Explore all emails from Big Desk Energy

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5c9c006b-9a04-4fbb-86f3-eeba70105e38/beehiiv_seed_deck__35_.png?t=1773963261) Follow image link: (https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f1a3d74d-b91c-4e3c-bec7-9d6de373b31d/Mux_Robots_Big_Desk_Energy.png?t=1777254944) Follow image link: (https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) Caption: We recently started ramping up video on beehiiv with [Mux](https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) (👀). What I didn’t expect was pre-built AI workflows sitting on top of that infrastructure. [Mux Robots](https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) are production-ready AI workflows built directly into Mux: * **Summarize:** Auto-generate titles, descriptions, and tags * **Moderate:** Scan for inappropriate content before it reaches your audience * **Generate chapters:** Turn long-form video into navigable, timestamped sections * **Find key moments:** Automatically surface the most compelling clips * **Ask questions:** Pose yes/no questions about your video and get answers with confidence scores It’s absolutely mind-blowing how simple [Mux Robots](https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) makes video, all in just a few clicks. Patreon, Cursor, and even beehiiv are all built with Mux. [Get started for free](https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter). Use code **BIGDESKENERGY** at signup for $50 in credits. Start Building with Mux (https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d398cfda-20c9-4c89-96eb-3112cf3399e5/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-04-27T195325.407.gif?t=1777344820) Caption: -------------------- Well, that was a hell of a first White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD). But I don’t want the events that transpired on Saturday night to define the entire weekend. At least, not for me. I want to tell my story and recap what was otherwise a really fantastic week in DC. But first, what is the WHCD? It’s the annual black-tie event hosted by the White House Correspondents’ Association (the journalists who cover the president and the White House). It’s been around since the 1920s and has become more of a cultural event since introducing the comedy roast in the 1980s. But it’s more than just the dinner. It’s like the Super Bowl — where yes there’s the game itself, but there are events, concerts, and activations hosted by brands all week long. Or Cannes Lions, where yes there is the actual award ceremony, but outside of the awards there is a week of events, panels, and parties hosted by every big tech company and agency. While Cannes is on another level both in terms of fun and location (the French Riviera is just a bit more enjoyable than the DMV), the point is sorta the same — it’s an excuse for people in the industry to get together, party, and do deals. Which is what brought us to DC this past week. Here’s how it all went down: ### **Thursday** Early wakeup in LA to head to DC. I landed at 4pm with just enough time to quickly shower at the hotel before heading to our dinner that we cohosted with UTA. The dinner was at one of DC’s hottest restaurants and we had an awesome intimate group of media execs, journalists, and creators. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f7cbaef3-e874-4951-a558-ff8369b261e2/DSC03251.jpeg?t=1777338564) Caption: Don Lemon sighting #1 (of 11) View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7926529d-c4da-4d3a-9b19-5fc372a69ee5/image.png?t=1777339292) Caption: I sat across from Georgia Fort, who was arrested alongside Don Lemon in Minneapolis for reporting on the ICE raids, and Claudius Senst who is the COO of Axel Springer. Next to me was Joanna Stern, who just recently left the WSJ to go independent and launch [_New Things_](https://thenewthings.com/) on beehiiv. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/89c33f19-0e73-47bb-83b2-4cc2d3991914/91A59C02-8851-49F9-8F92-4689AFBEA803.JPG?t=1777340598) Caption: After dinner, we rolled over to the Status party that we sponsored. [Status](https://www.status.news/) is one of the many great success stories from the beehiiv Media Collective. It hasn’t even been two years since Oliver left CNN to go independent, and now they’re hosting one of the hottest media parties in DC. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3810ab15-4d7f-46d3-9357-3ed0ed189925/_Z6A0183_fXgh8VPz.jpg?t=1777338860) Caption: Status 🤝 beehiiv ### **Friday** Early gym sesh (no days off) followed by a few meetings IRL meetings. We dropped by the Punchbowl News party at The Ritz where we had our first (of many) Lachlan sightings. I also got to catch up with Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman (Punchbowl co-founders) who both invested in our seed round back in 2021. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f4c709d8-bdf3-4242-a690-028c11cca23f/image.png?t=1777340654) Caption: Lachlan sighting #1 (of 32) Casual board meeting in the middle of all this chaos that I took from my hotel room (we had a great quarter). As soon as I closed my laptop, I had to run across town to the beehiiv party we hosted with Shinola. I can’t take any credit for our event, but the vibes were immaculate. The weather was perfect and the Shinola store had floor-to-ceiling windows to take in the sunset while a rotating cast of media legends dropped by. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f58647dd-330a-48ec-b91c-f7eaec0a6dfa/_M2_8594_QE0kb5pB.jpeg?t=1777341751) Caption: Kara Swisher and I I don’t want to name drop so I’ll just drop this post here for some external validation. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/ajkatztv/status/2047812367514247394?s=10) When our party wrapped, we headed to a Qatar Embassy party at the Four Seasons where I met up with some friends and a got this gem of a photo. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5cfc8a1d-8c0e-4df1-b332-2606c414b9b3/IMG_7436.jpg?t=1777342370) Caption: Then we headed to the Vanity Fair and CAA party hosted at the Belgian Embassy, which popped my embassy cherry (worth it). The house was great, and they had some Belgian beers on tap in a back room. We ended the night at the UTA party, which was basically just a melting pot of people coming together from all of the other events. People in DC don’t really know how to party, but this was probably the event that most closely resembled actual fun. ### **Saturday** I decided to catch up on sleep (some days off). We started the day at the WHCD Garden Brunch which is one of the tentpole events of the weekend. There we got securitymogged by Gavin Newsom’s security detail. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/30943e7c-9453-4597-b636-594a405f509d/IMG_7528.JPG?t=1777342924) Caption: @Meta come sponsor my newsletter too Then I went back to the hotel to lock in and catch up on work before the pre-dinner events. **First stop:** Puck party View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2874813f-6ce9-4f82-a98c-d31cd8afe6bb/image.png?t=1777343197) Caption: **Second stop: **CBS News party View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/82720cfa-1a66-452f-8821-137c65d422b8/image.png?t=1777343305) Caption: **Third stop:** The Washington Post reception You can’t just purchase tickets to attend the dinner, rather, members of the WHCA purchase tables and invite guests to sit with them. I was a guest of The Washington Post (thank you), so I headed down to the ballroom with them after the reception. The ballroom is basically a bunker — you take a few escalators down from the lobby to get there. After getting through security, you arrive in this massive room that almost feels surreal given its grand size and the density of very important and powerful people in attendance. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/840e389d-3507-4958-929d-9152791fd97e/image.png?t=1777343498) Caption: There was a very palpable energy in the room with Trump expected to be in attendance for the first time as president. The stars were out: Stephen A Smith was a few tables over from me, along with a ton of other media moguls that I recognized. Admittedly, I had never watched the WHCD before, so didn’t really know what to expect. After a few repeated calls to have people take their seats, the ceremony finally started by introducing those at the main table: some representatives from the WHCA, Oz Pearlman (the special guest), Vice President J.D. Vance, and then President Trump and First Lady Melania. I sort of thought that the president and VP weren’t supposed to be together, especially during a time of war — but what the fuck do I know? All I know is that it felt pretty surreal having both of them sitting at a table maybe 150 feet away from me. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/516678c8-ba69-43af-908c-7f3327f53a04/image.png?t=1777343574) Caption: Elementary school lunches >> this salad After the initial part of the ceremony, the dinner begins and everyone starts picking away at this unappetizing salad that’s been sitting in front of them. I had just found the QR code to order more wine for the table when I heard the rounds go off, followed by this vivid sight of table after table buckling as people dove onto the floor. I spent about 7 minutes under our table with my new best friend Jodi. No one has any service. All you can hear is the secret service yelling and shuffling around to get people out, and the hotel wait staff on the floor next to us crying and praying in Spanish. People eventually began to emerge from under the tables, and what ensued was so peculiar. There’s still no information being shared and still little-to-no service — at that moment no one had any idea if we were safe or what had happened. There could have been 15 people shot dead and there was just no way to know the severity of it. I can only say this now because thankfully no one was seriously injured — but the following hour in that room was one of the most bizarre yet interesting experiences I have ever had. You’re in this room with some of the most powerful, connected people in the world, and everyone was just so vulnerable and present given the circumstances. People basically split into two camps: either you were totally panicked and trying to evacuate as quickly as possible, or you felt helpless, calm, and were prepared to bunker down for a bit. I was the latter. Given the number of FBI and secret service agents in that room, I assumed that it was probably the safest place in the city. Plus, I had nowhere else to be and it was going to be madness trying to get out of there. There were still rumors that the show was going to continue (despite half of the room having already left), and we had a stockpile of wine. Bunker down it is. Me and new best friend Jodi must have crushed two bottles ourselves. And because we had such positive vibes during this whole bizarre situation, people would drop by and join in on the conversation. I chatted with Orioles’ owner, David Rubenstein, about the team (I’m a massive fan), and had a few other serendipitous encounters. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/cdd2034b-f52c-4bb7-969b-fedec319e368/image.png?t=1777343776) Caption: I’ve built a lot of strong bonds in my life, but never before from huddling under a table in an active shooter environment. The Wall Street Journal [published an article](https://www.wsj.com/us-news/trump-shooting-correspondents-dinner-security-e1483305?st=pJ7uBZ&reflink=article_imessage_share) featuring a picture of us drinking wine and making the best of the situation amidst the chaos. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/71764d30-51ee-4b2c-89b9-c2655eff8056/image.png?t=1777343967) Caption: Framemogged by the WSJ After announcing that they wouldn’t continue the dinner, we worked our way upstairs to the lobby to watch the press conference at the bar. A camera crew approached us asking to do an interview. New best friend Jodi gasses me up and foists me into it, which felt like a rad thing to do while sipping my 8th glass of wine. We finally go our separate ways, and I head to the MS Now afterparty to meet up with my other coworkers. On the way over, our Head of Comms somehow got word and calls me asking if I was dumb enough to do an interview about the shooting. I reassured him that his job wasn’t going to be an easy one. It obviously felt a bit tone-deaf to attend afterparties after an assassination attempt (?) where I was just helplessly huddled under a table… but the alternative of going back to our respective hotels to call it a night felt even more depressing. The MS Now afterparty was under Dupoint Circle and was a ridiculously cool venue (with amazing BBQ chicken). View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2f5943c3-23b9-4f6c-99c8-0857379377d8/image.png?t=1777344243) Caption: Then we hit the Swiss Embassy for the TIME afterparty. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c909162d-6540-4ac0-8dd6-99f646cab6d4/image.png?t=1777344283) Caption: We called it at 3am. Saturday felt like a lifetime. ### **Sunday** I grew up in Baltimore so have a lot of family in the area. My parents came down to meet me, along with some extended family, for a brunch at Le Diplomate. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5bcdabcc-ce97-425e-b606-24c175e5be80/image.png?t=1777344336) Caption: Then I spent a few hours walking around the Mall with my parents, before heading to the airport. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/bad39238-2c21-4edd-b94f-c56fc37b689d/image.png?t=1777344386) Caption: Now I’m sitting on this flight writing this newsletter. Holy shit I can’t wait to be back home in LA. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/whcd-2026-kinda](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/whcd-2026-kinda) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4a8a9b16-5bbd-441d-9884-49b328e2850a/image.png?t=1777344559) Caption: Credit: me I would prompt so hard from here 🦅. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * I joined Kyle Poyar and CJ Gustafson on _[Mostly Growth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AQQrqHbE1s&t=1)__ _to share some never-told-before stories and what I’m excited about building next. * Why half of product managers are in trouble. [An interview with Lenny and Nikhyl Singhal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUohoaC8_Hs) (former product exec at Meta, Google, and Credit Karma). * The economics and trends of the restaurant industry with Tony Xu of DoorDash → [Cheeky Pint](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwvrZphtg2I&list=PLcoWp8pBTM3BxiPMHCj0YJ4wvGbUOYZIG&index=1). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24dab4e1-520e-4985-9bb1-67a80046895f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T144033.783.gif?t=1771189425) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. Or you can book an hour session with me (real me) directly → [here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/854fa663-d3c8-451e-a83f-9623b6a15786/Track_1.png?t=1774317019) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6RhszueRE6SiDnXkv3i88r?si=6975e90dc78f4138) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ff91be89-71fd-44e6-952b-749ffa16a67c/Track_2.png?t=1774317024) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6WAx8NDZE4V1EW7nCAU7tt?si=a94c77be37964360) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b05ac337-af2f-4689-9e72-481af2d5e1fe/Track_3.png?t=1774317030) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/0n26VjByDyCJeMeNOOS74Z?si=9821f8c0688745ab) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4991a200-861b-4a39-aecb-f37f951bac44/Track_4.png?t=1774317038) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/7J6a7EkoXoiLGnrC5x5JGr?si=4f33a0306f404502) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/whcd-2026-kinda

