Packy McCormick writes the popular newsletter Not Boring, which is all about strategy and investing, from big companies to small. Packy was the VP of experience at a company called Breather, but when he left that role to start another startup he ended up creating a blockbuster newsletter instead! Not Boring has grown to over 30,000 subscribers.Packy’s newsletter is generating fantastic revenue, and his business model is a little different from the paid subscriptions that are popular right now. He dives into all the specifics. If you’re curious just how much you can make from a 30,000-subscriber mailing list, don’t miss this episode!In additional to business models and why he chose his, Packy also talks about the tactics that worked to rapidly grow his newsletter past 30,000 subscribers, the difference between being a writer and being an investor, and more.Links & Resources
Prof. Scott Galloway: Overhauling Twitter
Breather - Unique Meeting Rooms, Hourly Offices & Workspaces
David Perell - Write of Passage
Roam Research – A note taking tool for networked thought.
Benedict Evans
Clubhouse: Drop-in audio chat
Packy McCormick’s Links
Not Boring by Packy McCormick
Home page: packy - Beacons mobile website

Twitter: @packyM

Episode TranscriptPacky: [00:00:00] It is about sitting at your computer for hours and hours and hours every week. And making sure that you’re getting it right. And then you’re finding the right angle. Find something that you actually care about if you’re not interested by the things that you’re writing in. So you could probably bake it for a little while, but I think it really comes through when the writer is really interested in the things that they’re writing about.Nathan: [00:00:25] In today’s episode, I talked to Packy McCormick who writes a really popular newsletter, Not Boring. Packy was the VP of experience at a company called Breather. And then he left that role to start another startup and then decided to start a newsletter instead. And Not Boring has grown to over 30,000 subscribers.He’s got some pretty fantastic revenue. He dives into the specifics. So if you’re curious how much you can make off of a 30,000-subscriber mailing list, we talked about that. One of my favorite things is we get into business models. Paid subscription, is that best, or selling products or sponsorships?And so we dive in Packy shares why he chose the model that he did and why he thinks that’s the best for his audience. So it’s a really fun, wide ranging conversation. I think you’re going to enjoy it. Packy, welcome to the show. Packy: [00:01:12] Great to be here. Nathan: [00:01:13] Thanks for having me. So I want to just dive in and hear a little bit about what are your, some of your favorite things to write about?Packy: [00:01:19] Yeah. So my favorite things to write about, and I actually, it took me a while to kind of get back to my favorite things to write about. I was writing about community and sleep and like just kind of all over, just doing the, I think the normal early newsletter thing of like thinking that you’re a fantastic curator of the internet.And what I really loved writing about recently is as business strategy companies, big companies, small, and mixing that with finance, that’s taken a couple of years, but I think I’ve kind of hit this sweet spot where it’s a more fun approach to these topics that are kind of. Not super fun normally, which is business analysis and finance and the stock market.So I’m just trying to, you know, make it approachable, fun, and enjoyable while you’re learning something. Yeah. Nathan: [00:02:01] So what’s an example of one of those, of like a business strategy for a particular company that you’ve, you’ve enjoyed. Packy: [00:02:06] So I, this past week I wrote about Twitter, and, and wrote about, you know, how Twitter is this company that has been, you know, that I think a lot of us use and are on all the time, but it’s done.An absolutely horrendous job of monetizing. So talked abou