Newsletter & Email Growth: Growth In Reverse Lessons From Building a $100M Newsletter Empire—with Sean Griffey of Industry Dive
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Nov 5, 2025 In this engaging chat, Sean Griffey, co-founder of Industry Dive, shares insights on scaling a B2B newsletter empire that grew from five publications to a $500 million sale. He discusses the importance of organic audience growth over paid strategies and reveals how initial failures turned into pivotal successes. Sean emphasizes hiring the right editorial talent, leveraging LinkedIn groups for early growth, and the significance of quality first-party data. He remains optimistic about the future of newsletters, highlighting AI's potential to enhance community-focused products.
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Launching Multiple Niches At Day One
- Sean Griffey launched Industry Dive in 2012 with five daily niche publications despite having only three founders and freelancers.
- They accepted the early low quality as tradeoff to prove niche scale could build a large business.
A Bad Story Proved The Newsletter Mattered
- Industry Dive didn't see traction for about a year before a mistaken utility story proved they mattered.
- The angry PR calls showed their newsletters drove real attention and influence in industries.
Be In Many Channels Always
- Use many audience channels because what works today won't work tomorrow; be present in 20 channels and iterate constantly.
- In early days, buy or leverage existing communities to jumpstart acquisition when available.