My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/

When Matthew Schniper launched his Colorado Springs food newsletter in 2023, he ran into a problem many local news entrepreneurs face: he didn’t have enough time to do his reporting and chase down advertisers.

Luckily, by that point he already had strong relationships in the Colorado Springs food scene, and so he approached 12 of his favorite restaurants with an interesting proposition: if they came on as annual sponsors, he would go above and beyond to feature them in his newsletter, and he wouldn’t allow any other local businesses to advertise. This allowed him to focus on his reporting and not waste time on sales calls. The experiment was so successful that over half of the restaurants have already renewed for a second year.

In a recent interview, Matthew explained how he came up with the idea, what services he provides for these 12 restaurants, and why he thinks his model can be replicated by other local news startups.