The Media Copilot From 400 Cities to 2,000: How 6AM City is building a newsletter empire with AI
Oct 3, 2025
Ryan Heafy, co-founder and COO of 6AM City, shares insights into revolutionizing local journalism by focusing on newsletters without the typical chaos. He discusses their impressive expansion from a handful of cities to over 410 markets, utilizing AI for responsible scaling while retaining human oversight. The conversation reveals their anti-scraping strategy for accurate reporting and the recent acquisition of AI startup Good Daily to enhance their tech infrastructure. Heafy emphasizes the future of personalized, modular content that adapts across multiple platforms.
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Seed-To-Profit Newsletter Lifecycle
- 6AM City treats newsletters as a funnel: AI-powered 'seed' markets can graduate to human-run 'core' markets.
- The company measures graduation by revenue thresholds and engagement to justify hiring local staff.
Use Clear Metrics To Graduate Markets
- Do use a revenue milestone (~$60,000/year) and engagement metrics to justify hiring local editorial and sales staff.
- Aim for ~20,000 subscribers with ~60% opens and ~13% clicks to prove market viability.
Build On Native Data, Not Scraped Content
- 6AM avoids building on 'rented land' by relying less on scraping other media and more on original data and partner content.
- They position newsletters as distribution for local businesses and verified data sources.