You don’t hire someone to grow your newsletter and expect their first move to be cutting your distribution list in half.
And yet, that’s exactly what Tyler Denk did at Morning Brew.
Because he understood that a newsletter strategy doesn’t mean just sending to a faceless list. Great content is about getting people to choose to read.
A lot of B2B newsletters look healthy on paper: consistent sends, decent list size, the box gets checked every week.
But if they disappeared next Tuesday, would anyone actually notice?
That’s the question that separates a real newsletter from a distribution channel.
Tyler helped scale Morning Brew to millions of subscribers before co-founding beehiiv, now one of the fastest-growing newsletter platforms with more than $1M in monthly recurring revenue. He previously worked alongside our co-founder Alex Lieberman, who built Morning Brew into a 4M+ subscriber media company that sold for $75M.
Between them, they’ve seen what separates newsletters that become real revenue drivers from the ones that you’d never notice disappeared.
Key takeaways:
- Treat your newsletter like a product, not only a distribution channel
- Give one person clear ownership over quality and voice
- Reader engagement is more important than list size
Why so many B2B newsletters fizzle
Most newsletters don't fail in a big, public way. (You know the saying: Not with a bang, but a whimper…)
They just kinda fizzle.
They become a weekly recap of blog posts, a lightly designed product update, or a weekly send for the sake of a weekly send. Alex notes:
For the longest time, newsletters were treated as marketing channels to drive people to an end destination. Morning Brew was one of the first to treat a newsletter as the product."
Most companies use the newsletter to drive attention somewhere else. The blog. The website. The product launch. The webinar. But when the newsletter is the product, the email is the thing people stay for.
The value isn’t waiting behind a click. It’s already in the inbox.
Which is vital, because email is one of the few platforms companies actually own.
It isn't controlled by an algorithm, can't be throttled by a platform change, and doesn't disappear when organic reach drops off. Everything else — social, search, even parts of paid — is rented to some degree. Your newsletter list is owned.
Here’s how to operate a stellar one.
The storyarb Newsletter Operating System™
Here’s what it looks like to treat a newsletter like a product.
Step 1: Write for 1 person
Most newsletters are written for an audience segment — “marketing leaders,” “operators,” “founders” — but that can lead to generic content.
(Seriously. Who gets fired up about talking to “operators-cleaned-list-2026”? Who is “operators-cleaned-list-2026”?)
Alex’s recommendation: You need to write for a single, specific person. Someone with a real job, real pressure, and limited time.
Not because you’re literally writing for one person, but because writing decisions get easier when the target is that clear. What to include, what to cut, how to frame things. It all sharpens because you’re not trying to appeal to everyone at once.
At storyarb, that looks like Kipp Bodnar, the CMO at HubSpot — someone at a growing B2B org who believes in storytelling and could use some extra execution resources to hammer out regular strategy and content.
It’s all for you, Kipp.
Step 2: Make someone accountable (emphasis on the “one”)
This is where most newsletters break down structurally.
They’re shared across a team, added to someone’s existing workload, and reviewed by multiple stakeholders. No one is fully responsible for whether it’s good; only that it goes out.
“Someone’s ass has to be on the line,” says Alex.
For you: There is nothing harder to ship than something owned by committee.
And for your readers: There is nothing worse to read than something written by committee.
A strong newsletter has a clear owner. Someone who is accountable for the voice, the quality, and whether it’s worth reading. Without that, it defaults to something safe — and safe is forgettable.
Step 3: Engineer for replies from day 1
Replies take newsletters to an incredibly personal level. And they’re something you can engineer from the start. Tyler explains:
Replies tell you your newsletter is worth delivering. They’re the highest level of engagement.”
At Morning Brew, writers responded to every reader reply.
“Imagine if you sent a DM to a celebrity, and they responded back,” says Alex. “It gives you this holy shit moment.”
That reaction is what turns a reader into a vocal advocate.
Step 4: Cut the dead weight
Growth can be misleading if you’re looking at the wrong signals.
A larger list looks like progress, but if that list isn’t engaged, it works against you. Lower engagement leads to worse deliverability, which means fewer people actually see what you send.
That’s why Tyler’s first move at Morning Brew was to cut the list in half.
At storyarb, we regularly advise clients to scrub their newsletter lists or send routine “opt in to stay subscribed” checkins. It can feel a little counterintuitive to purge the list — but generally when total subscribers ticks down, engagement metrics like open rate and CTR tick up.
Fewer, better conversations.
Step 5: Be your own press release
Once you have an engaged audience, the role of the newsletter expands.
It’s no longer just a way to reiterate updates; it becomes the place where those announcements happen first.
Tyler announced beehiiv’s Series B in his newsletter, not through a traditional press release. The story started there, in his voice, on his terms, and then spread outward.
“It feels like the first press release — and then other outlets follow,” he says.
Besides, the people reading your newsletter week to week will be way more excited by your news than whoever stumbles upon the PR Newswire.
What newsletter success looks like
What Morning Brew and beehiiv understood early was that their newsletter wasn’t supporting the business. It was the business.
Tyler put it plainly: "If you build up an owned audience, it's like you become your own PR company."
Alex took it further — when you own that audience and treat it like a product, you don't just distribute news. You become the source.
Most newsletters are built to go out. The best ones are built to come back to.
FAQ
How long does it take for a newsletter to become valuable?
Longer than most teams expect. Morning Brew took four years to reach 100K subscribers. The companies that win with newsletters treat them like long-term audience assets, not quick-win growth tactics.
What’s the difference between a newsletter and a blog sent via email?
A blog points readers somewhere else. A strong newsletter becomes the destination itself. The value is already in the inbox, not waiting behind another click.
What metrics actually matter?
Replies and clicks tell you far more than open rates, which have become less reliable due to privacy changes. Replies matter especially because they signal genuine engagement, not passive consumption.
Do you need a large audience to start?
No. Tyler started writing to a few hundred people. Strong newsletters grow because readers come back, forward them, and talk about them. Not because they launched with massive distribution.
