AI this, AI that

This past week was my first week at beehiiv!

As some of you know, I was laid off from another company in the email space (sorry, no free ads in this newsletter) last May.

Since then I’ve been focused on growing and launching my own newsletters as well as working with other aspiring creators in taking their newsletters from 0 to 1.

You could say that I have a thing for newsletters.

I thought I’d quickly share the story of how I ended up at beehiiv and all in on newsletters before diving into some more detailed behind-the-scenes topics of my projects in the next few weeks.

Shall we?

It goes down in the DMs

I had previously featured Tyler in Workspaces when he was at YouTube and he was a good follow on Twitter.

So on August 25, 2021 I sent the now beehiiv co-founder and CEO this DM asking if he thought I might be a good fit. This was before I had even been at Product Hunt in a community role.

He told me they were primarily focused on filling the posted engineering roles first.

No worries… I’ll be back 😎

Fast forward to late 2024

After the lay off, I spent some time growing my own newsletters and doing a bit of consulting/contracting around the newsletter space.

I even kicked around the idea of formally starting a small agency that focused on helping B2B brands create and take their own newsletters like Workspaces and H1 Gallery from 0 to 1… basically B2B newsletters that don’t suck and extend beyond simple product updates that should’ve been released months ago.

I still think there’s something to this idea, fwiw.

But after having our first baby girl at the end of November I (my wife?) decided that I should maybe look for something more full time.

Instead of looking for specific roles (ex. Head of Content, Community Manager, etc) I wanted to focus on company-first. A product that I truly believed in and used with a team that I could learn a ton from (always down to be the dumbest person in the room).

beehiiv was obviously top of mind.

I quickly applied for two similar roles that seemed right up my alley.

Waited.

Got an interview.

Did a presentation with a 101 degree fever (MJ flu game of the newsletter world, nbd).

Got an offer!

Accepted… no brainer.

So while last week was my first week at beehiiv, it certainly felt like a long time coming. I’ve loved the product for years. Have used the product. Love the company’s approach to marketing.

I’m excited to finally be a small part of the best place on the internet to be a creator.

AI this, AI that… I’m all in on newsletters.

But what happened in between?

1,263 days is a long time. I joked that this might’ve been the longest interview process of all time.

Here’s everything that I did in between my first DM asking for a job and my first day.

> Went to Hawaii
> Won a Product Hunt Golden Kitty award
> Got a puppy (Frank)
> Friend's wedding in Mexico
> Another friend's wedding in Mexico
> Workspaces got acquired
> Joined YC-backed company
> Won a fantasy football championship
> Got married 
> Amazing honeymoon in St. John
> Anooooother friend's wedding in Mexico
> Found out we were having a baby girl
> Laid off
> Bought Workspaces back for $1
> Friend's wedding in Austin, TX
> It's a girl!
> Baby moon in Oregon 
> Launched H1 Gallery
> Baby Lily is born
> Decided I should get a FT job soon
> Finally joined beehiiv

And I’m sure a bunch of other key highlights that I’m leaving out. Point is… if you want that job… send a DM and wait 3.5 years. It’ll be worth it.

State of the newsletters

I’m sure the majority of you are subscribed here because you’ve been following the Workspaces or H1 Gallery journey (thank you)! I’ll use this section each week to give a quick look at some high level metrics.

Next week I’ll be diving into the entire Workspaces story. From inception to acquisition to spinning it back out as my own project.

It’s going to be a doozy. Stick around.

-Ryan