Over 700,000 Subscribers: Lessons Learned from Lenny's Newsletter
How a simple writing habit created big results.
Lenny Rachitksy makes millions of dollars a year with his paid newsletter and related offers.
He left Airbnb, thinking he was going to build a startup but he built something better.
The Birth of Something Great
Lenny launched his newsletter, "Lenny's Newsletter," in 2019, focused on product management.
It wasn't a strategic move – he didn't have a grand plan.
Writing wasn't his forte and he had imposter syndrome.
Would anyone even care?
He set a 9-month challenge: write weekly about his passion for product management.
It was a test – could he pull this off?
Did his ideas resonate enough to keep going?
His wife wasn't sure about the experiment.
Starting a company seemed like a safer bet.
But then, a Medium article Lenny wrote went semi-viral.
A friend convinced him to keep writing.
For over a decade, Rachitsky had built a career in product management and software engineering.
Now, he was ready to share his knowledge, one weekly newsletter at a time.
He developed a strong belief in "do the work first" before you start giving advice.
Here’s how he became one of the top newsletters on Substack:
Revenue Breakdown
“People buy your product, listen to your podcast, and read your newsletter because they have a job that they want you to do for them.”
- Lenny Rachitsky
Lenny’s Newsletter has a free version and a paid version.
It now boasts more than 700,000 subscribers.
He writes one post a week and works on each for 10 to 20 hours.
Subscribers can either pay monthly, at $15/mo, or pay for the year upfront at $150.
Lenny also has the “I Can Expense It” tier, where you can pay $300 and support his work in a more meaningful way.
There are also group options for companies that have larger teams that want access to his content.
The screenshot above is from Lenny’s report in 2020, so I’m speculating on whether he has surpassed 7,000 paid subscribers.
Let’s be conservative and say he converts 1% of all his subscribers to become paid members:
700,000 x 1% = 7,000
At an average of $150 per paying subscriber, that leaves us with:
7,000 x $150 = $1,050,000
Substack takes a 10% cut, and he has to pay 3% in Stripe fees too.
So after fees but before taxes, Lenny’s revenue from the newsletter is probably around:
$916,650 per year
This is only from his paid newsletter subscribers.
Growth Levers of Lenny’s Newsletter
There are a few main growth levers that Lenny used to grow his audience to the massive size it is now.
Deep Industry Research: The quality of Lenny’s content is incredible because of his expertise. He figures out what people want and spends a ton of time creating it. He networks with credible guest authors and incentivizes them to contribute to his platform.
Substack Recommendations: Lenny has grown his audience significantly since Substack launched recommendations. He said if you can write something awesome that people are excited to recommend then you can grow quickly. Recommendations drove around 80% of his list growth.
Social Media: Lenny uses social media for marketing and brand awareness. He has several interviews on YouTube. He has a video podcast that he promotes on X and LinkedIn.
Let’s discuss the other factors that contribute to his success.
Mindset
Lenny has the mindset of a go-getter.
He wasn't sure if this path was his destiny.
But he dived in headfirst and gave his all.
His mentality is to do a damn good job for the customer.
He has a fantastic work ethic.
Lenny’s mindset suggestions are:
Consistency and quality are the main driving factors. You don't need to be the smartest but you do need to be consistent.
People may hate or dislike some of your content but don’t let it derail you from your mission.
Always be learning, researching, and working to create a better product for your reader.
Positioning
Stuck on a problem?
Need proven advice?
Lenny's your guy.
He cuts through the fluff and gets straight to the source – the founders who've been there, done that.
He targets mid to junior-level product managers, founders, and product designers.
Want to hear real-world solutions on product management that you can trust?
That's Lenny's newsletter in a nutshell.
His positioning suggestions are:
Get clear on the type of readers you want to create content for.
Become their trusted advisor. Position yourself as a dependable resource for solutions.
Branding
Lenny's color scheme is consistent, it aligns with his brand's color palette, and it helps his newsletter stand out.
Creating a consistent visual feel for graphics helps brand recognition.
By using similar colors and styles throughout his newsletter's visuals, readers will associate those elements with his brand.
Lenny’s branding suggestions are:
Enhance the impact of your brand. Give your marketing materials and images a similar color scheme, look, and feel.
Make the customer experience engaging and your products (including your newsletter) easy to use.
Content Creation
Lenny found the connection between what he enjoyed writing about and what his audience loves to consume.
He is straightforward, skipping the fluff to give people the answers and the good stuff.
He believes that writing valuable content is his top priority.
He doesn’t water down the value for free subscribers.
Lenny’s content creation suggestions are:
Answer these questions for every post:
Who is this for?
What job are you doing for them?
Do one of these jobs and do your absolute best at it:
Help people stay informed
Help people make money
Entertain them
Help people be better at work (Lenny’s Newsletter)
Help people be better at life
Also, consider these useful ideas:
Don't fear judgment by other people but rather treat your publication as an experiment.
Simplifying concepts is valuable. But what may be more valuable is adding something new that hasn't been contributed to the conversation so far.
Don’t waste too much time with your intro. Give your readers the answers they seek. Then, expand with the rest of your message.
Pay attention to what people always ask advice for. Create content with solutions to resolve their inquiries.
Guest Posting
Lenny features experts with results and works with only credible guest authors.
Fun fact: 50% of his most popular posts are guest posts.
His goal is to highlight and share wisdom from emerging under-the-radar-but-extraordinary people.
Through collaboration, he gets in front of new people who may be interested in his newsletter.
