Inside the beehiiv Playbook with Tyler Denk, Co-founder and CEO

Sep 5, 2024

Tyler Denk, Co-founder and CEO of beehiiv, shares his journey from being the second employee at Morning Brew to building a successful newsletter platform. He discusses scaling to 3.5 million subscribers and the $75 million exit to Business Insider. Tyler reveals the secrets behind beehiiv’s rapid growth, including their unique no-meeting days and innovative product positioning. He also reflects on the challenges of remote team dynamics, a significant loss in his co-founding team, and lessons learned during unexpected crises.

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Intro

00:00 • 2min

Navigating the Startup Landscape

02:19 • 17min

From Startup to Corporate: A Reflective Journey

19:04 • 7min

Navigating the Newsletter Landscape

26:26 • 19min

Navigating Seed Funding and Startup Growth

45:19 • 12min

Navigating Remote Work Dynamics

57:27 • 24min

Strategies for Agile Product Development

01:21:05 • 4min

Navigating Crisis and Self-Care in Startup Life

01:25:25 • 7min

The Evolution of a Collaborative Spotify Playlist

01:32:21 • 2min

Building a Strong Startup Team

01:34:18 • 10min

The Freedom of Remote Work and Family Dynamics

01:43:49 • 3min

Tyler Denk is the Co-founder and CEO of beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth.

We go inside beehiiv’s early days, including joining MorningBrew as the second employee, lessons scaling to 3.5 million subscribers, the $75 million sale to Business Insider, and why I didn’t invest in beehiiv despite being an early customer.

Tyler takes us inside the playbook that grew to $1.5m in monthly revenue in less than three years, including how they first positioned the product in a crowded market, how beehiiv ships so fast, when a co-founder passing away less than one year into building the business, and the day GoDaddy took the entire beehiiv platform offline for 8 hours.

Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(01:36) Why Turner didn’t invest in beehiiv (twice)
(03:04) Joining MorningBrew as the first employee
(15:28) Why newsletters are so powerful
(19:40) Scaling MorningBrew to 3.5 million subscribers and exiting to Business Insider
(23:14) Difference between startups and big companies
(26:26) Why beehiiv has two days of no meetings
(27:53) The initial insight to start beehiiv
(35:39) Building a programmatic newsletter ad marketplace
(39:52) Dissecting beehiiv’s nearly $20m rev run rate business model
(45:21) Inside beehiiv’s first funding round
(46:58) Where Turner’s reference check went wrong
(50:45) Litquidity and beehiiv’s initial product positioning
(52:59) How beehiiv builds in public
(57:41) Banning meetings two days per week
(01:00:13) Why the best remote teams always beat in-person
(01:06:19) The impact of a co-founder dying one year into the business
(01:11:50) Raising a Series A despite operating at breakeven
(01:16:14) Why Tyler writes public investor updates
(01:21:04) Moving fast, and “why perfect kills all momentum”
(01:26:03) When GoDaddy took beehiiv down for 8 hours
(01:29:57) Why Tyler writes a newsletter
(01:32:21) His Big Desk Energy Spotify playlist
(01:36:08) Why you never regret firing bad hires
(01:39:53) Looking up to Elon and Brian Chesky
(01:41:34) Monk mode in Columbia

Referenced
The Power of Investor Updates: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/power-investor-updates
beehiiv’s old investor updates: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/c/beehiiv-investor-journey
The BDE Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP

Where to find Tyler
Twitter: https://twitter.com/denk_tweets
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-denk
Newsletter: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com

Where to find Turner
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak
Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it