Tyler Denk is the co-founder and CEO of newsletter platform Beehiiv, and was the second employee at Morning Brew. We talk about newsletters, creators, running a startup, standing out, taking the path less traveled, ambition, authenticity, and uniqueness.
—
(00:46) Why build a newsletter platform & not another Morning Brew-like newsletter
(01:48) VC, bootstrapping, and being able to focus on building
(05:00) Market insights the incumbents didn’t have
(07:35) Biggest problems for creators today across creation, distribution, and monetization
(09:41) Being adaptable in supporting creators
(13:16) The biggest problems in podcasting
(16:53) Quality, trust, entertainment & analysis as a moat for creators in the age of AI
(19:22) Individuals vs institutions
(21:28) Email allows you to own distribution
(25:09) Overlooked or under-appreciated parts of being a CEO
(27:59) Ride the wave of hunger & ambition while you’re young & free
(32:18) Is passion portable & the importance of luck and opportunity
(34:18) Being in over your head & choosing the more difficult path
(38:32) Comfort vs. stress
(41:59) Credentialism vs. proof of work
(45:54) The importance of ignorance & naïveté
(48:15) Retaining authenticity & getting in the weeds
(51:04) Problems in the music industry
(53:08) What are you uniquely positioned to do
—
Tyler’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/denk_tweets
Beehiiv: https://beehiiv.com/
Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R
Spencer’s Blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com
