Newsletter & Email Growth: Growth In Reverse

Get Instant Access to the Growth Vault now >> growthinreverse.com/vault
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In this episode of the GIR Podcast, we're airing "cross-published" episode originally featured on Jay Clouse's Creator Science podcast.
Check out the Creator Science podcast here >>
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“If someone can Google what you wrote and get the same thing elsewhere, it’s not differentiated.” — Chenell Basilio
Chenell Basilio joins Jay Clouse on Creator Science to break down how she built Growth In Reverse into a thriving newsletter with over 35,000 subscribers.
Chenell shares the strategy behind her deep dive format, how she thinks about positioning and differentiation, why focus beats platform sprawl, and how she turned detailed research into sustainable audience growth. Jay and Chenell also discuss monetization, collaboration strategy, audience building, and what it actually takes to build a durable newsletter business.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Why depth beats volume when building a newsletter audience
The compounding power of collaborations in niche markets
How to create “internal share” content that spreads inside companies
Why narrowing your focus accelerates newsletter growth
The difference between building an audience and building a business
How to turn research into durable newsletter content
Why distribution strategy matters more than content frequency
The real value of long-term positioning in the newsletter space
LINKS MENTIONED
Creator Science podcast
The Growth Vault
Growth In Reverse newsletter
Jay Clouse on LinkedIn
Growth In Reverse Pro 
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn
Dylan: LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
Subscribe & Leave a Review:
Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform.

Get the FREE Growth Levers Library: growthinreverse.com/growth-levers-library/
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“Most people underestimate how long it takes for anything meaningful to happen.” — Matt Paulson, MarketBeat
Matt Paulson is the founder of MarketBeat, one of the largest independent financial media brands on the internet. What started as a scrappy side project eventually turned into a multi-newsletter business serving millions of investors, driven primarily by search, disciplined publishing, and long-term thinking.
In this episode, Matt walks through how MarketBeat grew over time, why newsletters became a central growth lever, how monetization evolved alongside the audience, and what most creators misunderstand about “overnight success.” This is a grounded, reality-based look at building a newsletter business that lasts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Why Matt believes most newsletter creators reach for paid growth far too early
The channel Matt actively avoided for years, even as others obsessed over it
The two most important metrics Matt pays attention to
MarketBeat's sign-up flow that earns back paid growth spend 
The surprising channel Matt is most bullish on today and why it prints money
What “organic growth” actually looked like when it wasn’t glamorous
How MarketBeat evaluated channels based on profit, not attention
The point where “more traffic” stopped being the goal
What Matt would double down on today if starting from zero

LINKS MENTIONED
MarketBeat.com
MattPaulson.com
MarketBeat YouTube Channel
NewMediaSummit.com (use GIR20 for 20% off your ticket)
Take your newsletter to the next level with Chenell & Dylan — join GIR Pro today
All of Chenell's Free Content → 
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn
Dylan: LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
Subscribe & Leave a Review:
Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform.

This is a clip from the FULL GIR episode with Tom Orbach:
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3LiScMzoSsoyASlymH8vC6
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD-xde5kQ4Q
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How do you launch a paid Substack newsletter earning $50,000—without a long pre-launch, teaser campaign, or complicated funnel?
And all this while working a full-time job?
In this Growth In Reverse podcast clip, Tom Orbach breaks down exactly how he launched the paid version of his Substack newsletter after nearly two years of publishing for free—and why simply announcing it to his list worked so well.

