How Ali Grew His Newsletter First1000 to 20,000 Subscribers

Hi Indie Hackers,

I recently had the pleasure to interview Ali Abouelatta for Founderness. In the last 1.5 years Ali has been able to grow his newsletter First1000 to more than 20,000 subscribers.

Here are the main takeaways from our conversation:

On the idea for First1000

Ali suggests we look around our current communities for potential business ideas. That's how he came up with First1000 in the first place.

He was actively involved in various founder communities and noticed that most founders keep asking the same questions. Questions about how to get their first customers to get "the ball rolling". That's where the idea for First1000 was born.

Don't overthink it

When Ali had the idea for First1000, he wrote out the first issue and sent it to a few of his friends. Instead of thinking about all of the reasons it would fail, he proceeded to switch his mindset from "Why should I do this" to "How can I do this better?".

Focus on tiny progress

From day 1, Ali focused on growth. However, instead of having grand plans of serving thousands of subscribers, he put a goal of adding at least 6 subscribers each day.

A lot of his later growth came from platforms like Hacker News and Product Hunt as well as word-of-mouth referrals.

If you found this interesting, you might like the full interview.