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/45fdbcee-fedb-443e-8de2-10140e97d343/beehiiv_seed_deck__38_.png?t=1776656565) Follow image link: (https://www.perplexity.ai/try-computer?utm_source=Influencer&utm_medium=influencer&ut[]uter&utm_content=Newsletter&wpsrc=Influencer&wpcn=Tyler_Denk) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/fe523355-eaf4-43e7-b6d4-5d14319c2b11/image.png?t=1776745225) Follow image link: (https://www.perplexity.ai/try-computer?utm_source=Influencer&utm_medium=influencer&ut[]uter&utm_content=Newsletter&wpsrc=Influencer&wpcn=Tyler_Denk) Caption: I've been AI-pilled for months. [Perplexity Computer](https://www.perplexity.ai/try-computer?utm_source=Influencer&utm_medium=influencer&ut[…]uter&utm_content=Newsletter&wpsrc=Influencer&wpcn=Tyler_Denk) took it to an entirely new level. I've always wanted an always-on B2B newsletter intelligence terminal. So I asked [Computer](https://www.perplexity.ai/try-computer?utm_source=Influencer&utm_medium=influencer&ut[…]uter&utm_content=Newsletter&wpsrc=Influencer&wpcn=Tyler_Denk) to build one. Watch what happened: → Pull KPIs across every active campaign and surface what's actually moving the needle → Run real-time sentiment analysis on your audience and industry → Flag emerging opportunities before your competitors see them → Generate actionable recommendations — ready to brief your team It did all of it. I didn't touch a thing. [And it did it in one prompt](https://www.perplexity.ai/try-computer?utm_source=Influencer&utm_medium=influencer&ut[…]uter&utm_content=Newsletter&wpsrc=Influencer&wpcn=Tyler_Denk). [Computer](https://www.perplexity.ai/try-computer?utm_source=Influencer&utm_medium=influencer&ut[…]uter&utm_content=Newsletter&wpsrc=Influencer&wpcn=Tyler_Denk) spins up sub-agents across 19 of the leading models and picks the best one for each job. Claude for the logic and code. Nano Banana Pro for the assets. Gemini for deep research. Be like me and level up your output with [Perplexity Computer](https://www.perplexity.ai/try-computer?utm_source=Influencer&utm_medium=influencer&ut[…]uter&utm_content=Newsletter&wpsrc=Influencer&wpcn=Tyler_Denk). Try Perplexity Computer Today (https://www.perplexity.ai/try-computer?utm_source=Influencer&utm_medium=influencer&ut[…]uter&utm_content=Newsletter&wpsrc=Influencer&wpcn=Tyler_Denk) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a845ff0d-6c7c-4a98-a048-d3cbaf6fbfbf/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-04-19T202816.932.gif?t=1776655927) Caption: -------------------- It feels like a lifetime ago when I worked at Google. I joined at the peak of covid in 2020, so I never enjoyed the amenities of being an employee there (the office, the cafeteria, the events, the people). Instead, I spent my time alone pressing keys from my Brooklyn apartment. It was the depths of another grey New York winter, made worse by a legit global pandemic, when Sundar introduced the concept of a “mental wellness day” one Friday at Google. I can’t imagine how many meetings and consultants it took for them to come up with the concept of a day off, but it was well-received by everyone. Who doesn’t love a three-day weekend? I spent the day working anyway. But it was liberating to have a day to myself to prioritize all the things I otherwise didn’t have the time to do during the week. When we started [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/), that’s something I took with me from Google. We made the third Friday of every month what we call a “monthly wellness day” or “MWD” for short (i.e. the entire company gets the day off). Which means at least one guaranteed three-day weekend every month. Some people take advantage and plan a long weekend trip, and others like me get a full day to focus without the day-to-day chaos of typical startup life. I’m writing this on Friday (which happens to be a MWD). And how is my “day off” going thus far? Fucking fantastic. I’ve had more breakthroughs for the business than I typically have in a week, and it’s not even 10am yet. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. The daily grind, the back-to-back meetings, the structure — it doesn’t give you permission to think. I’m typically just going through the motions, checking the box, and accumulating to-do items with each passing encounter. But today is different. It actually started last night. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d85058f5-1d96-409e-b580-1ce8a38097cc/260416_INC_FOUNDERSAA1_6252.jpg?t=1776745489) Caption: I got back late in the afternoon after speaking on a panel at Inc. Founder’s House in Santa Monica. Usually, I start to feel a bit of anxiety as I’m working into the night. I know my alarm is going to go off at 5:30am, and each additional task I take on is just cutting into what’s left of my sleep. But not last night. Last night I found a groove around 9pm and was knocking out a ton of high-quality work. Because Friday was our monthly wellness day, I could ride out the momentum without stressing about sleep. I turned off my alarm and slept about 8 hours until I woke up naturally. There's no comparison to the days I'm pulled out of sleep by my alarm. My thoughts are clearer, my energy is higher, and my motivation is dialed. Friday was one of those days. I woke up and didn’t need to rush through my morning routine and be back from the gym before my 8am meetings. Instead, I lay in bed and thought about our upcoming company offsite and the opening presentation that I had been neglecting to work on for weeks. No rush, no stress, nowhere to be. I mentally planned out the entire presentation, jotted it down in my Apple Notes, then got out of bed and started my day. Those sorts of creative tasks aren’t meant to be done at a desk, in-between meetings. They require some space to think freely, which often doesn’t happen during the week. When I did finally make it to the gym, I got into a great flow and spent an extra 20 minutes there. Just being able to live without operating down to the minute on everything is so damn freeing. You might be a tad confused, reading this inner monologue describing what is essentially “free time.” Maybe it reads as just another Tuesday for you, but for me, and a bunch of other founders that I know, it’s a delicacy. And I hate that. Because I do my best work, and can provide the greatest contributions to the company when I’m given the space to do so. What I’m actually describing is the internal conflict of building a successful business that no longer allows me to do the things that I enjoy the most. We have 130 employees with bi-weekly all hands. I’m running a dozen high-priority initiatives in parallel that all need check-ins to keep the team aligned and unblocked. I have 14 direct reports that I owe time, attention, feedback, and direction. I have board meetings, panels, investor relations, and meetings with vendors and prospects and everyone in between. That’s the beast I have created — and it’s working. The company is a well-oiled machine, we’re growing faster than ever, and we’re on the precipice of building a generational product. But I’m a builder. I love creative work. I love bringing big ambitious ideas to life, going heads down and executing, and delivering things that excite people. I want to bring new creative campaigns to market. I want to build the world’s greatest product roadmap down to every last pixel. I want to spend 72 hours straight with Claude Code and transform how we operate the business. But who has the time to do any of that when this week’s calendar looks like this: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e1700c63-67cf-4cd5-a3e2-23d24213a090/calendar_blurred.png?t=1776652518) Caption: Between yoga, meditation, and breathwork… I’ve gotten pretty good at identifying these often-subconscious feelings. When I start a task in-between meetings, there’s an underlying sense of resistance and pressure to deliver _somet_hing in the 30 minutes allotted to me before my next meeting. I’m reluctant to dive in and give it my all, knowing I’m just a few minutes away from getting entirely pulled out of that mental space to join the next meeting. For example, writing this newsletter is really difficult for me. It takes several hours of uninterrupted time and focus to write it. I can’t get into that headspace in-between meetings. Who can genuinely do their best, most thoughtful work, with a clock counting down before their next commitment? I certainly can’t. The overly structured yet chaotic reality of startup life isn’t remotely conducive to me producing my best work. Which is why I fucking love Monthly Wellness Days. I’m happy that many on our team can take the long weekend to relax and reset (as it was intended). And I’m happy I can put on my headphones and build the things that give me life again. It’s the same reason I love working on the weekends. No distractions. No structure. No expectations. But that sword cuts both ways. It’d be a lot healthier to enjoy these sunny LA weekends outside on the beach, and with friends. I’m stuck with the impossible decision between prioritizing life at the expense of the only time I have to do the work that I genuinely enjoy, or prioritizing work with the only time that I have to live. As a founder, being self-aware about these things matters. A lot of people end up building companies they despise running. I never want to find myself in that situation, so I’ve implemented a lot of things to take back control. At beehiiv, we have focus days twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Focus days are meant to be meeting free. It’s a massive unlock for productivity. It allows me to take an extra few minutes in the morning to breathe and think. To be receptive to the world, rather than rushing through it in anticipation of my upcoming meetings. And it allows me to actually focus and do deep work without cramming tasks in-between the 30-minute slots on my calendar. While it’s not quite the same as the Monthly Wellness Days, it’s better than nothing. There’s still the onslaught of pings and emails that eat away at your time and focus, and the occasional Slack huddle that turns into an unexpected 45-minute meeting, but at least the intention is there. If it were up to me, we’d have a 4-day workweek. Meetings on Monday to kick-off the week, focus days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to execute, and end-of-week meetings on Thursday. I genuinely think we would outperform 99% of companies, and have 0% employee attrition. You gotta earn your stripes though — it’s hard to pull those strings as an unprofitable business. Beyond that, I try to limit meetings as much as possible. I still probably have a few too many direct reports, but at least our 1:1s are monthly, not weekly. The concept of a weekly employee check-in is absurd to me, and completely unnecessary. This is all to say, we’ve grown up a lot these past few years. It’s no longer just me and my two cofounders tinkering away on the weekends to bring our vision to life. I’m just doing whatever I can to keep that early magic alive. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/slept-8-hours](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/slept-8-hours) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1ecbc0ac-9ec3-41ac-a8b9-238768223f87/image.png?t=1776651573) Caption: Credit: Amy Forsythe Shoutout Amy for the reader submission 🫡. I can legitimately feel the humidity from here, otherwise this setup would be pretty damn chill. Also low-key flex to have a physical globe on your desk these days. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * The hard truths about building in the AI era — [an interview with Keith Rabois](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCd9ykretlg) on Lenny’s Podcast. * Another week, [another banger](https://stratechery.com/2026/mythos-muse-and-the-opportunity-cost-of-compute/) by Ben Thompson. This week about Mythos and the opportunity cost of compute. * [Jensen interrupts him three times](https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/jensen-huang) to say "your premise is wrong" and completely loses his cool on whether we should be selling top-shelf chips to China. * [Sam Parr sits down with Charles Duhigg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dck_MBRg-Do&list=PLWloxQyF_2n4aCanY4Y45HLTY2zoeZF8U), the #1 habit expert. Great pod that also led me to buy his book _[Supercommunicators](https://www.amazon.com/Supercommunicators-Unlock-Secret-Language-Connection/dp/0593243919/ref=pd_lpo_d_sccl_2/131-3352310-1804144?pd_rd_w=zNQVu&content-id=amzn1.sym.4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_p=4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_r=J2AQVRSJ9BHZZ3PD4R9R&pd_rd_wg=f7UWK&pd_rd_r=482514bf-3d1c-4d90-b454-d4327577435b&pd_rd_i=0593243919&psc=1)_. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24dab4e1-520e-4985-9bb1-67a80046895f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T144033.783.gif?t=1771189425) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. Or you can book an hour session with me (real me) directly → [here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/40693052-40dc-41b1-8101-ed5728360eaa/Track_1.png?t=1776656412) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/5ZtDhI2d1WzP0ALN38u78V?si=a00da4c2021f4929) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6cdd2a9d-5e29-46a9-8ab0-fe835890ce6b/Track_2.png?t=1776656417) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/2ITC1YY3kKa0YjW8kwvmAa?si=206ee8024dda41b3) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2c14e917-e995-4183-a700-f79d05d256fb/Track_3.png?t=1776656422) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/0KWXCP6V9hXfyqbWN2wvZ8?si=9b0b0bcc66004165) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9b40e329-eace-4799-9e82-26b669f6aecc/Track_4.png?t=1776656428) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/0pVtY2coUDHtTT21yvmozn?si=bc02d11d3e5b47d6) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/slept-8-hours

