Founder stories
$1K MRRin 2 years
Growth Engineer Launches Tech Analysis Newsletter, Builds $3M Business
Founder
Ben Thompson
Solo Founder•Technical•USA
Commitment
Full-timeExperience
First-timeProduct
Paid newsletter analyzing technology and strategy.
Type
Info ProductIndustry
Content CreationModel
One-time PaymentMarketing Strategy
How Ben acquired customers
Primary Channel
SEO / Content
Tech Stack
Tools used to build Stratechery
WordPressEmail deliveryPayment processing
The Full Story
Ben Thompson founded Stratechery in March 2013 from Taipei while working at Automattic.
Accidental Format
He introduced paid daily updates in 2014. The login was buggy, so he sent posts via email - accidentally creating his signature format.
Threshold
By January 2015, he had 2,000+ paid subscribers, enabling full-time work on Stratechery.
- Paid subscribers at full-time: 2,000+
- Current subscribers: 40,000+
- Annual revenue: ~$3M
Key Takeaways
1
Sometimes bugs lead to better solutions (email delivery vs web login)
2
Simplify pricing tiers based on what works
3
Deep tech industry analysis commands premium pricing ($100-300/year)
4
2,000 paid subscribers was the threshold to go full-time
Originally published onThought Leader
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