's formatting and sales operation while resenting the comparison
- •Alex printed both newsletters daily and compared them line by line
- •The team tracked open rates on the 'great wall of opens' each day
- •Write, grow, sell was written on the wall
- 7:41 – 14:46
Horizontal vs. Vertical Strategies and Newsletter Frameworks
Austin explains why Morning Brew launched many newsletters while The Hustle verticalized, and how B2B pre-sales made new launches profitable. He lays out his three categories of newsletters and why niche 'Morning Brew for X' fits Shaan's Milk Road.
- •Morning Brew's general tone made a single brand hard to extend into events or subscriptions
- •B2B newsletters were breakeven before writers were hired thanks to pre-sold ads
- •Austin's three categories: editorial, aggregation, and Morning Brew for X
- •Consumer niches need high-dollar audiences; B2B is also strong
- •Industry Dive's model is simple but not easy because ad businesses are a grind
- 14:46 – 17:45
Ad Sales and the Brand Budget Black Box
After Shaan's story of a teenage ad seller crushing Milk Road sales, Sam and Austin trade stories about selling ads. Austin describes the shift from direct-response advertisers to big agency budgets and a million-dollar RFP from Discover.
- •Shaan's teenage ad seller from the Netherlands sold out Milk Road for months
- •Early Morning Brew ads were direct response, like Casper and Away
- •Big-brand media buying is relationship-driven and agency-heavy
- •Austin received a million-dollar RFP while living in his frat house
- •Brand lift and audience perception justify huge spends at scale
- 17:45 – 28:27
Operational Skill and Focusing on the Main Thing
Sam asks how Austin developed his operational and numbers-driven ability. Austin credits his business degree and banking summer, and the discussion turns to knowing and tracking the one metric that matters, with Austin's simple Excel growth math.
- •Austin credits accounting classes and a banking summer for understanding P&Ls and models
- •Austin says he is not an ideas guy but excels from one to 100
- •Shaan says founders who don't know their main number tend to fail
- •Austin's math: grow 50,000 subs a month with fixed costs
- •Costs were just people, growth marketing and an email service provider
- 28:27 – 33:25
Scrappy Early Growth and Hustle
Austin describes how they got their first subscribers by pitching in Michigan lecture halls and expanding to other campuses. He also talks about Alex's relentless cold outreach and the work ethic behind it.
- •Pitched Econ 101 lectures and collected every email personally
- •Typed in permutations of illegible emails to reach 10-15,000 at Michigan
- •Expanded to other colleges to reach 50,000 readers
- •Alex messaged 1,000 companies on LinkedIn to land advertisers
- •Austin grew up upper middle class near Baltimore
- 33:25 – 37:37
Selling at 25: Wealth, Rooms and Kid Rock
Austin describes the anticlimax of the wire arriving while he lived at his parents' house, and how early success opens doors. He tells stories of meeting celebrities, including a weekend at Kid Rock's ranch.
- •The sale wire hit while he was in his childhood bedroom during COVID
- •An early win gives confidence and access to any room
- •Spent a weekend at Kid Rock's ranch with tech and music people
- •Austin relays secondhand claims about Kid Rock's Nashville bar
- 37:37 – 41:27
Building a Network of Newsletter Alumni
Sam and Austin reflect on how their companies trained young, inexperienced people who went on to start their own ventures. Austin recalls the scrappy early days with no company computers and Friday sticker-packing sessions.
- •Early hires wanted to be entrepreneurs and joined to learn on the ground floor
- •Employees brought their own computers and had no healthcare early on
- •Friday assembly lines packed referral stickers and T-shirts
- •Alumni like Tyler Dank and Trung went on to build their own companies
- 41:27 – 45:35
No Regrets on Selling and Spending Philosophy
Austin explains why he doesn't regret selling part of the business and why taking half his chips off the table made sense. He describes his modest spending, avoidance of lifestyle creep, and mostly boring investment allocation.
- •Austin sold part of the business, retaining meaningful upside
- •Taking half the chips off the table lets him sleep well
- •His splurges were an Acura, a bigger apartment, and travel
- •Spends only on things he cares about to protect his wealth
- •Roughly 85-90% in boring index funds and bonds, 5-7% crypto, 5% venture
- 45:35 – 56:10
Business Ideas: Outsourced Talent and AI Rollups
Austin proposes that in a downturn people should help companies save money or help individuals earn side income. He pitches outsourced talent marketplaces and an AI newsletter paired with a holding company for small AI tools, and Shaan pushes back on durability.
- •Companies are now preserving money, which favors saving-money services
- •Austin co-owns an outsourced talent business sourcing from Sri Lanka at seven figures of ARR
- •Toptal and Shepherd mentioned as examples of bootstrapped marketplaces
- •Austin suggests a Morning Brew for AI and acquiring small AI tools
- •Shaan worries AI tools are not durable, comparing it to Thrasio
- •Austin is skeptical of AI wrapper startups at inflated valuations
- 56:10 – 1:01:17
Austin's Drive, Cooking and Definition of a Rich Life
Sam and Shaan probe Austin's competitive mindset, and Austin says his rich life is about time and travel. He describes managing a 250-person company by hiring all-stars and absorbing their knowledge.
- •Sam says Austin is the kind of founder he'd fear competing against
- •Austin is now obsessed with cooking
- •He defines wealth as controlling his time, with plans for a long trip
- •He chooses to spend his time on Morning Brew for now
- •He tries to learn from senior hires as quickly as possible
- 1:01:17 – 1:04:44
Sam's Abrasiveness and Radical Candor
Austin shares how his view of Sam changed from rude to admirably abrasive after working together. They discuss Sam's blunt style, and Shaan describes him as a hammer the podcast needs.
- •Austin tells a story of Sam bluntly telling a pitcher he didn't know why he was on the call
- •Austin sees radical candor as better than corporate politeness
- •Sam says he dislikes being called rude
- •Shaan says Sam's high standards are intimidating but good
- •Shaan compares Sam to a hammer
- 1:04:44 – 1:16:05
Storytelling, Public Speaking and Final Thoughts
Austin asks Shaan how much of his storytelling is natural, and Sam and Shaan trace it to talent, environment and practice. Shaan lists his methods, then the hosts ask Austin about the next decade, and he describes a barbell approach.
- •Shaan credits growing up around charismatic people, acting, and improv classes
- •He studies comedians and watches his own footage to improve
- •Shaan learned from Tony Robbins's rhythm and hooks
- •Austin plans to take improv in 2023 to improve at public speaking
- •In ten years, Austin wants either passive work or a multi-billion-dollar swing