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4ff3f5e2-f5e6-4a99-9799-af37f531c00e/beehiiv_seed_deck__26_.png?t=1755384466) Follow image link: (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) Caption: -------------------- The real ones know — I love using tools that cut through complexity. That’s why I love [Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26). Connect your email and calendar, and [Attio instantly builds your CRM](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26). Every contact, every company, every conversation, all organized in one place. Build custom apps with the SDK, sync data across your stack with the API, or connect via MCP so AI agents can work autonomously. Shape your CRM to how you want to work. Then [Ask Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26): "What's on my plate today?" And you’ll get: * A summary of your most active deals and what needs attention * Handoff briefs ready to send after your next call * Tasks and follow-ups due this week [Try it now, for free](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26).  Level up with Attio → (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a77f958-b5e2-4773-9a3f-9f0d49189999/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-04-13T200602.973.gif?t=1776135974) Caption: -------------------- Almost exactly one year ago, I sent our March 2025 investor update recapping what was a stellar Q1. Here’s the intro to that email: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c4ba728-4ef0-404f-8a09-e29757553867/image.png?t=1776136054) Caption: I felt like we were on top of the world. We were setting new milestones seemingly each week and I was convinced that 2025 was going to be a blowout year. Then Q2 happened. We had normalized an irrational amount of spending without having the attribution or data to justify it. We didn’t have a coherent strategy, and the things that were working in the early days were no longer working. By the end of the quarter, it was clear: the team that got us to $20M ARR wasn’t going to be the team to get us to $200M ARR. One Monday in late July, I woke up and fired a third of the growth team, leadership and all. It was one of my worst days as a founder. We immediately paused everything we were doing and cut spending by 90%. We needed new leadership, a new strategy, and a complete and total reset. One thing I knew for sure — this was going to be an extremely painful process. Momentum is everything for startups. And after three years of consistent 8-15% monthly revenue growth, we made the painful decision to intentionally slam the brakes. It’s better to stop than to sprint in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, on the product side we found ourselves approaching an inflection point. Our 2024 acquisition of Typedream (a YC-backed AI website builder) was finally starting to bear fruit. Users could now build beautiful custom websites directly in [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/). But to me, the website builder was just the front door. Get our foot in, earn the trust, and suddenly we're not just hosting your newsletter — we're the platform for your entire business. Digital products, podcasts, link-in-bio, the whole thing. This was the big vision that I had pitched to the company to kick off 2025. And if we were going to pause and reset the growth program, I figured it was best to wait until after this vision became a reality before attempting to re-accelerate the business. Over the summer I was in Costa Rica hosting a founder mastermind when I got a ton of inspiration from another founder on the trip (btw if you’re interested in joining an upcoming mastermind, [drop your info here](https://forms.gle/MXeZLrvxRsSunSim8)). He told a story about a live product webinar he hosted for all of his customers and leads. The event drove over a million dollars of new revenue. I studied our upcoming product roadmap and realized that all of our tentpole initiatives were on pace to launch at roughly the same time later in the year. Then I had a vision. I wanted to create an Apple keynote type of launch event. We’d pre-record it IRL, invite tens of thousands of our customers, then livestream the event while announcing feature after feature. The goal was to reposition the company as more than just a newsletter platform. The timing would give us a few months to prepare, reload the growth team with the right people, and build a growth strategy worthy of the moment. Granted, we had never done anything like this before. We’re an entirely remote company, so it was a bit out of the box to suggest to our CFO that we’re going to fly in a bunch of people to NYC to do a full day video shoot. It’s not the craziest idea, but it’s also a massive bet and expense for something that we’ve never attempted before. But that’s the best part about being a founder. You can be a dreamer. I had a vision for something that I thought should exist, spent the weekend writing a proposal to build my case, and presented it to the company the following Monday. A weekend idea. 72 hours later, 100 people were rowing in the same direction. We had a plan, but the event was still months away. Meanwhile, the cognitive dissonance of those next several months was intense. On one hand, I felt like we were on the verge of delivering a category defining product — it would genuinely keep me up at night. On the other hand, we weren’t growing. It turns out that firing a third of your growth team and cutting spend by 90% isn’t exactly a recipe for success. There's a specific kind of dread that comes with running an unprofitable startup that isn't growing. Being unprofitable means that we were losing money each month. It means that we are always on the clock to either reach profitability or raise additional capital — both felt further away by the day. Those were some of the most stressful days I can recall building the company. I was working overtime to deliver on the product side of things, and also had to step in and run the growth team while we searched for a new team lead. Plus, you know all of the other things like hiring, sales and partnership calls, board meetings, work travel, etc. It’s easy to ignore burnout while you’re growing. But the dopamine that used to hit from refreshing Stripe had turned into a steady stream of anxiety when the growth dried up. During this stretch, a handful of companies suddenly came inbound looking to explore M&A. I wasn’t looking to sell the company. I knew that we hadn’t achieved even a fraction of what this business was capable of. But the market can be irrational at times, and it was hot. We suddenly had a rush of massive players around the table, and it felt foolish to not at least hear them out. So in addition to everything else I was balancing, we were in talks with four different potential acquirers. I felt all of the founder emotions one could possibly feel. Some days I would wake up and see nothing but upside. We could grow so much faster, join a company with hundreds of millions of users, and best-of-all — be able to focus and execute without the stress and anxiety of being an unprofitable startup. Then other days I would be so excited about what we’re building that I couldn’t imagine getting out of the driver’s seat. I’d ping pong between both of those on a ~~daily~~ hourly basis. But the show must go on. We recorded what became the [_Winter Release Event_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNx0WyMXwvo) live in New York, then live-streamed it in November. It turned out 10x better than what I had initially imagined earlier that summer. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f15e33cb-8043-4b0f-b1e1-d91270ec43df/image.png?t=1776136496) Caption: We launched digital products, an AI website builder, a link in bio tool, a suite of website analytics, a podcast integration, a powerful new automation suite, and more. We had thousands of people join the livestream and got a ton of press covering the event. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/853615f3-4d45-479c-a8b1-ba810e115773/image.png?t=1776136731) Caption: It was a real company-defining moment for us. If nothing else, I was really proud of the event, and the team. The production and final product I think exceeded everyone’s expectations. And as painful as it was to execute the plan, it was showing signs of success. We rebuilt the growth team from scratch and cut our burn rate from a peak of $1.5M per month in Q2 down to $200K in November. Meanwhile, we were riding high after the success of the [_Winter Release Event_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNx0WyMXwvo). But five months feels like an eternity for startups. Some of our investors were getting antsy, or at least, it felt pretty obvious that we had fallen out of favor with some of them. We at one point were this high-flying company that was the star of their portfolio, and then in 2025 all of these AI companies that were growing 10x YoY took their attention (rightfully so) while we were growing a measly 2% MoM. A few of our investors were pretty persistent that we should continue to test the market and find a deal, worried that we may have already peaked as a company. But I pushed back and reiterated my confidence in the product, the new leadership we were bringing on, and our game plan for 2026. We had gotten through the worst part of the plan, and now it was finally time to execute the best part. I kept coming back to the fact that all of the most successful companies in the world, at one point went through difficult periods. I mean, Apple was 90 days from bankruptcy in 1997 before Steve Jobs came back as CEO. And almost every other company that makes up your 401(k) had several sustained periods of slower growth and turmoil. The stress and pressure feels insurmountable in those moments, but I knew that it wasn’t going to define us. That was, despite a lot of our closest backers losing faith in us, and me. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3267662a-2fe3-4612-a6b9-e674dca53a58/image.png?t=1776136835) Caption: When we got back from the holidays, it was finally time to execute what we had been planning for months. In fact, you can see the drastic uptick in revenue take place almost exactly on the first day of the year. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/33cc0090-e75c-4384-99f0-6616af6b5c13/image.png?t=1776138229) Caption: The result? Q1 was the best quarter in company history. We added nearly $4.5M ARR and are pacing ahead of our $50M revenue goal for 2026. We sent over 10B emails. Both the enterprise sales team and ad sales team had record quarters. And we shipped a laundry list of features that make beehiiv a truly differentiated platform. A few weeks ago we launched the [beehiiv MCP](https://www.beehiiv.com/features/mcp) — making beehiiv the first newsletter platform you can run directly through ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity. Then we introduced the ability for users to host, distribute, and monetize their [podcasts directly on beehiiv](https://product.beehiiv.com/p/podcasts). We shattered our podcast adoption goal for Q2 within the first 6 hours of launch. We’re in the driver’s seat now. We have what I believe to be the most robust platform in the industry, with the best business model, and the most talented team… and it’s not even close. I find it comical that we were at one point even slightly considered selling the business. I don’t trust that any company can truly shepherd the potential of what we’re building better than we can. The real lesson? Be careful who you take advice from. Everyone at the table has different incentives. There were a lot of times in Q4 where it felt like I was truly in this thing all alone. It was dark. But that’s what I think it takes to be a good founder. When every signal says quit, sometimes you have to be crazy enough to believe there's another way out. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/we-almost-sold](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/we-almost-sold) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/62d338e4-3fcf-4767-8b43-6e97fefdd0ee/image.png?t=1776135698) Caption: Credit: Me Mentally still at Coachella. I wouldn’t mind locking in from the ferris wheel in-between weekends. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * I joined the 505 Podcast and had a blast. One of my favorite podcast interviews to date: [why smart creators are abandoning social media](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-3ZV8JkXQs). * [Creator Spotlight](https://wbby.co/57622N) is nominated for a Webby. It would mean the world to me if you could take 20 seconds and [vote](https://wbby.co/57622N)! * This might be the best podcast episode I’ve ever listened to? [Adam Neumann joins Rick Rubin on Tetragrammaton](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAHsF4A8GLM). * [Mythos, Muse, and the opportunity cost of compute.](https://stratechery.com/2026/mythos-muse-and-the-opportunity-cost-of-compute/) An essay by Ben Thompson. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24dab4e1-520e-4985-9bb1-67a80046895f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T144033.783.gif?t=1771189425) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. Or you can book an hour session with me (real me) directly → [here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7e74eae5-5eda-4a8c-a873-d214525861d4/Track_1.png?t=1776137889) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/0LP6yWy1xPpL1GDx0xEwaI?si=ed0903c425184688) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b00c78e4-f252-49ec-ac32-190dddfbdfc5/Track_2.png?t=1776137894) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/3a0AsqDY11P66dLEKy1Mzf?si=0a29dd0437df4a20) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/457a0bc7-6a0e-499f-946b-7a5fbe6e67c1/Track_3.png?t=1776137900) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/0Rltr1aZbly34UNtJ0tsbY?si=ac12f47fb8254e36) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f1ff6b80-9d27-43c1-8759-a2ae895e8121/Track_4.png?t=1775492649) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/4WfBqoEEcCXk1kb9m26Y2o?si=ad94a26aec2e4195) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/we-almost-sold