He benefits from borrowed credibility since he finds proven experts and reputable sources.
Lenny’s guest posting suggestions are:
While any guest post can help you get your name out there, you want to focus on people who align with your values and have a decent-sized audience.
Having a new voice or personality in your publication can be refreshing, but also you can benefit from cross-promotion.
Cadence
Every week, Lenny dives deep into reader questions about products, growth strategies, and how to advance your career.
Paid subscribers get the full weekly scoop, plus access to an exclusive Slack community.
Non-paid subscribers get one free monthly post.
Lenny’s cadence suggestions are:
Publish your newsletter weekly. If you ship more frequently, you could dilute the quality and usefulness of your content.
A weekly cadence keeps your readers coming back because they know they can expect fresh insights.
Experimentation
Lenny isn’t afraid of trying new things to see what his audience likes.
He uses polls and runs his own experiments to justify content creation decisions.
When he polls his audience and asks for feedback, his readers feel involved in the process.
He creates what they ask for and in return, his readers feel like their voice matters.
Lenny’s experimentation suggestions are:
Use polls on social media and in your Substack content to gauge interest.
Create content based on your expertise, then see what resonates with your audience. Track analytics and reader feedback to see what hits home.
Make small tweaks to your content to improve over time. Look for feedback like "this helped" or "solved a problem." Once you find what works, explore it further.
Welcome Email
A welcome email sets the tone for future interactions with your brand.
It can thank new subscribers for signing up and generate excitement by describing what to expect from future communications.
Lenny gives a warm greeting and makes a solid first impression.
The email comes with a GIF that is fun and lighthearted.
He shares the most valuable links to save his readers time.
Lenny gives instructions to whitelist his email address and mark him as a safe sender.
This can improve his open rate and reduce his likelihood of going to Spam or Promotions.
Lenny shares the value of a paid subscription in his welcome email.
Lenny’s welcome email suggestions are:
Link your best posts to give value to your readers.
Add whitelisting language to improve your open rate.
Tell your readers what to do next after reading the email.
Lenny’s Social Media Strategy
Twitter/X
Lenny shares the cliff notes of his articles on social media.
In this example, he created a neat table to answer the question quickly and summarize a lot of data.
If you want more, he shares a link to read the full post.
Lenny tags experts that he collaborates with.
In his X content, he summarizes the key takeaways and uses short-form videos to make readers curious for more.
LinkedIn
Lenny publishes similar content on LinkedIn to drive traffic to his newsletter.
You can find tables, charts, infographics, and short-form videos on his timeline.
In this example, he tags several contributors to improve credibility and gain cross-exposure.
On LinkedIn, Lenny also tags company profiles to get more eyeballs on his content.
He collaborates with other experts and creates short-form videos from his podcast that are fun to watch and informative.
Lenny’s social media suggestions for X and LinkedIn are:
Create video content or graphics that make people eager to know more. Then share a link to your newsletter or podcast.
Tag contributors and guest authors when you’re promoting on social.
Tease your upcoming newsletter content.
Lenny’s Podcast
In 2022, Rachitsky started Lenny's Podcast.
He releases two episodes per week and interviews leaders in the product management space to get actionable advice about their work.
He's hired a producer to help with components like audio engineering and puts in about five hours per week on it.
Lenny's Podcast now brings in more than $500,000 per year in addition to his newsletter revenue. (Source: CNBC)
Lenny’s podcast suggestions are:
Give your readers different ways to consume your content so they can pick what fits their lifestyle.
Show more of your personality in your content. Let your true self shine through. Audio or video can build stronger connections with your readers.
Lenny’s Community
Lenny has a Slack community of over 15,000 people available to paid subscribers of his newsletter.
It's a network of product managers and tech leaders who support each other, share insights, and forge lasting connections.
Lenny built something special that goes beyond the newsletter.
The community is an experience that keeps you engaged and inspired.
Lenny’s suggestions for additional ways to help your readers:
Your newsletter can act as a lead magnet, attracting subscribers who want more.
Add new ways to serve your audience over time like Live events and a community.
My Thoughts
I was looking for a magical success formula but I don't think I found one.
Lenny's advice was simple: just keep going.
Never stop improving your product (your newsletter).
Persistence trumps perfection.
Lenny tunes out the haters, focusing instead on constructive criticism.
He has a promise statement to deliver weekly and he hasn’t missed a beat.
I'm now thinking of every newsletter I send as a mini-product that does a job or solves a problem for my customer.
My job is to create something that answers their questions and provides proven concrete solutions.
I think it’s interesting that Lenny believes in having 10 years of expertise before you post something.
In today's world, sharing truthful, well-sourced information is key.
Don't have 10 years under your belt?
Research others and borrow credibility – it's curation, not deception.
The goal is to provide the most value to your readers!
Finally, I wanted to reflect on how Lenny has created an irresistible offer.
You can pay $15/month or $150/year to have access to over 100,000 hours of his research.
He says you could pay these experts thousands or you can get their expert advice plus more (like the community) for only $150.
It’s a no-brainer if you’re a mid to junior-level product manager, founder, or product designer.
I’m working on creating my irresistible offer with this inspiration.
In Closing
Start writing today.
Help people and produce newsletter articles on your expertise.
Remember that impact comes first, and then the income follows.
So, keep publishing and growing your list.
Thanks for reading!
What do you think about this message?
Let me know with a Comment!
great analysis thanks
I find it fascinating…to be frank this is basically about someone that is essentially dedicated ….focuses and leaves nothing to chance…this how he makes it…interesting..day by day…