You’ll hear how Tom:

→ Designed a paid Substack offer people couldn’t price per email
→ Ran a surprise-style launch without warming up his audience
→ Used multiple emails (not just one) to drive conversions
→ Signed up 500+ paid subscribers before publishing his first paywalled post
LINKS MENTIONED
Tom's 3 Big Growth Levers & Launch Plan
The Full GIR Episode with Tom Orbach
Tom's newsletter — MarketingIdeas.com
Tom's 3 Big Growth Levers & Launch Plan
NewMediaSummit.com (use GIR20 for 20% off your ticket)
Take your newsletter to the next level with Chenell & Dylan — join GIR Pro today
All of Chenell's Free Content → 
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn
Dylan: LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
Subscribe & Leave a Review:
Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform

Get Matt's 1,000 Email Subscriber Formula: https://growthinreverse.com/matt-yt-download/
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"The way to monetize a small, niche audience is not sponsorships — it’s higher-ticket services." — Matt McGarry, GrowLetter
Matt McGarry has helped grow some of the largest newsletters in the world — including The Hustle, Milk Road, and 1440 — to millions of subscribers. But in this conversation, he makes a contrarian case: you don’t need a massive email list to build a highly profitable newsletter business.
We dig into why sponsorships are a weak monetization strategy for most creators, how Matt generates $76+ per subscriber from LinkedIn, why short-form video is the most underutilized growth channel for newsletters right now, and how to think about business models before chasing scale.
Matt also shares how he’s evolved his own newsletter past 50,000 subscribers, what growth channels are actually working in 2025, and why events, services, and higher-touch offers often beat low-ticket products — especially early on.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Why sponsorships are one of the weakest newsletter monetization paths
How Matt earns $76 per LinkedIn subscriber (and why lead quality matters more than volume)
How one YouTube video drove 1,000+ email subscribers with a simple lead magnet
When not to start paid growth — and the exact criteria Matt uses before spending a dollar
Why newsletters should often monetize with services and consulting before products
The biggest newsletter opportunity most creators are ignoring in 2026
LINKS MENTIONED
Matt's 1k Email Formula Breakdown
Growletter.co
NewMediaSummit.com (use GIR20 for 20% off your ticket)
Matt's newsletter — The Newsletter Operator
Chenell's on Matt's podcast 
Take your newsletter to the next level with Chenell & Dylan — join GIR Pro today
All of Chenell's Free Content → 
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn
Dylan: Twitter | LinkedIn | Bluesky
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
Subscribe & Leave a Review:
Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform!

The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.

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“Creators overinvest in subscriber count and under-invest in content quality.” — Chenell Basilio 
We went live on YouTube for the first time and opened up the floor for a full creator Q&A session! 

In this session, we answered audience questions about newsletters, growth, ROI, lead magnets, AI in email, overcoming writing fears, and building creator businesses that last.
QUESTIONS WE ANSWERED
These are the questions we tackled during the livestream:
Do newsletter writers need to have a podcast and/or YouTube channel to succeed?
Should creators focus on one platform first, or spread across multiple?
What’s was our ROI and ROF (Return on Fun) of running a podcast for a year?
What were the biggest benefits of podcasting this year?
What would we do differently if we were starting the podcast in 2026?
Which part of our podcast workflow will we stop doing (or want to stop)?
How do subject lines affect open rates for new vs. long-time subscribers?
What’s one thing newsletter creators over-invest in?
What’s one thing newsletter creators under-invest in?
What is the most important metric you track in your ESP? 
What metrics matter more than open rate?
How are AI features in Apple Mail and Gmail changing how people interact with newsletters?
...and more!
LINKS MENTIONED
GrowthInReverse.com
GrowthCurrency.net
Join a community for newsletter creators: Growth In Reverse Pro 
Get The Growth Vault — newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
Want your newsletter roasted? Submit it here. 
Ask us a question or submit a podcast topic idea: growthinreverse.com/questions
Check out past Growth In Reverse Deep Dives: https://growthinreverse.com/archive/
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn | Substack
Dylan: LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
Subscribe & Leave a Review:
If you found this episode valuable, take a second to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! It helps more newsletter creators find the show. Plus, if you submit a review, you’ll get priority for your own newsletter roast!
Music from #Uppbeat:
https://uppbeat.io/t/21-on-the-block/i-know
License code: 1XP9IRXHPZSBPGMM