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4ff3f5e2-f5e6-4a99-9799-af37f531c00e/beehiiv_seed_deck__26_.png?t=1755384466) Follow image link: (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) Caption: -------------------- The real ones know — I love using tools that cut through complexity. That’s why I love [Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26). Connect your email and calendar, and [Attio instantly builds your CRM](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26). Every contact, every company, every conversation, all organized in one place. Build custom apps with the SDK, sync data across your stack with the API, or connect via MCP so AI agents can work autonomously. Shape your CRM to how you want to work. Then [Ask Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26): "What's on my plate today?" And you’ll get: * A summary of your most active deals and what needs attention * Handoff briefs ready to send after your next call * Tasks and follow-ups due this week [Try it now, for free](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26).  Level up with Attio → (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ab6411fc-7fcc-4df2-a8ad-b7fee81d5253/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-04-06T122354.093.gif?t=1775492677) Caption: -------------------- Back in mid-March I hinted that we had a few big launches coming up. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/2035861243655762103) Two weeks ago we launched the [beehiiv MCP](https://product.beehiiv.com/p/beehiiv-mcp) — making beehiiv the first newsletter platform that you can run directly through Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity. I wrote my thesis about why this was such a big deal in that week’s newsletter. In summary: we’re entering a new paradigm where the end user is interacting with software (like beehiiv) more and more through native AI interfaces like Claude. I think the next several years will be defined by companies who are building both for agents and humans; the native web application is no longer the only interface that matters. The beehiiv MCP gives users the ability to do things like this: Tweet: (https://twitter.com/danielcberk/status/2036540018722742470) And this: Tweet: (https://twitter.com/Sahin_OG/status/2036863933718683763) We have a very strong thesis about the beehiiv MCP (and agentic workflows writ large), and we knew that it was an initiative worth prioritizing. But transparently, we had very modest expectations prior to launch. It still feels so early. I’d argue half of our users barely understand the concept of an API, let alone the nascent developments in MCP. We assumed the market wasn’t truly ready for it, and that only a few AI power users would become early adopters. We were wrong. Within the first 48 hours, nearly 10% of all paying users on beehiiv requested early access to the beehiiv MCP (btw you can request access here). We now have a vibrant Slack community of hundreds of early adopters pushing the limits of beehiiv with agentic AI workflows. Anyway, that was the first of the two launches. And it was one of the most successful in recent memory… up until the second launch last week: podcasts. Podcasts was one of the best received product announcements in company history. Users can now host, distribute, and monetize their podcast directly on beehiiv. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/beehiiv/status/2039688857969623135) For years, I have been fielding requests from users to support podcasts natively on the platform. It makes a ton of sense: most of our largest and most successful publishers and creators already have podcasts. They currently have to jump from platform to platform, manage (and pay for) multiple accounts, and ultimately have a fragmented understanding of who their audience is and how they consume content. Some of their audience lives in platform A, others in platform B, and others in platform C, etc. [beehiiv solves that](https://www.beehiiv.com/). In four short years, we have built the infrastructure for anyone with an owned audience: newsletter, website, and now podcasts. The power of having them all live within a single unified platform really starts to compound at scale. I’m not going to sit here and turn this newsletter into a full product announcement, but give me a minute to cook. What we built is dope. And it’s not just some half-assed add-on feature… it’s a full podcast suite (with a lot more coming soon). When users upload a new episode to beehiiv, we’ll automatically distribute it to every major podcast platform: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Castro, and beyond. We even do automatic audio normalization to polish the sound, and create a full transcription for every episode (which helps creators get discovered in search and LLMs). Because we also host websites for our users, each episode automatically gets its own SEO-optimized webpage to drive traffic and capture subscribers. So instead of sending your audience to Apple, Spotify, or YouTube, you can keep them in your ecosystem. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/35bab9b2-73e2-45f2-895a-99e605ff65a4/image.png?t=1775497646) Caption: We didn’t skimp on analytics either: our podcast analytics are built to IAB standards, with breakdowns by country, listening app, device, and operating system, plus episode-level downloads and real-time data. We also built advanced bot-filtering to separate real listeners from noise. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6e661c33-46cf-40d8-adfd-4bd580088e27/Screenshot_2026-04-06_at_1.49.15_PM.png?t=1775497927) Caption: One thing that we have always focused on is providing monetization opportunities to publishers and creators. By hosting your podcast on beehiiv, you can bundle it with your existing subscription and offer a private feed to paying subscribers. And unlike the other guys… View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f12afa47-e8ed-47e2-84ec-f96925337d46/PU____monetization_comparison__2_.png?t=1775492275) Caption: However, this is just the beginning. We already have a globally scaled ad network with brands like Kalshi, AG1, Hubspot, Roku, etc. who are receiving billions of quality impressions across tens of thousands of newsletters. You could probably imagine a world where we bring those monetization capabilities to podcasts too… And then video; we got that feedback loud and clear. The people want video and we’re going to give it to them. That’s the direction that the podcast industry is heading in. Overall, the reception of the launch was incredible. I received hundreds of positive replies to the product announcement email (yeah, I still write those and get all of the replies). Our social channels were poppin’ off, and we even got some coverage in TechCrunch, Variety, and a handful of other niche podcast-focused outlets. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e6dea6e8-9148-44c0-ac5b-4004d7079931/image.png?t=1775498076) Caption: Best of all: we surpassed our Q2 product adoption goal for podcasts within 6 hours of launch. Like I said from the jump, I don’t view podcasts as some cute add-on feature. I really believe that beehiiv could be a serious player in this industry and serve hundreds of thousands of publishers and creators. I have a strong thesis on why I believe we can win, and an equally strong thesis as to why podcasts are a bet worth taking: * The global podcast market is estimated to be about $30B with projections to reach $130B by 2030. * YouTube has more than 1B monthly viewers for podcast content. * Spotify spent years and hundreds of millions acquiring their way into podcasts. * Apple has dominated podcasts for decades, and recently launched support for video a few weeks ago. * Netflix is the newest entrant, investing in exclusive podcast content and partnerships. * The Golden Globes just added podcast awards to their show, honoring podcasting alongside film and television. And coincidentally, OpenAI acquired TBPN for a rumored “low hundreds of millions” on the same day that we launched our podcast feature. tl;dr — there is an absurd amount of interest and investment flowing into the industry. That means that there’s going to be plenty of new technologies to build, opportunities to pursue, and problems to solve. Meanwhile, we are notorious for our product velocity, are already home to tens of thousands of some of the world’s top creators and publishers, and have an entire suite of growth and monetization tools to offer. I have so much conviction that we can win. Since that tweet in mid-March, anyone on beehiiv can now do the following: 1. Publish your latest episode on beehiiv and have it distributed across all major podcast players. 2. Send a newsletter to your audience promoting your latest episode (and can drive traffic back to your dedicated podcast page). 3. Ask Claude to generate an ad report for your sponsors based on the performance of your latest newsletter and episode, all via the beehiiv MCP. No other platform can say that. We’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible here. These past two weeks were just an appetizer for what’s to come in Q2. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/back-to-back](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/back-to-back) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ea9b1a7f-f567-4a85-ada8-d1883a6f8554/image.png?t=1775491838) Caption: Credit: Grant Bristow Shoutout Grant for the reader submission! Whiteboard, white sands, and a whole lot of vibes. Would not mind giving a “no blockers” from here. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * While I was in Austin [I joined Alex Garcia and Brian Blum on the Sweat Equity podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVDS-biqNrY) to talk about world-building as a creator, when and how to monetize, and the future of content creation. * The [latest Founders episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHE37R0aBUA) is about Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, solving what may be the most important problem in history. * Brian Halligan is the co-founder and former CEO at HubSpot and now coaches CEOs at Sequoia. [Excellent podcast with Lenny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UyitfSbY6c) on what makes a great CEO. * Ben Thompson covers Apple’s 50th year in one of [his latest posts](https://stratechery.com/2026/apples-50-years-of-integration/). Was an excellent read. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24dab4e1-520e-4985-9bb1-67a80046895f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T144033.783.gif?t=1771189425) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. Or you can book an hour session with me (real me) directly → [here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/755e98cd-88af-4a5e-b2a8-1ea1f169a599/Track_1.png?t=1775492633) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/7gGf1lpYd8AiibjYIh2ups?si=606a826287244906) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ac90f3e5-a7a5-4ec3-89f0-53f2b93bfe01/Track_2.png?t=1775492639) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/72zBuma8aAT4UGTijcHQHx?si=01b7f8ad91b94804) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/036406cf-7605-4046-8e75-867630e70c0f/Track_3.png?t=1775492644) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/2yTjbIZDwHO41HIwDNPB8K?si=a05039227a0c4fcb) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f1ff6b80-9d27-43c1-8759-a2ae895e8121/Track_4.png?t=1775492649) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/4WfBqoEEcCXk1kb9m26Y2o?si=ad94a26aec2e4195) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/back-to-back

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b0333707-b45b-4e0c-99f4-97961cec15c6/beehiiv_seed_deck__36_.png?t=1774909516) Follow image link: (https://ref.getviktor.com/big-desk-energy) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7a8df63c-6d9b-47eb-bfe0-4c471552ea95/ad3__1_.png?t=1774909131) Follow image link: (https://ref.getviktor.com/big-desk-energy) Caption: Your next hire isn't on LinkedIn. Your next hire is [Viktor](https://ref.getviktor.com/big-desk-energy). [Viktor](https://ref.getviktor.com/big-desk-energy) is an AI coworker that lives in your Slack. Not a chatbot. A colleague. It connects to **3,000+** tools your team already uses, watches how you work, and starts doing the work before you ask. One Slack message: "Pull last month's ad spend vs. revenue." Viktor grabs data from Meta Ads, Google Ads, and Stripe, then delivers a board-ready PDF four minutes later. Every founder I know needs more bandwidth, but can’t justify making additional hires right now. [Viktor solves this](https://ref.getviktor.com/big-desk-energy). Viktor writes code, builds dashboards, runs weekly reports, and manages campaigns. No triggers. No workflows. No new interface to learn. Your team is already in Slack. [Viktor just shows up and gets to work](https://ref.getviktor.com/big-desk-energy). Try Viktor free with $100 in credits (https://ref.getviktor.com/big-desk-energy) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e7600b85-bc34-4101-8ef1-159c6b8e88cb/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-03-30T145046.391.gif?t=1774907463) Caption: -------------------- After an incredible 5 months in Medellín, I’m writing this on my flight back to Los Angeles. This bi-annual move between continents where I entirely flip my life upside down is always bittersweet. On one hand, I genuinely cannot wait to be back in LA. It’s where most of my best friends call home, where I’m most productive, and where my routine is the most dialed (work, gym, surf, yoga, breathwork). But there’s so much that I love about being in Colombia that I’m leaving behind: **The lifestyle.** I have a private chef and maid that saves me about ~150 hours per quarter. It’s a total cheat code to have more time to focus on the business. **The accommodations.** The cost of living relative to LA is… different. I have a beautiful two-floor penthouse with an amazing home office and tons of amenities. **The weather.** They call it “the eternal spring” because it’s pretty much 75°F and sunny every single day, year round. I’m genuinely a much happier person when the weather is nice. **The people. **On average I find the people in Latam to be super friendly and warm. Plus, I’ve built an awesome community of friends and founders down there. **The views.