How did Tangle, a Substack newsletter, grow to $7.9k MRR?

I summarised some of the growth insights from @isaacsaul's recent interview as I thought some of them were quite good and potentially useful to others. 😇

1️⃣ He focused on getting 50-100 users out of the gate who were friends, family or colleagues that could offer feedback and I knew would be honest with him about the product.

2️⃣ He used his following on Twitter to get his next 200-300 followers, and then he just trusted my readers to help him share.

3️⃣ 2-3 times a week, he'd explain to readers that he needed their help to spread the word and ask them to share on social media or send Tangle to 5-6 friends. So many readers participated!

4️⃣ He ran competitions for $100 gift cards. He'd ask people to share Tangle on social media, send a screenshot of their share, and then he'd enter their name into a hat.

5️⃣ Partnerships were big. Most of the time, you'll hear from founders to seek out partners in your "space." Isaac ignored this advice, and actually tried to seek out partners who were not competitors.

6️⃣ Since he wrote about politics, he didn't see any logic in going after customers who are already getting politics news from someone else.

7️⃣ The best example is Marques Brownlee, a tech YouTuber who Isaac knows. He shared the newsletter with his team and one of his producers mentioned it on the podcast, which brought in 500 subscribers overnight.

8️⃣ He also sent Tangle to people with big followings. This was a no brainer. He sought out politicians, reporters and celebrities who were independent thinkers and had previously expressed a desire for a more united country.

9️⃣ Isaac also has a great about page that he refers to often, including directly from his Twitter profile page.

And here's the Twitter version.