Founder stories
$10K MRRin 3 years
3 milestones
Author Revives Ancient Philosophy with Daily Email to 320K+ Subscribers
Founder
Ryan Holiday
Solo Founder•Non-technical•USA
Commitment
Full-timeExperience
ExperiencedProduct
Daily email and media company on Stoic philosophy.
Type
Info ProductIndustry
Content CreationModel
One-time PaymentMarketing Strategy
How Ryan acquired customers
Primary Channel
SEO / Content
Tech Stack
Tools used to build The Daily Stoic
ConvertKitWordPressPodcast hosting
The Full Story
Building on the success of The Obstacle Is the Way, Ryan Holiday launched Daily Stoic in 2016.
Daily Consistency
Each morning, Ryan sends a short (~500 word) note inspired by Stoic philosophers. Since launching, he has sent over 130 million emails.
Cross-Channel
The Daily Stoic reaches 320,000+ subscribers. The podcast gets 3M+ downloads per month, driven by the email list.
- Daily subscribers: 320K+
- Podcast downloads: 3M+/month
- Emails sent: 130M+
Key Takeaways
1
Daily consistency for years builds incredible trust and engagement
2
Ancient wisdom applied to modern problems has massive appeal
3
Email list drives other channels (podcast got 3M downloads/month)
4
Maintaining quality over 6 years keeps open rates steady
Originally published onKit
Inspired by Ryan's journey? Generate a business idea in the Content Creation space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Ryan achieved 3 milestones on the path to $10K MRR
First Customer
$100
1 month
November 2016
69% faster
vs avg 3 months+11 months to next milestone
$1K MRR
$1,000
1 year
October 2017
Avg: 11 months
+2 years to next milestone
$10K MRR
$10,000
3 years
October 2019
Avg: 1 year
3 years
Total journey time
3
Milestones achieved
Ryan's Path to $10K MRRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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