** I mean, come on, it’s hard not to get inspired when I wake up to this every morning. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4423e0b2-e794-48e4-8a67-8103f8703aa1/image.png?t=1774907596) Caption: LA and Medellín are ultimately just two different seasons of life for me. Each has its trade-offs. Each serves a different purpose. In Medellín, I’m pretty much off the grid… and that’s a feature not a bug. Your time is your most valuable resource as a founder, and far too many people don’t do enough to protect it. When I’m down in Colombia, it’s so much easier to say no to things back in the states. “I’m on a different continent” is an amazing excuse to decline all of the dinner invites and events. There were a few exceptions: I made the trip to London in February and SXSW in March. Both were opportunities for the business that were too good to pass up, but dozens of other events didn’t make the cut. Saying no to more things means saying yes to the things that really matter. And one of the things that really matters to me is building [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) into a multi-billion dollar business. While I was off the grid in South America, I was really able to lock in… and I think the results speak for themselves… **November:** was a record month with $3.5M in revenue (thanks in part to BFCM). **December:** we quietly raised a $12M strategic round. **Q1:** was a blowout quarter; we added over $4M ARR and shipped dozens of impactful features. We’re in a really good groove right now, and I owe a lot of that to my ability to focus on the business without any distractions. Or at least, fewer distractions than I experience in the States. While work consumes 99% of my life, I really try to max that last 1% as much as I can. I’d be lying to say my time in Colombia was all work and no fun. Guatapé is this beautiful manmade lake a few hours outside of the city. I ripped a few weekend trips there and got ~~really~~ pretty good at wakesurfing. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/fa38672d-fbeb-4164-b398-cedc2cdabbba/image.png?t=1774907732) Caption: My parents came to visit for the holidays, which was an absolute blast. It was their first time in South America. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a2a69a0e-5dc0-4cc9-8675-6b8d635c973d/image.png?t=1774907816) Caption: And the homies used my birthday as an excuse to come down and visit for a week. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1a1a4910-59a6-40d0-99f7-eae5ec9320e7/image.png?t=1774908106) Caption: Rufus concert 🤝 Both professionally and personally, the past 5 months were exceptional… which is all you can really ask for. That said, there's one thing Medellín can't compete with: the caliber of people and opportunities back in the U.S. The energy and ambition that you find in New York, SF, and LA is unparalleled. As a founder trying to disrupt an industry and make a dent in the world, that environment is intoxicating. Being off the grid in Medellín serves a real purpose, but so does being back in the thick of it in LA. Two different seasons of life. Anyway, I’ve decided that my first big purchase when I’m back is going to be a nice dining room table. Why? For one, I’m currently working with some shitty IKEA table that my old roommate bought when we first moved in four years ago. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e3ba3242-410d-4b4a-9a17-4eac21dd8157/image.png?t=1774908264) Caption: And second, I was inspired by [this episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78lI5DfTsnI) of _My First Million_ that I listened to a few weeks ago. Shaan was riffing on this idea of "building your own yacht." The concept: before you commit to a new relationship (business or personal) you typically want to see some social proof and credibility. The second you step onto someone's yacht, they've established both. You've entered their frame. They control the experience. And thanks to the law of reciprocity, after receiving something (an invite on their yacht), you feel compelled to give something back. Not everyone can buy a real yacht (guilty). But there are all kinds of ways to create “little yachts” that don't cost nearly as much: hosting a dinner, organizing an event, creating content, etc. These little yachts generate inbound luck, relationships, and other things that quietly compound over time. I heard that episode right after getting back from SXSW, which was essentially a week of non-stop stimuli and in-person connections. Then I had dinner at the Cloudflare CEO's house with Mark Cuban, Michael Dell, Scott Galloway, and a bunch of other absolute ballers (I was the outlier). After that, I was yacht-pilled and inspired to do some hosting myself. I’ve been fortunate to build a pretty awesome network of founders and operators, but historically haven’t prioritized making time for them IRL. But I’m going to build my little yacht and start hosting dinner parties. Eight people, a chef to cook for us, a couple bottles of wine, and maybe some peptides (I hear that’s what the kids are doing these days). Maybe I’ll get sick of it and decide that I hate hosting them after a few. But right now I want to create a space to bring together the most ambitious people in my circle (and expand that circle even further). That’s probably what I’m most excited about. Closely followed by breakfast burritos, surfing, and working from PST. Which, by the way, is the most elite timezone (I wrote a whole [blog post](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/timezone-arbitrage) about it last year). The best part about living this dual-life between continents is this feeling I have right now. A little like starting over in a new city — new routine, wide-eyed, excited. Except I'm just going home to a place I love after a long hiatus. I’ve traveled around the world, but nothing feels better than landing at LAX. Now someone please tell me where I can buy a nice dining room table around here. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/my-new-yacht](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/my-new-yacht) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/603cf491-8c0c-45b2-ae02-59c9e007f348/image.png?t=1774908848) Caption: Credit: Tamara Shoutout Tamara for the reader submission 🫡. This one has a little bit of everything: mountain views, city views, lake views, and a whole lot of zen. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * beehiiv is the first newsletter platform to launch an MCP. [Get early access](https://www.beehiiv.com/features/mcp). * William Hockey, co-founder of Plaid, [shares unconventional wisdom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFIvttHf0oo) on why modern founders take too little risk and lots more (was a great episode). * [How Elon Thinks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqiuSshC9GA): the most recent Founders podcast with David Senra. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24dab4e1-520e-4985-9bb1-67a80046895f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T144033.783.gif?t=1771189425) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. Or you can book an hour session with me (real me) directly → [here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/cec6587a-2b32-44f5-9a8a-e485f157a9eb/Track_1.png?t=1774909897) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/7CKfPa2ELO0ROdaI5WyuRY?si=32fd0d57d68c4bcd) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1f52e094-f783-44c1-9d88-54d751a8cd79/Track_2.png?t=1774909902) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/1YPSJdcP2AJ6DAqIWpFrsR?si=c492a26b94f74f52) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/114829f5-c347-4b6e-b521-5cab64b08c01/Track_3.png?t=1774909907) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6AriBfTagIjKVUov3WEwOa?si=292635e9c9144dd0) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7077c349-8995-4c66-a641-16033c91b182/Track_4.png?t=1774909912) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/2FSsaOoQEXreqPM4dHn845?si=6ea336c007a9488d) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/my-new-yacht

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5c9c006b-9a04-4fbb-86f3-eeba70105e38/beehiiv_seed_deck__35_.png?t=1773963261) Follow image link: (https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1a7cdfc5-1d79-4247-9eca-4a9c401c9fa5/Mux_Big_Desk_Energy.png?t=1773963512) Follow image link: (https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) Caption: I've watched a lot of startups build video into their product the exact same way: treat it like a checkbox, ship it, and move on. **That's the mistake.** Video isn't just something to watch; it’s a boatload of context and data. [Mux is the video infrastructure company](https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) that actually thought this through. Upload a video to Mux and you don't just get playback — you get building blocks your product can actually use: * **Transcripts:** Power search, summaries, and content discovery * **Storyboards:** Ready-to-use visual map of every video * **Clips:** Instantly extract any segment of a video * **Thumbnails:** Automatic, zero engineering time [Mux](https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) also stewards [Video.js](https://videojs.org?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=VJS), the web's most popular open source video player. That's the kind of long-term ecosystem bet that most infrastructure companies aren't willing to make. (btw the [Video.js v10](https://videojs.org?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=VJS) beta just dropped at [videojs.org](https://videojs.org?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=VJS)) Patreon, Cursor, and Synthesia are all built with Mux. Get started free, no credit card required. Use code **BIGDESKENERGY** for an extra $50 credit. Start Building with Mux (https://www.mux.com?utm_campaign=40167684-Big%20Desk%20Energy&utm_source=newsletter) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0cc3ff67-c167-44af-abd1-3bc3dbb91e64/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-03-23T204146.689.gif?t=1774316512) Caption: -------------------- Today we’re launching an MCP, making beehiiv the first newsletter platform you can run directly through ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity. For those of you who aren't as deep in the AI weeds or chronically online on X, let me explain what an MCP is and why it’s such a big deal. MCP (short for Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI models like Claude connect to external tools and data sources (like Slack, Google Drive, and now beehiiv). You can think of it like an API, but supercharged: where APIs simply move data from point A to point B, MCPs layer in AI reasoning. For example, using the Gmail MCP, you can simply ask your AI model of choice to summarize all of your unread emails, flag any that seem extra important, and craft draft responses for those that need to be replied to. All through the simple chat interface ChatGPT popularized a few years ago. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/eac21aee-2ae3-46d0-9c02-722583e0e713/PU____beehiivmcp.png?t=1774314692) Follow image link: (https://www.beehiiv.com/features/mcp) Caption: Until now, if you wanted AI to analyze your newsletter, it'd piece together an answer from whatever data it could find. It was only as smart as the snapshot you gave it. The [beehiiv MCP](https://www.beehiiv.com/features/mcp) changes that entirely. Instead of pasting data into a chat window, your AI connects live to your beehiiv account and can access, analyze, and act on everything inside it. For example, with the beehiiv MCP you can simply ask Claude to analyze your subscriber list and build a breakdown of the types and sizes of companies reading your newsletter. Here’s what it uncovered about my most recent subscribers to this newsletter: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/790169bb-4325-46f3-9507-3458df50855d/image.png?t=1774314660) Caption: No dashboard or simple integration could do that. It requires context, reasoning, and the ability to connect the dots across large datasets. **So, why now?** As tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini become where people get work done, AI interfaces are becoming the new dashboard. Let me give you another example… Linear is the project management tool that we use to track progress across all of our different projects and initiatives (think of it as an alternative to Trello or Asana). Historically, it’s been most heavily used by the product and engineering teams because it integrates directly with GitHub. We chose to use Linear five years ago because it was beautifully designed, the UI/UX was super intuitive, and it was just a far superior product than the alternatives. But they recently have leaned super heavy into agentic workflows and built an incredibly powerful MCP. Now our team rarely uses the web app: instead we create new tickets directly in Slack, and use Claude to perform analysis on all of the progress across our projects. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f47badd2-2041-4ab7-9818-0ea7bb09e621/image.png?t=1774314845) Caption: Leveraging Linear via Claude is 100x more powerful than the web app because our Claude instance also has access to: * GitHub: to understand the underlying code * Our database: to understand usage data and trends * Slack: to gather context from conversations and channels * Fellow: to extract transcripts and recordings from our meetings In theory, Claude could automatically reprioritize features based on demand signals from sales call transcripts (and it can cross-reference the potential deal size via the HubSpot MCP). What I find most admirable about Linear, however, is that they were already winning on product and UI/UX. But rather than falling into the innovator’s dilemma and avoiding the inevitable shift towards AI workflows, they leaned in and built something that totally contradicts their previous competitive advantages (the UI/UX of your app doesn’t matter when you’re doing work in Claude). But Linear isn’t getting replaced by AI, it’s being fueled by it. They are just as important to our team than ever, if not more important. And while previously, it was mostly engineers and PMs using Linear, now the entire team from support to solutions leverages the Linear MCP. **Translation: **they considerably expanded usage and seats. So back to what we’re building at beehiiv: we are developing the underlying infrastructure for anyone with an audience. Whether that's inside the beehiiv platform, through an AI, or whatever interface comes next — [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) is the operating system underneath all of it. That means leveraging beehiiv via Claude is 100x more powerful, for all the same reasons. