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How a Writer Built an 8-Figure Newsletter Tech’s Cream Want to Read at Any Cost
Rethinking the way of seeing Media Ads and Tech Coverage
In 2013, the newly announced business of Jessica Lessin collected several laughs in the face. For many media insiders, a $399-per-year newsletter for tech professionals was a nonsense way to fail after just a few days.
Who would have paid an expensive subscription to read industry scoops that other media could have reported for free?!
“Pay me $199 per year and I will tell you what they are writing about on @theinformation,” a Business Insider reporter tweeted cracking wise.
However, after eight years and an estimated $20 million in revenue, the last to laugh was Jessica Lessin. Today, according to the news, the 10,000 subscribers — unattainable at the beginning for insiders — are more than quadruple. And the newsletter boasts readers like Jeff Bezos, Evan Spiegel — the founder of Snapchat — and corporate clients like Google and Goldman Sachs.
Over the years, its success — measured by a readership of thousands and not millions — has been tempting to many. Before anyone else, the Financial Times, which met with Lessin for a possible acquisition. All takeover interests the young CEO sent back to the sender with a simple…