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Hey!

I want this newsletter to truly help you. And to do that, I need to know:

Here's what's percolating in today's edition:

→ A newsletter flywheel earning $50M/yr
→ 5 new email subject line test (and the results)
→ He earned an extra $300/wk with one sign-up form tweak
→ 6 best ways to monetize your newsletter in 2026
→ A Dad joke in the PS.

Also a shoutout to the Seattle Seahawks for redeeming themselves from 2015. If you know, you know.

This Newsletter Flywheel
​Makes $50M per Year.

We interviewed Matt Paulson — CEO of MarketBeat.

MarketBeat is a $50M/yr media business—with a newsletter (multiple newsletters, actually) at its core.

And you can't run a $50M media business without figuring out one critical factor:

How to scale.

Safe to say they've figured it out. And now they're doing it on 'Easy' mode.

Matt & his team have built a flywheel that basically prints money. This particular quote had me:

MarketBeat is playing 3D chess while we're all struggling at newsletter checkers.

Here's how they're doing it.

3D CHESS STRATEGY #1:
​MULTIPLE OPT-INS

What happens when a user lands on your newsletter sign-up page?

Maybe they subscribe to your newsletter? If they do, you thank them, send them a welcome email, and move on.

NOT MARKETBEAT THO.

One of their key strategies is getting MULTIPLE opt-ins when a new subscriber is still "hot".

Matt told us that when they get a new subscriber, they're also trying to get...

→ their phone number (for SMS marketing)
→ them on their other newsletter (American Market News)
→ a push notification opt-in

Matt's rationale for all these opt-ins?

The math checks out.

3D CHESS STRATEGY #2:
​THE "CRAZY" ONBOARDING FUNNEL

Then what happens next is where all the paid ad dollars are earned back.

Matt calls it their "crazy funnel".

After sign-up, new subscribers receive targeted offers for other MarketBeat products and lead magnets.

Here are a few examples:

Notice the form above doesn't even have an email address option? You have to provide your phone number for access.

MarketBeat isn't just bullish on SMS marketing. They are ALL IN. More on that shortly.

And after you whizz through these 4-5 pages, you may be sent to another piece of MarketBeat content or a resource page.

But for the sake of this write-up, I scrolled through and was sent to one of their partners' pages (TradingPub):

Alright I can feel the eye-rolls from this side of the keyboard. Don't judge, though. My whole point in sharing this is to bring to light different newsletter revenue streams to try.

And I get it.

Post sign-up flows like this might not be your cup of tea. But there are people out there taking big sips—and making meaningful revenue doing so.

WHO SHOULD TRY THIS?

My final take on it:

→ if you're running paid growth campaigns, you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't have a "crazy funnel" post sign-up.

Why?

These flows can offset subscriber acquisition costs from Day 1—which means more money to invest in growth.

It's worked for MarketBeat. And many others.

3D CHESS STRATEGY #3:
​THE SMS MONEY BUTTON

I teased phone numbers & SMS earlier. And here's why.

Matt told us that 33% of their revenue comes from SMS marketing. That's ~$16.5M from text messaging 🤯

No wonder they're trying so hard to get your phone number:

While it costs money to send out SMS messages, Matt says they make between $5,000-10,000 per send.

(Keep in mind they have ~400,000 phone numbers to send to. This costs them approximately $2,000 per send.)

To be clear, MarketBeat isn't sending out generic content updates with SMS—they're advertising. Matt said that's the only way SMS makes financial sense for them.

GET THE WHOLE STORY

Matt shares all this and a lot more in our chat with him.

My biggest takeaways from our chat with Matt:
​
1) Organic social media sucks work for growth (not scalable).
2) 33% of their revenue is from a revenue stream NOBODY talks about.
3) The Hub & Spoke newsletter model is broken—and Matt's solution is better.

​WATCH || LISTEN​

Can I ask a small favor?

These episodes are free to watch but cost us time & money to create.

It would go a LONG way if you could like or comment on the LinkedIn post so we can get them in front of more people!
(It's the post below 😁🙏)

Newsletter Hits
Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others I think you'll enjoy.

⚡5 New Email Subject Line Tests—and the results →​

⚡Hire newsletter talent without posting a job →
​(or join the talent waitlist)

⚡Adding ONE extra field on his sign-up form earned him $300+ more per week →

⚡ 6 Best Ways To Monetize Your Newsletter in 2026 →

The most-clicked link from last week ��

⚡ Stop making sh*tty PDF lead magnets. Here's the better way (from a guy with 10K email subs from IG) →

Growing a newsletter
​can be slow & lonely.

So build your newsletter faster.
With our help.

Come hang out with me & Chenell.

Join us Newsletter Nerds in the Growth In Reverse PRO Community →​

GIR Pro is a private online community for newsletter creators and operators like you and me.

A few reasons why GIR Pro kicks ass:

→ Learn from experts with our live Creator Sessions.
→ Hop on a Hot Seat with Chenell to solve newsletter & business challenges.
→ Get instant, free access to all of Chenell's products and courses—including The Growth Vault.
→ Get quick feedback on landing pages, posts, newsletter issues, from me, Chenell, and our members.
→ Hang out with us IRL at exclusive Pro meetups (like we're doing in Austin at the New Media Summit)

​Join GIR Pro →​

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Here are a few ways I can help:

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See you in the inbox,

Dylan

​LinkedIn | Twitter | Substack | IG

PS - I left this PS blank last week. Whoops! We can't all pe berfect.

To make up for it, here's a dad joke for you:

When does a joke become a dad joke?
​When the punchline becomes apparent.

badum-tisssss 🥁

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​.​