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5677a348-1cd3-4e51-91c2-60954472e343/image.png?t=1774315052) Caption: Today we’re releasing v1 of the beehiiv MCP, starting with read-only access. That means while chatting with your AI client of choice, you can ask things like: * Who are my most engaged free subscribers who haven't upgraded and what do they have in common? * Audit my website and give me a prioritized list of SEO fixes based on my content and structure. * Are there any unusual churn or unsubscribe spikes in the last 90 days? What posts or dates correlate with them? But the real unlock is pairing beehiiv insights with actions in the other tools you already use: * Every Monday at 8am, pull last week's revenue across ads, subscriptions, and digital products and post a summary to **Slack** with a week-over-week comparison. * When a subscriber hits 10+ opens and 5+ clicks, create or update their contact in **HubSpot** and enroll them in an active sales sequence. * Every Friday, pull this week's send performance, summarize what worked, draft a Monday editorial brief in **Gmail**, and create a 9am calendar invite via **Google Calendar**. Paying users can now request early access to the beehiiv MCP ([request access here](https://app.formcrafts.com/7634eff5)). We'll be onboarding users on a rolling basis… and everyone who gets in will also receive an invite to our private Slack community and dedicated MCP channel: home base for all early adopters. We’re already deep in development on v2, which will introduce write-access and unlock capabilities like: * Pull my last 5 posts and generate a “greatest hits” roundup edition. Write it, format it, and save as a draft. * Build an automation for anyone who purchases a digital product: send a thank you email on day 1, a tips email on day 3, and an upsell on day 7. * Generate a new landing page for my paid subscription using testimonials from my best subscriber reviews. This marks the latest chapter in our on-going effort to build the infrastructure to support anyone with an audience. Now, equipped with the power and capabilities made possible by the latest advancements in AI. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/41e4e2af-d1a8-481e-8153-fa5c4c9d7409/18e9478b-911f-4f4f-a6e1-abd81e8da28a_2.JPG?t=1774315158) Caption: Two weeks ago at SXSW, I was on a panel with Courtney Johnson, a personal branding and social media creator. She said she spends 2 days a week creating content, and 5 days on admin. I believe beehiiv has the opportunity to flip that on its head, for Courtney, and for creators and publishers around the world. We’re arming the rebels of the content economy. _“Claude, ask my readers to request early access to the beehiiv MCP. Make no mistakes.” _ Request early access (https://app.formcrafts.com/7634eff5) ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/beehiiv-mcp](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/beehiiv-mcp) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/99721ea4-fcf3-47ea-8c34-b73a6dc42593/image.png?t=1774315487) Caption: Credit: Me I don’t ask for much, just jungle views and a desk cactus. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * beehiiv or Substack? I weigh in and [chat with Dylan Byers from Puck on ](https://puck.news/podcast_episode/the-beehiiv-bull-case/)[_The Grill Room_](https://puck.news/podcast_episode/the-beehiiv-bull-case/)_._ * As a remote company that is built on Ruby on Rails, I’m a big fan of DHH. [He joined My First Million and it was a great episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xOaqIkaBZQ). * Ben Thompson [dropped a banger](https://stratechery.com/2026/agents-over-bubbles/) about LLM paradigms, agents, and the AI value chain. * Maybe you’ve heard about the Delve scam controversy? If not, give it a [deep dive here](https://deepdelver.substack.com/p/delve-fake-compliance-as-a-service). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24dab4e1-520e-4985-9bb1-67a80046895f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T144033.783.gif?t=1771189425) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. Or you can book an hour session with me (real me) directly → [here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/854fa663-d3c8-451e-a83f-9623b6a15786/Track_1.png?t=1774317019) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6RhszueRE6SiDnXkv3i88r?si=6975e90dc78f4138) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ff91be89-71fd-44e6-952b-749ffa16a67c/Track_2.png?t=1774317024) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6WAx8NDZE4V1EW7nCAU7tt?si=a94c77be37964360) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b05ac337-af2f-4689-9e72-481af2d5e1fe/Track_3.png?t=1774317030) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/0n26VjByDyCJeMeNOOS74Z?si=9821f8c0688745ab) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4991a200-861b-4a39-aecb-f37f951bac44/Track_4.png?t=1774317038) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/7J6a7EkoXoiLGnrC5x5JGr?si=4f33a0306f404502) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/beehiiv-mcp

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b87d6776-faa3-42fe-a900-3c36e37d5ae0/beehiiv_seed_deck__34_.png?t=1773703212) Follow image link: (https://class.thefeedmedia.com/workshop-for-big-desk-energy/?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BigDeskEnergy) Caption: -------------------- Starting this newsletter was arguably one of my best decisions ever. It’s made six-figures in revenue (while I keep my day job at beehiiv), and I’ve connected with so many readers who have become investors, friends, and colleagues. **My take: **every founder, creator, and media operator should have a newsletter. And any time someone asks me how to get started, I send them to [my buddy Nathan @ The Feed Media](https://class.thefeedmedia.com/workshop-for-big-desk-energy/?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BigDeskEnergy). He leveraged his newsletter to go from **zero to $1M in revenue in 10 months **(🤯). He also runs growth for some of beehiiv's biggest customers (including me). Nathan’s hosting [a free workshop](https://class.thefeedmedia.com/workshop-for-big-desk-energy/?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BigDeskEnergy) for BDE readers showing how: * Founders can build newsletters that close 6-figure SaaS and service clients * Creators can use newsletters to launch digital products * Newsletter operators can scale and sell ads (shoutout beehiiv ad network) It’s **100% free** and I couldn’t recommend it enough. You can thank me later. Save your free seat (https://class.thefeedmedia.com/workshop-for-big-desk-energy/?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BigDeskEnergy) **Can’t make it live?** [Register](https://class.thefeedmedia.com/workshop-for-big-desk-energy/?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BigDeskEnergy) and you’ll get a replay of the workshop! -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/bc00511b-4a4d-49da-b4a3-a247ff79d2f0/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-03-16T191710.764.gif?t=1773706754) Caption: -------------------- Last week, a handful of us from the [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) squad headed down to Austin for SXSW. It was my first time at SXSW and it didn't disappoint. We hosted an invite-only happy hour, met with hundreds of our users, attended dozens of events, and set up some pretty impactful meetings (which you'll find out more about soon enough). I also spoke on 3 panels and met some pretty incredible people. As a remote company, we don't do too much IRL — but when we do, we really make it count. The week was a massive success, and also a whole lot of fun. Here's how it went down… ### Wednesday Started with a 5am wakeup back in Medellín so I could get an early workout in before my flight. That was pretty much the only thing that went right that day. My second flight was delayed twice, I missed the team dinner, and United lost my luggage. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/eeb42cc6-7a97-49ef-8aae-61b6df9ec96d/image.png?t=1773704361) Caption: United’s Lost Bags Office, Austin, TX, 10:44pm ### Thursday Fortunately, I decided to wear a pretty dope vintage Rolling Stones t-shirt on my flight. Given it was the only article of clothing I had in my possession, it would have to make do for day 1. I grabbed a quick breakfast with the team, then headed over to a sweet house in the hills (do people in Austin say that?) to join the [_Sweat Equity_](https://www.youtube.com/@SweatEquityPodcast) podcast with Alex Garcia and Brian Blum. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92c3e4f7-e70a-4c30-a902-38ed9e7d3e45/7ED2802F-881B-441B-A937-B749D9CC6A98.JPG?t=1773704612) Caption: Afterwards, I got a call from United that they dropped off my bag at the hotel. I showered, parted ways with my airport outfit, then met my COO and CMO for lunch to do a deep dive into product strategy and positioning. One of those sessions that is just so much better to do in IRL. After that wrapped, we headed to our invite-only happy hour. We had an amazing room of users, partners, prospects, and really cool people from tech and media. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4f8bf7fb-72e2-4c9f-a2e6-dd3c0fe6d838/image.png?t=1773704966) Caption: The best part was meeting users who would rave about people on our team — their account manager, our social lead, our creator lead, etc. I'd take a selfie with them and send it straight to that employee. It led to a camera roll full of selfies and was a great reminder of just how incredible the team we've built really is. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5f1bb67d-edca-4eee-bae3-8c4e1db0a4ca/image.png?t=1773705097) Caption: Different selfie, same soft smile After the happy hour, the beehiiv team grabbed a very dope sushi dinner at Uchibā, then a few of us capped the night at a ReggaetonTV fiesta hosted by one of my homies from Medellín. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9599621b-f9d5-44ce-85d1-c34fbd3920e8/image.png?t=1773705288) Caption: ### Friday Early wakeup for a hotel gym sesh, followed by a quick hotel lobby meeting with Amber Venz Box (founder of LTK). View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5d86d1b2-6415-4541-ab4a-d104201c6c27/image.png?t=1773705396) Caption: We headed over to MATCH HOUSE for my first panel, where I shared the stage with Dylan Wells from The Washington Post and Will Allred from Lavender. It was a packed house — likely unrelated to the fact that Bill Gurley had a fireside chat right after ours. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b54eedf1-0276-41c8-99b3-ce268a429123/241f7e7a-bfc0-4593-908e-38eb8067c949_2.JPG?t=1773705589) Caption: After sticking around for most of Bill's fireside, me and the lads grabbed some tacos and micheladas for lunch. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/08990cf0-018d-41cd-bf2a-749c091d1ee9/image.png?t=1773705661) Caption: Then headed over to a rooftop downtown to meet with my controversial internet pal Taylor Lorenz. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b2280c64-4b62-4fe7-a5e0-e4d2119a7b66/image.png?t=1773705721) Caption: Friday night, I got invited to a dinner at Matthew Prince's house (CEO of Cloudflare). I didn't totally know what I was getting myself into, but walked into a room with Mark Cuban, Michael Dell, Scott Galloway, and a handful of other hitters. About 40 people in total, and the food was incredible. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/006b6d01-24d8-4f84-956d-88ab7cc1b91d/image.png?t=1773705817) Caption: I stuck around pretty late because the vibes were high. **The verdict:** I'm pretty bullish on dinner parties hosted by billionaires. ### Saturday Another early wakeup, another hotel gym sesh. Shoutout to everyone who woke up to come out to a 10am Saturday panel at SXSW — we packed the room for my conversation with Jasmin Enberg from [Scalable](https://scalablepod.com/). Also shoutout to the event organizers: those chairs were super comfortable. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/17dc184f-1632-4c44-a142-26423afdf1ce/89083d12-b081-44db-97ba-7b0f230d0992.JPG?t=1773705880) Caption: After that, I had to run over to the Inc. Founders House for my second panel of the day. Founders House was packed with a superb lineup of speakers including Mark Cuban, Daymond John, Alexis Ohanian, and Russell Wilson. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5adc152-db04-476d-aa64-24ef2cecef70/18e9478b-911f-4f4f-a6e1-abd81e8da28a_2.JPG?t=1773705935) Caption: Finally relieved of my speaking duties for the week, we headed over to the Spotify House to chill for a hot second and crush some mezcal. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2dac582d-8ad2-43f6-9705-999ae9115b96/image.png?t=1773705980) Caption: I pivoted from the Spotify House to a vibey Mexican rooftop spot to hang out with my buddy Alex Heath (btw, you should [subscribe to his newsletter](https://sources.news/) … and then reply and tell him to move to [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/)). View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e758965e-64ea-477c-8ae0-5653426c559c/image.png?t=1773706136) Caption: Bro is a selfie machine I finally got an hour to myself to go back to the hotel, kick my feet up, and FaceTime my mom (she misses me). Then joined an intimate dinner hosted by _The Washington Post_ (no billionaires in attendance). I met up with the squad afterwards to hit the Calvin Harris concert, followed by a few decent parties before calling it a night. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3abc0460-6dcb-415d-a64e-59cc4ad0b1ae/image.png?t=1773706320) Caption: ### Sunday Just one long travel day that started way too early. The only highlight of the 14-hour door-to-door trip back to Medellín was [finding this song](https://open.spotify.com/track/1OM3bVyqiPEHMoOV2qfoCE?si=273fbbfa67fb467e) (instant add to the [BDE playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=f2fe38f5ec694b0b)). But that's a wrap. I left out a few meetings because we have some big announcements coming up that I don't want to spoil just yet. You'll have to wait for those 😉. A few additional notes: * Pretty sure my taco count hit 17 on the week. * I need to diversify my smile while taking selfies. * I'm so excited to be back home where I can just sit in my office and #lockIn. That was exhausting, but worth every second. See you next year, Austin 🤠. