Founder stories
$100K ARRin 3 years
4 milestones
Morning Brew Engineer Builds Newsletter Platform to $1M MRR
Founder
Tyler Denk
Co-Founders•Technical•USA
Commitment
Full-timeExperience
ExperiencedProduct
Newsletter platform for creators and businesses.
Type
SaaSIndustry
MarketingModel
SubscriptionMarketing Strategy
How Tyler acquired customers
Primary Channel
Twitter / X
Tech Stack
Tools used to build Beehiiv
Next.jsPostgreSQLEmail infrastructure
The Full Story
Tyler Denk joined Morning Brew in 2017 as the second employee, where he led product, growth, and engineering.
The Opportunity
After building their referral program, CMS, and ad platform, he saw an opportunity to create a better newsletter platform for everyone.
Building in Public
Tyler raised $2.6M in pre-seed and quit Google to start Beehiiv. He built in public, sharing financials from zero dollars.
- Time to $1M MRR: Under 3 years
- Current ARR: $15M+
- Pre-seed: $2.6M
Key Takeaways
1
Build in public - transparency builds trust and audience
2
Previous experience at similar company provides valuable insights
3
Focus on product quality and user feedback over marketing gimmicks
4
Raise capital when you have clear vision and proven expertise
Originally published onNEA Blog (Tyler Denk Interview)
Inspired by Tyler's journey? Generate a business idea in the Marketing space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Tyler achieved 4 milestones on the path to $100K ARR
First Customer
1 month
February 2021
69% faster
vs avg 3 months+3 months to next milestone
$1K MRR
$1,000
4 months
May 2021
64% faster
vs avg 11 months+8 months to next milestone
$10K MRR
$10,000
1 year
January 2022
43% faster
vs avg 1 year+2 years to next milestone
$100K ARR
$1,000,000
3 years
January 2024
6% faster
vs avg 3 years3 years
Total journey time
4
Milestones achieved
Tyler's Path to $100K ARRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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