A unique way to grow a newsletter

Hey IH, I recently started a newsletter, like the world needs another.

Nonetheless, I was starting from zero and for the sake of my mental health, wanted to send the first issue to at least someone other than my wife.

Here's what I did before sending the first issue.

I made a post in a small Facebook group whose members are mostly my target audience. Here's what I wrote:

Tomorrow I'm going to send the first issue of a new email newsletter. (I know, like the world needs another newsletter).
I've found some unique and interesting ways to pull data about the activities, hiring and growth of startups and SMBs. In this newsletter, I'm going to share what's most interesting and actionable.
Would a few of you be up for subscribing? I'd like it to go to someone else besides my wife 😁
And I'd also love your feedback on the first issue. TIA!

This quickly netted about 40 subscribers and I was off to the races.

Next, I started with some DMs. I DM'd some people in the Facebook group as well as some folks on Twitter that I thought would be interested in the newsletter.

Here's what I messaged them:

Hi John. I saw you're a fellow entrepreneur like me. I write a weekly email about new startups, growing businesses, founders prepping to raise and interesting biz trends.

I would love it if you subscribed and let me know what you think. It's completely free.

This has been moderately successful, with some people subscribing. Others have not even seen the DM yet.

Now onto the unique tactic.

I wanted to stand out and reach some respected and known people in my target audience.

So I went to my Venmo account and started searching for their Venmo profile.
It can be difficult to find their Venmo if they have a common first/last name. However, people often use their same profile photo across different platforms.

I sent them a nominal amount of cash (.05 - $1). Venmo allows you to write a 280 character note to the person. Here's what I wrote:

Hi John. I love all your content on X. I write an email about new startups, SMBs & interesting trends. I would love it if you subscribed and let me know what you think. (URL here). Keep the change!

Turns out sending people a little cash is pretty unique and attention grabbing, as this has been quite successful.

Do the things that don't scale.