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/153758b3-8c53-4115-bfcf-89a36596c75c/image.png?t=1773706509) Caption: ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/sxsw-2026](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/sxsw-2026) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/28571af7-aa7d-47d9-a910-38d5721e5209/image.png?t=1773707229) Caption: Credit: Christopher Hawley Shoutout Christopher for the reader submission 🫡. I wonder if zero gravity would impact my stress and cortisol levels. If so, sign me up. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * [Elon Musk joins the Cheeky Pint podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYXbuik3dgA&list=PLcoWp8pBTM3BxiPMHCj0YJ4wvGbUOYZIG&index=7) for 2.5 hours of vintage Elon talking about space GPUs, AI, Optimus, and so much more. This is the best version of Elon. * When Ray Dalio speaks, I listen. He recently [joined Dave Friedberg on the All-In podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-vMNzHgSHI) to break down America’s debt crisis and what comes next. * Travis Kalanick announces his latest project, Atoms, with probably [the greatest piece of startup copywriting](https://atoms.co/vision) I’ve ever come across. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24dab4e1-520e-4985-9bb1-67a80046895f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T144033.783.gif?t=1771189425) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. Or you can book an hour session with me (real me) directly → [here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/30af19dc-50fd-4d08-bf4c-d152cafe2a8e/Track_1.png?t=1773708722) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/1OM3bVyqiPEHMoOV2qfoCE?si=85f36fc23a734d5b) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2631ce75-a69f-4310-b18c-d517798824f7/Track_2.png?t=1773708727) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6oIhfqZGWUoysMVaHW78Y2?si=31065c8724fa488d) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/19f24b09-2473-4ee2-aefd-9b20dea6185a/Track_3.png?t=1773708732) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/3pMXKVNkxglP3zCh3lB2iU?si=d9e2bfafa8fe4258) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/70a18619-b346-4995-bd0d-30048bcace46/Track_4.png?t=1773708737) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/1KKJjhVpVH0igHwwDWSZql?si=880abd5c1f2043c4) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/sxsw-2026

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4ff3f5e2-f5e6-4a99-9799-af37f531c00e/beehiiv_seed_deck__26_.png?t=1755384466) Follow image link: (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) Caption: -------------------- I’ll be honest: I wasn’t getting enough out of my CRM. [Then I tried Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26). I recently connected Claude Code, n8n, and Notion to [Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) through its MCP server — it’s been a real game changer. Any MCP client can plug straight into your CRM, so your agents always have the context they need to act. With Universal Context, [Attio’s AI intelligence layer](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26), every signal becomes instantly actionable for you and your agents. Then Ask Attio to plan your next move: * Prep for meetings in minutes * Spot deals at risk before they go sideways * Keep your pipeline accurate without lifting a finger It's your CRM, reimagined for the way you work. Over 4,000 startups, including Granola, Listen Labs, and Wispr Flow, [are using Attio to operate at full speed](https://www.formfunction.co/). Try Attio for free → (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/aff22ebe-777e-4536-b4ab-27950e5428c1/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px___97_.gif?t=1750150015) Caption: -------------------- One of my top pieces of advice for any entrepreneur or startup founder is to send a monthly investor update… even if you don’t have any investors. For the past 40-something months I’ve sent a brutally honest and detailed update to all investors, employees, family, friends, and colleagues. It requires a decent amount of time and effort to aggregate all of the data and contextualize everything occurring within the business. I probably spend about 3 hours each month preparing it. To be clear — I don’t have to do this at all. It’s not a requirement from our investors, and there are no real consequences if I were to choose to not continue creating these. But I truly believe it’s one of the most valuable exercises I do for a few reasons… * **Accountability** — You can’t manage what you can’t measure. I know that each month I’ll be sharing the core metrics of the business… and I’m way too competitive to email nearly 400 people and tell them we barely grew last month. Rents due baby. * **Communication** — At any given time we are balancing a handful of product launches, growth initiatives, talent searches, process enhancements, and more. It’s dizzying, but the update is a forcing function to get all of my thoughts organized and onto “paper”. * **Alignment** — We’re an entirely remote team with people across 14 different countries. It’s easy for employees to get lost in their day-to-day and lose sight of the overall progression of the business. The monthly updates showcase how everyone’s work and initiatives fit together in the broader scheme of things. * **Network** — The recipients are a collection of people who, for the most part, have incredibly vast and valuable professional networks. Each update includes a few asks… like needing an introduction to a company or looking to hire for a specific role. Our odds of fulfilling these requests are drastically higher when directly asking those who have a vested interest in helping. * **Top of mind** — At the very least, the update itself is a reminder of what we’re building to nearly 400 people. As they go about their lives and participate in various meetings and outings, the likelihood they may connect the dots and recommend our platform to others only increases due to us being top of mind. This can manifest in new users, partnerships, advertisers, investors, or employees. They’re also a super power if you’re looking to raise money from investors. Ultimately, early stage investors just want to see that: * the business is growing with a clear upward trajectory * there’s a real opportunity to scale * you as the founder are capable of building and leading the company I’d argue there’s no better way to clearly communicate that than providing regular monthly updates of your progress. As I mentioned previously, we raised our $12.5M Series A from Lightspeed Venture Partners in _just 6 days_. **How?** I added one of their partners to our investor updates after meeting him for the first time. When I reached out about exploring a Series A a few months later, he was already up to date and had full context on everything about the business. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/1821195532032995829?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1821195532032995829%7Ctwgr%5E61599242e840f3947c51bdc14748bc1c8999bba6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.bigdeskenergy.com%2Fp%2Fmonthly-investor-updates) That same thing happened for our $33M Series B, which start to finish took just a few short weeks. Instead of grabbing coffee or taking meetings with investors, I typically politely decline and add them to the monthly update list instead. It’s 0 marginal work to keep them up-to-date, and the upside speaks for itself. I’m also sure to keep every single investor who passed on us on the list as well. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/1689270155866484737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1689270155866484737%7Ctwgr%5E61599242e840f3947c51bdc14748bc1c8999bba6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.bigdeskenergy.com%2Fp%2Fmonthly-investor-updates) Seed rounds typically happen before there’s any revenue or even before the product is built in most cases. Writing a seed check is usually just a bet on the founders. And back in 2021 I had over 50 investors tell me they didn’t think we were capable of building this into a massively successful business. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a huge chip on my shoulder to make [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) the biggest miss of their careers. Hitting new milestones and sharing them with all the people who didn’t believe in us is as fulfilling as it gets. And the investor updates are just a nice friendly reminder each month 🙃. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/1909774021941666169) So what’s included in the investor updates? They’ve evolved over the years, but in their current form… * **Introduction**: typically shouting out some milestone or personal life updates. * **The TL;DR**: MoM growth metrics and capital activity (shown above). * **Primary updates**: a deep-dive and status update on our product roadmap, some revenue analysis, growth initiatives, new hires, and more. * **Asks**: where I make a few direct asks of the recipients. * **Product updates**: recapping what we launched in the prior month. * **Accomplishments & wins**: typically just one big win or shoutout to an individual, team, or initiative. * **Failures & learnings**: key takeaways from something that either didn’t work or could be improved. And I don’t want to pat myself on the back, but they’re pretty damn good. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/779428ab-c5b1-43a3-80d0-adad174c2bec/image.png?t=1749997732) Caption: A reply from last month’s investor update If you’d like to read every beehiiv investor update that I’ve ever sent, starting from the very beginning, you can sign up to receive them for free. I’ve been told by hundreds of founders that these are super helpful to reference 👇️. Read the beehiiv Investor Updates (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/resources/beehiiv-investor-updates) And if you need a platform to send your own investor updates, I hear this [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) platform is pretty good for that too… Tweet: (https://twitter.com/kobyjconrad/status/1857518611025506503?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1857518611025506503%7Ctwgr%5E61599242e840f3947c51bdc14748bc1c8999bba6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.bigdeskenergy.com%2Fp%2Fmonthly-investor-updates) ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/monthly-investor-updates-2026](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/monthly-investor-updates) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/66525e13-0f29-4875-8ce3-155a77c59c5f/image.png?t=1773008453) Caption: Credit: Me A little Joshua Tree hideout for some deep introspection and focus. Would be pretty chill! **Request: **send me your dream AI-generated office so I can take a week off with this section. I’m running out of prompts 😅. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * [Anthropic published a labor market report](https://www.anthropic.com/research/labor-market-impacts?fbclid=IwY2xjawLJ9zlleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFwQ0RvZ2J4VXM3YjRVdUNJAR4uqpQxbp2VZM9rR_wZ2i9xUVB0asQ5t72_S36suZjkUFK3MjSfQjHv67g-cA_aem_M7l47yxhVIUySHmYfDUstQ) on the actual data on what AI is doing to jobs. * The design process is dead, here’s what’s replacing it. [An interview with Jenny Wen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh8bcBIAAFo) (Head of Design at Claude). * This guy literally turns a 7-hour crash course into a [27-minute guide to master Claude Code](https://x.com/parul_gautam7/status/2025932574858858875). * [Josh Kushner returns to ](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/josh-kushner-concentration-and-conviction/id1154105909?i=1000750289303)_[Invest Like The Best](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/josh-kushner-concentration-and-conviction/id1154105909?i=1000750289303)__ _for the second time, which was fantastic. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24dab4e1-520e-4985-9bb1-67a80046895f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T144033.783.gif?t=1771189425) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. Or you can book an hour session with me (real me) directly → [here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e89da640-8833-4ac0-8b70-2afbf52ae644/Track_1.png?t=1773012057) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/33z3KWSPJ2tErpHzcoTsHB?si=499dde3021ee4cbb) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e4cd2fd6-5618-4d6e-87e3-c9fa280a4490/Track_2.png?t=1773012062) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/1l36C1nispFZoAkCFcrZ5j?si=1306540b315f4bf1) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/54be6e2c-6542-460f-8dc9-b431102b81aa/Track_3.png?t=1773012067) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/0ywEg4HD0NOK51AsYtteaa?si=db5c58f93a574617) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8f5335be-ab47-4319-8d0c-79831b69c11b/Track_4.png?t=1773012072) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/51qw9DAEYn0RS23LtwZU84?si=ca53b49eb83248be) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoiOGI2YWFkYTYtNzQ5NS00ZDM1LWJjNWQtMGYwZWM5Yjg5OTNiIiwicHVibGljYXRpb25faWQiOiI0MmEzZWM3NS1lNjk2LTQ4ZmMtOGZkNS1hYjExYmMwZGQwOGEiLCJhY2Nlc3NfdHlwZSI6InJlYWQtb25seSIsImV4cCI6MTc3MzQ5MjgyOSwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAuYmVlaGlpdi5jb20iLCJpYXQiOjE3NzMxNDcyMjl9._hPT0OjQX-boXnZCTEl7AcBZw4CHKQzj7SBb8i7Xho4) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoiOGI2YWFkYTYtNzQ5NS00ZDM1LWJjNWQtMGYwZWM5Yjg5OTNiIiwicHVibGljYXRpb25faWQiOiI0MmEzZWM3NS1lNjk2LTQ4ZmMtOGZkNS1hYjExYmMwZGQwOGEiLCJhY2Nlc3NfdHlwZSI6InJlYWQtb25seSIsImV4cCI6MTc3MzQ5MjgyOSwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAuYmVlaGlpdi5jb20iLCJpYXQiOjE3NzMxNDcyMjl9._hPT0OjQX-boXnZCTEl7AcBZw4CHKQzj7SBb8i7Xho4) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoiOGI2YWFkYTYtNzQ5NS00ZDM1LWJjNWQtMGYwZWM5Yjg5OTNiIiwicHVibGljYXRpb25faWQiOiI0MmEzZWM3NS1lNjk2LTQ4ZmMtOGZkNS1hYjExYmMwZGQwOGEiLCJhY2Nlc3NfdHlwZSI6InJlYWQtb25seSIsImV4cCI6MTc3MzQ5MjgyOSwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAuYmVlaGlpdi5jb20iLCJpYXQiOjE3NzMxNDcyMjl9._hPT0OjQX-boXnZCTEl7AcBZw4CHKQzj7SBb8i7Xho4) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/monthly-investor-updates-2026

