I started my marketing newsletter, Cognition, in 2022.
It took me three years to build an email list of 2000 organically with a social capital of 10000 across platforms.
I launched my personal newsletter 20 months later. It took me six months to reach the first 500 subscribers.
Five months ago, Aravind and I launched Caffeineletter - a newsletter for Indians who love coffee and wish to brew café-like coffee at home.
We acquired 100 subscribers in the last 30 days.
What changed from the first newsletter to today?
Iterations.
When I started Cognition, newsletters were not as popular as they are today. I didn't know how they're different from social media, blogs, or any other form.
But when we started Caffeineletter, we had:
Systems to validate idea
Knowing what metrics to focus
Way better understanding of what works
I tried out about 20 marketing methods to grow Cognition. With Caffeineletter, it's three: social media, cold dms, ads.
As a marketer, I now understand where not to focus the energy and money. This is a result of building and studying newsletters day in and day out - mine, clients', and every email I read.
We wildly underestimate the exponential results of iterations.