#348: Tyler Denk of Beehiiv, on Building in Public, Growing 55% MoM, and Quick Adaptability to Compete with Big Tech

Tyler Denk is the co-founder and CEO of beehiiv, a newsletter platform to fuel creators and publishers' ability to create, monetize, and grow their audience.

While in undergrad at the University of Maryland, Tyler Denk became a self-taught software developer and launched his first startup, VentureStorm—a web application that connected entrepreneurs and startups to talented software developers.

After exiting VentureStorm, Tyler continued to work with startups by building and integrating innovative technology solutions to stimulate growth and exceed various KPIs. He joined Morning Brew as the second employee in a role that spanned engineering, product, and growth—responsible for building the renowned referral program and bespoke tech ecosystem that facilitated the company to scale to a successful $75m exit in 2020.

After a stint at Google as a Product Lead at YouTube Music, he left to co-found beehiiv, which is approaching $1M ARR and has averaged 55% MoM growth since launch in 2021. On the side, he enjoys building cool projects, most recently Big Desk Energy (popular Spotify playlist + web destination).

Topics Covered by Tyler Denk in this Episode

• What beehiiv is and Tyler’s journey to founding it
• How Tyler approached growing Morning Brew’s newsletter
• Beehiiv’s initial vision and what’s next
• Beehiiv’s business model and how their ad network plays in
• Early customer acquisition and growth
• Leaning into their backstory to fundraise with big tech as their new competitors
• The process of onboarding strategic angel investors
• Tyler’s perspective on building in public
• Getting Morning Brew’s co-founders as an investor and advisor
• Tyler’s perspective shift to becoming a big advocate for remote work
• Achieving “feature parity” and competing for ad dollars with Google and Facebook
• Finding direction when developing features
• What differentiates beehiiv
• Tyler’s advice for people starting newsletters

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