Founder stories
Milestone achieved July 2020. Current revenue not tracked.
Complete guide for starting, developing, and growing a blog or newsletter.
How Steph acquired customers
Tools used to build Doing Content Right
Steph leveraged her experience leading content at The Hustle to launch Doing Content Right, earning $40K in the first month.
Steph Smith led a 30-person publications team at The Hustle and operated 6 technical blogs (3 of which she launched), reaching 600K+ email subscribers and millions of monthly readers.
She helped create and scale Trends, a premium publication, to thousands of subscribers and millions in ARR in under two years, leading to an 8-figure acquisition.
Leveraging her expertise, she wrote and launched "Doing Content Right" - a complete manual for starting, developing, and growing a blog or newsletter.
The guide recorded $10,500 in pre-sales before launch and was later described by The Content Lab as making $40K+ from the ebook in one month. It has since sold thousands of copies and now bundles the book with exercises, recorded lessons, a quiz, audio material and community access.
Leverage experience from leading large teams to create educational products
Launch with multiple formats (book + exercises + Discord + videos + bonuses)
Price based on transformation value, not time to create
First-month ebook revenue of $40K+ validates strong market demand without treating one-time product sales as MRR
See what it covers before you sign up: the pattern worth copying, the channel to test, and the risk to avoid when you adapt this story.
First Customer
Twitter / X
Action checklist
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The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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