Ive been digesting lots of great articles from newsletters. A content delivery method as old as the internet itself. I previously sees newsletter as annoying and filled with ads. But there are trove of amazing contents in newsletters. Just never know where to look until recently.
Newsletter became hot this year due to Substack, platform to start your own newsletter in minutes. Substack also serves as publication platform, hence newsletter not only pushed to email inbox but hosted like a blog. Substack makes production, discovery and also monetization of newsletter become dead simple.
Premium newsletter is a big business. In one episode of Altucher podcast, James discussed about Agora, company producing paid podcast which worth hundreds million dollar. Since distribution cost is essentially zero, this business is all profit. Substack also champions paid newsletter as better business model for journalism and inviting news writers to create their own space. Using their payment feature, Substack has enabled their top creators to earn five-figures annually.
In the section below, ill share several recommended newsletters on business, startups and entrepreneurship. Reading these is delightful and insightful way to start my days, hopefully it will be useful for you as well.
Margins
Margins is newsletter covering business side of tech startups. It is the brainchild of Can Duruk : product manager and Ranjan Roy : financial analyst. Margin deliver weekly article covering strategy and business aspect of tech companies, from Facebook to Tiktok.
Start reading margin by digesting this insightful piece on Doordash and the unprofitability of food delivery services.
Morning Brew
Morning Brew is newsletter version of NBC Squawkbox or Bloomberg morning show. Its a daily business, economy and stock market update in the morning before the market opens. However, in Indonesia time, their email arrive in the afternoon. Morning Brew wakes you up with market moving news in Silicon Valley, US and the rest of the world. They cover more on US markets but i still found it useful to keep update with global business news.
Read the latest edition to gauge whether this is for you. Click here to subscribe directly.
The Hustle
The Hustle is newsletter to help you get ideas on what business to start / invest. They give daily collection of what trends are happening, what are the opportunity out there and success stories. Downside is most of their articles are very short, only 2 or 3 paragraphs.
Heres one edition about Tiktok gossip account which i found fascinating. Subscribe here.
Li Jin’s Newsletter
Li Jin is venture capital and partner at Andreesen Horowitz. She made her name as proponent for new trends called Passion Economy, startups who enable independent creator to monetize their work.
In her Newsletter, she shares comprehensive essays around Passion Economy. My favorite one is this one about how “paid work” now is being unbundled from “jobs”. Subscribe here.
I write articles in Indonesian, inspired by Li Jin’s essay. Read it here.
Everything Newsletter
Everything is a bundle newsletter, combining several other newsletters on productivity and business strategy topics. All of the newsletter in the bundle is paid newsletter, but if youre subscribing to Everything, youll get one free articles each week. The free edition for me is good enough.
Heres one amazing article on Napkin Math, sub-newsletter focusing on financial analysis on a business, on the economics of Costco store-brand.
Asumsi 5.45
The only Indonesian entry in this list. Daily newsletter by Asumsi, digital news outlet which famous for their investigative video such as Distrik and Kerah Biru (Blue Collar). Asumsi is where i get my news on Indonesia current affair and political take.
However, their newsletter 5.45, is interesting because they write opinionated take on one specific issue every day. It feels like reading editorial-style article in newspaper. Breathe of fresh air, considering internet news outlet is filled with clickbaity shallow writing.
Unfortunately, i cant find ways to read archived editions of 5.45. So the only way to read is subscribing here and wait for it in your inbox.
Thats it for today’s article. Inspired by list of newsletter above, i started Kiki Ahmadi’s Newsletter three months ago. I share everything that inspired me regarding startups, business development and strategy in a short essay, delivered to your inbox every single week. Three hundreds subscribers so far, not bad. Hopefully this turns into something good.
The newsletter is in Bahasa Indonesia. Subscribe by putting your email below.
More reference on newsletter and its potentials :
- How Substack has spawned a new class of newsletter entrepreneurs
- James Altucher Podcast has couple of episodes discussing business of newsletter
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