How Two Students Turned a Newsletter Into $75 Million.
Have you ever wondered how newsletters became a thing?
Email’s been around forever. Most of it used to be spam, discount codes, or long boring updates. No one expected to get actual value in their inbox.
No tips. No stories. No real reason to check your email for fun.
That changed in 2015.
Two students at the University of Michigan — Alex Lieberman and Austin Rief — were studying business, but they noticed something strange:
Everyone around them wanted to stay updated on the news…
But no one actually liked reading the news.
(The percentage of people who say they have no trust at all in media has tripled. )
So they started writing short, fun summaries of the day’s business stories. They called it Morning Brew.
At first, it was just for other students. But it quickly spread.
But hold on — who wants business news in their inbox?
That’s what most people would’ve said at the time. Email newsletters weren’t cool. Especially not for younger readers.
But Alex and Austin made it different:
They used plain language. Added jokes. Kept it short.
Therefore, people actually read it — and told their friends.
They leaned into the idea and started growing the thing seriously.
They got other students to promote it on campus.
They built a simple referral program (share with 3 friends, get a sticker or mug).
They kept writing with a personal voice, not like a news anchor, but like a friend who gets to the point.
It worked.
By the time they graduated, Morning Brew had over 100,000 readers.
So what happened next?
While other media companies were chasing clicks on social media, Morning Brew stuck with email.
They added new topics: Marketing Brew , Retail Brew , HR Brew.
They hired smart writers.
They kept the tone the same: sharp, casual, and fun.
And then came the big moment.
In 2020, they sold a majority of the company to Insider Inc. (the company behind Business Insider).
The deal was worth around $75 million.
Today, over 4 million people read Morning Brew every day.
They’ve added podcasts, videos, and new newsletters for professionals.
One of their fastest-growing areas is business content for people at work, and that side alone brings in over $25 million a year.
You don’t need to reinvent the internet.
Sometimes, the best ideas come from asking: “How can I make this old thing better?”
That’s what Alex and Austin did with email.
But here’s what most people miss when they talk about Morning Brew:
Start where you are.
They didn’t wait for the perfect moment. They didn’t raise money or build an app. They just started writing from their dorm room.Use what’s around you.
Their first growth strategy wasn’t some big ad campaign — it was standing up in university lecture halls and pitching their classmates. Low-cost, high-effort. And it worked.Test, tweak, repeat.
They didn’t know on day one what would make people click or share. But by trying different referral rewards, adjusting subject lines, and learning what tone people responded to, they figured it out.Be small on purpose.
Morning Brew didn’t try to be everything for everyone. It was business news for students — clear, fun, fast. That tight focus is what made it easy to grow.
Hope this one gave you something to think about (or at least made your coffee taste smarter).
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