My newsletter went from 200 to 14,000 subs this year, thank you Indie Hackers!

Hey, wanted to say happy new year and thank everyone here for helping me get my start as a creator.

It was a long road to "writer market fit" but I think I found it

Yesterday my newsletter ( https://www.mostlymetrics.com/ ) eclipsed 14,000 subscribers, after starting the year at 200.

I went from hopelessly screaming into the abyss to riding rocket ship.

The graphic sums up the journey.

Some humble tips for those who want to build an audience:

1/ Mostly metrics was originally called Steal My Idea.

Similar to Packy McCormick, I changed the name and content after beating my head against a wall for a year.

The premise of Steal My Idea was witty business cases on made up ideas in infographics form.

2/ I kept pumping out business ideas. And I used metrics and monetization frameworks to explain them.

By January of 2022 I had written +15 business cases on ideas I thought had real legs.

And no one really showed up or cared.

3/ What people did ask about were the Market Maps, TAM Calcs, and monetization diagrams I was making.

People didn't really care for my business ideas, but they wanted to get smarter and learn about metrics.

However, I didn't listen.

4/ A few months later, after minimal traction, I reached out to @lennysan
on a whim.

And to my surprise, he actually answered (remember, I'm a guy with 300 subscribers at this time).

He asked me 3 questions that changed the course of my newsletter:

1. Who exactly is your audience?

2. What problem is this solving for them?

3. Who will find this extremely interesting or useful?

I realized it was hard for me to imagine that person.

And unless I was fairly clear on that, it'll be hard to make sure my content is giving them what they want.

In reality, I was writing for myself.

5/ I could still write things I liked, but it had to be for a different me - the financial analyst me from 5 years ago.

My audience was the curious professional who had a ton of questions...

The hungry analyst who wanted complicated stuff explained to him in plain English.

6/ In March I started writing about biz metrics and models.

I started by exploring Net Retention, Dilution, and CAC Payback Period.

I began writing a playbook for people working in finance, strategy, and operations at startups.

7/ In an Uber drive home from the airport later that year I was having a conversation with my driver.

He told me he was manifesting the biz he wanted to start after saving up money from driving.

I was pumped for him and we got to talking about business concepts.

He asked me what I did for a living. In the spirit of manifestation, I said, "I write a newsletter"

He asked "What's it about"

I said, "Mostly metrics."

Boom. A new name is born.

8/ And Substack opened up doors to collab on various projects with a lineup of absolute killers who recommended me (and vice versa)...Network effects!

Finding people who write about similar (but not overlapping) topics is key. It's better to go at it with friends.

9/ I also started to share my stuff on linkedin (cringe?)

At first I felt some imposter syndrome. "

"What if one of the smart 50 year olds I know reads this?"

They'll say "Who's this young guy trying to teach me business"?

To my surprise, a bunch of accomplished people subscribed.

That was an out of body feeling seeing their emails roll in.

And some of them even forwarded it to their friends.

10/ It's been quite the ride in 2022. Thanks for the support from IH. That's the first place I started sharing my ideas (before Twitter, Linkedin, reddit)

If you like financial metrics and startup monetization models, feel free to be a part of the next 14K over at https://www.mostlymetrics.com/