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4ff3f5e2-f5e6-4a99-9799-af37f531c00e/beehiiv_seed_deck__26_.png?t=1755384466) Follow image link: (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0525b1b7-fbff-4621-8712-4de26b81ee3a/image.png?t=1772465398) Follow image link: (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) Caption: I’ll be honest: I wasn’t getting enough out of my CRM. [Then I tried Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26). I recently connected Claude Code, n8n, and Notion to [Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) through its MCP server — it’s been a real game changer. Any MCP client can plug straight into your CRM, so your agents always have the context they need to act. With Universal Context, [Attio’s AI intelligence layer](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26), every signal becomes instantly actionable for you and your agents. Then Ask Attio to plan your next move: * Prep for meetings in minutes * Spot deals at risk before they go sideways * Keep your pipeline accurate without lifting a finger It's your CRM, reimagined for the way you work. Over 4,000 startups, including Granola, Listen Labs, and Wispr Flow, [are using Attio to operate at full speed](https://www.formfunction.co/). Try Attio for free → (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/302723d8-b3e9-493b-9393-ca549c81d1f3/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-03-02T163244.855.gif?t=1772487247) Caption: -------------------- Last week I shared this beautiful beachfront villa in Costa Rica with 8 other founders. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d73aa5da-c2a6-42d7-a8ba-cbb8a80bbfc4/image.png?t=1772490628) Caption: It was the 5th Founder Mastermind that I’ve hosted. If you have no idea what that means you’re probably not alone. Simply put — I curate and invite a handful of A1 founders to a remote location where we can deep dive on strategy, share tactics, build stuff, and help each other succeed. We also surf, rent a boat, have a private chef all week, and have a whole lot of fun. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e6f1ed3c-08e5-4480-b6b1-4311e048d321/image.png?t=1772490527) Caption: It’s giving New York Giants infamous boat pic This cohort was made up of founders who have scaled to tens of millions of revenue, both VC-backed and bootstrapped, and spanning a wide range of industries. Because I’m a giver, I’ll share my top 10 takeaways I had from the week… ### 1/ AI skepticism is no longer a valid position Every single founder had several critical workflows and processes that they built or augmented by using AI. Last year I was outspoken about the shortcomings of popular AI tools, but that’s changed. One founder had several fully “agentic employees” running on OpenClaw, all of which had their own Slack profile, email address, and access to relevant accounts. Each agent had a specific purpose: one was his Chief of Staff, another focused on customer support, and another on engineering. He hasn’t hired a “human employee” in 6 months. Another founder cracked the code on influencer marketing. He manages a network of hundreds of creators who collectively upload more than 10,000 organic videos per month. His competitive advantage — he automated every step of the program with AI: outreach, vetting applications, approvals, onboarding, performance monitoring, and payouts. ### 2/ Your AI tools are only as good as your data If you want the most out of these AI tools, you need to feed them more data. For example, the founder who had those agentic employees told a story about how his Chief of Staff (i.e. agent) proactively rescheduled meetings with clients after an employee had gotten into a car accident. But how did this agent know about the car accident? Their team leverages Fireflies (an AI notetaker) that joins and transcribes every single meeting. Because their agents have access to all of these notes, it was able to learn about the car accident after someone had mentioned it in a team meeting. Then the agent cross-referenced that employee’s calendar and proactively emailed the attendees of all upcoming meetings to reschedule. Without giving their agents and AI tools access to this underlying data, this would have never been possible. Other sources of data can include: your CRM, emails, database, Slack, etc. The more data and context the AI has, the more it can cook. ### 3/ The best time to start with AI was yesterday The more I sat and watched these demos, the more ideas I had about what we could and should be doing at beehiiv to improve our output. But underneath those obvious use cases are thousands of less obvious ones that will only become apparent after the trial and error of getting more familiar with these tools. Even if you start small, the sooner you begin experimenting, the sooner you can uncover even more valuable insights and workflows. Half the battle is just showing up in the arena. ### 4/ LinkedIn is still the most underrated sales channel One of the founders drives a ton of business via LinkedIn and converts 25% of cold DMs to demos (🤯). His process: * Identify the most important leads * Add 25 new connections each week * Post valuable content every single day * Become a familiar face in their timeline * Send them a DM two weeks after connecting * Follow up if necessary * Repeat A few other things he mentioned: * Have an audience of one. Think about who your target customer is, hone in on one specific person, and write for them. * It’s not about what you want to write about, it’s about what content your audience (of one) wants to consume. * The ideal breakdown of content is 70% building authority, 20% showing off (platform capabilities, milestones, etc.), and 10% blatant promotion. ### 5/ One-person marketing teams are now fully viable One of the founders built an agentic marketing machine that drives millions of organic impressions monthly. His D2C brand does a few million in revenue… and he’s the only employee. He recently began experimenting with paid ads on Meta and can produce high-quality ad creative in minutes. Here’s his workflow: * Use [gethookd](https://www.gethookd.ai/) to find the best performing ad creative used by competitors and other brands he likes. * Add that creative to Gemini, along with your brand assets and other company details, then have Gemini generate an optimized prompt for future asset creation. * Take that prompt and upload it to [Higgsfield.ai](https://higgsfield.ai/) to create multiple product shots. * Load the final product shots into Meta via their API/MCP and proactively extract early performance signals. * Use AI to run an analysis on the metadata of the best performing creative, then feed that back into Gemini to do it all over again. ### 6/ You’ve been doing cold outreach wrong this whole time One founder shared his entire philosophy and playbook for cold outreach. It’s worked well for him, as his portfolio of clients includes multiple billionaires and top-tier talent. His thesis: everyone who has a digital footprint is leaving breadcrumbs online. The most effective cold outreach requires being able to uncover the non-obvious thing that they care about to grab their attention. For example, anyone could reach out to me with a “Hey I see you’re the CEO of beehiiv. Here’s X thing that I can do to help you scale.” Cool — you looked at my LinkedIn and put no thought into that. A better example: “Hey, I saw you recently went surfing in Santa Teresa. My buddy opened a new restaurant there, let me know the next time you’re in town and I’ll have him hook you up.” The second is differentiated and not obnoxious. It shows an intent to provide value and also signals that you’re someone who I’m likely to find interesting (i.e. most people haven't heard of Santa Teresa, you hangout with ambitious people, likely have a good group of friends, etc.). Too many people focus their cold outreach on what their business does. The real alpha is focusing on the personal interests of the person you’re reaching out to. ### 7/ Novices optimize prompts, experts optimize systems To extract the most value from AI, you need to successfully manage the context window, build recursive workflows, break things down by cognitive tasks, and be specific about the output. Rather than regurgitate my notes, I’ll just share a few slides from a presentation one of the founders gave on maximizing the power of Claude Code. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/811f968a-96e6-4691-979c-0595534047a5/image.png?t=1772490138) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5a877649-dcdf-42d9-80c3-1de2bb80aae7/image.png?t=1772490157) Caption: ### 8/ Every company will start building their own vertical tools Almost everyone there had used AI to build some specific tool, dashboard, or agent for a very specific use case at their business. I think the “SaaSpocalypse” is vastly overstated. I don’t think that every startup is going to replace Stripe, HubSpot, and Ramp to build their own payment processing, CRM, and finance solutions. But every company has internal problems that off-the-shelf software was never built to solve — and now they can. ### 9/ The best founders deliver before they ever pitch One of the founders spent an entire month proactively building something to show a client before ever even winning their business. That’s crazy high risk — what if they don’t like it (or don’t even respond)? But that work landed him one of the biggest deals in his company’s history. Every other agency pitched the client on what they _could_ do, this founder just did the work upfront and showed him. Sometimes this strategy fails, and it sucks. It means that they wasted tons of time working on something that went nowhere. But his hit rate is remarkably high, and when it does fail, he just creates content about it on socials which is super engaging and actually leads to more clients. Most people won’t commit 10 hours of their time to something that may have zero payoff. The best founders will. ### 10/ Your environment matters During our final dinner on Saturday night, we each went around and shared our biggest takeaways from the week. They were all uplifting and inspiring, but one founder said something that I thought was pretty profound and appropriately wrapped up the trip. To paraphrase: he said that he’s always been a big proponent that he is in control of his own outcomes. It’s a productive worldview to have, but in reality your environment also has an outsized impact on your life outcomes. And the environment we created this past week, being surrounded by 8 overly-ambitious founders, had pushed him to learn and grow far more than any other experience he can recall. It’s an environment made entirely possible by the people in attendance. It’s a self-selecting group: those who have successful businesses and are willing to pay to travel to a remote destination with strangers. But I personally think there’s alpha in spending time with those types of people. Those who are by default open-minded, want to start their day catching waves, and end it talking about agentic workflows over a beer. Those are the people I want to spend more time with. Those are the people I think are going to change the world (and have a lot of fun doing it). p.s. I don’t know when I’m going to host my next mastermind, but if you’re at all interested in joining, [fill out this quick form](https://forms.gle/woTNPHaqM8rZEkxs7) and I’ll let you know when I know more. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/mastermind-v5)[mastermind-v5](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/mastermind-v5) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/33bd2310-095e-4315-984c-7ad9b8267d4c/Gemini_Generated_Image_wgriruwgriruwgri.png?t=1772488647) Caption: Credit: Me We had a pretty epic beachfront villa in Costa Rica, but it unfortunately did not look quite like this. My level of locked-in would be unmatched in this setting. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- **_I’m switching it up this week._**_ Here are some of the software, products, and tools that people recommended at the mastermind…_ * [Wispr Flow](https://ref.wisprflow.ai/beehiiv-biz/) was a founder favorite, used by almost everyone at the mastermind. It syncs with all of your apps (Slack, iMessage, WhatsApp, etc.) and is audio-to-text on steroids. * [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) was the preferred app and text editor to update markdown files for AI. * The most AI-forward of all of the founders used [Plaud](https://www.plaud.ai/) to record IRL conversations and meetings (see #2 above re collecting more data). * Bonus: has nothing to do with AI or startups, but someone brought their [Teenage Engineering speaker](https://www.amazon.com/teenage-engineering-Bluetooth-Long-Lasting-Rechargeable/dp/B08WR5VHYB/ref=sr_1_6?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vFJtGHLW_UKVqZ7QlVB_kTZsfbyhO0Q37P4VIES1dAtm789UezYd9Kd-FpB2YG53F4x4rYcRoOLTHOMhseK7eNn2Y7RBPR9BTMooNcwE-qLFZHC5ucDsIn6B3do7qGCnNJAbUtEKYkTEPA-bBCic1gkM_qygns9EpYz1oBRLiojehbtQsOEvisl-0bEO9KAcJflfOzsfQq84O5oYHLHQ484urGjldn3bOskRWV7lOGSgFlZdjcNKm5gi-dRtlFT_l8D8yeQF2GkKOJTdvWXBc-piKBmNML0InU8ux--InlE.5x-TgBr9nNb7teKKA57QP5unEzMguKiZvb9tiK7aWQU&dib_tag=se&keywords=teenage%2Bengineering&qid=1772487994&sr=8-6&th=1) and we played with it the entire weekend. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/25ede769-7216-4604-9304-3e280872140c/Track_1.png?t=1772489299) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/7J6a7EkoXoiLGnrC5x5JGr?si=5e996a2079394a42) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/17874b52-051c-46cc-9dad-28dac856d9e5/Track_2.png?t=1772489305) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/2D9coh76MCXNqDEUCHl5vl?si=feba16dcf2204a3b) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a75f5e9f-ff9c-4207-afa6-6943b2f83a03/Track_3.png?t=1772489310) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/23cQGcRjjI3wbzwNACZRlV?si=375537d091f24b25) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b8359b16-7eb0-4fab-adfe-40e7b1430eaf/Track_4.png?t=1772489315) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/1mnWwnUe2Nu3OK8R1qcArf?si=a1df7bf079be4068) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoiOGI2YWFkYTYtNzQ5NS00ZDM1LWJjNWQtMGYwZWM5Yjg5OTNiIiwicHVibGljYXRpb25faWQiOiI0MmEzZWM3NS1lNjk2LTQ4ZmMtOGZkNS1hYjExYmMwZGQwOGEiLCJhY2Nlc3NfdHlwZSI6InJlYWQtb25seSIsImV4cCI6MTc3Mjg5MTUwNywiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAuYmVlaGlpdi5jb20iLCJpYXQiOjE3NzI1NDU5MDd9.oXKcbQnkmyw3y2kCa_bjLBKXOKsT2DkBTMGuSB4s4CY) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoiOGI2YWFkYTYtNzQ5NS00ZDM1LWJjNWQtMGYwZWM5Yjg5OTNiIiwicHVibGljYXRpb25faWQiOiI0MmEzZWM3NS1lNjk2LTQ4ZmMtOGZkNS1hYjExYmMwZGQwOGEiLCJhY2Nlc3NfdHlwZSI6InJlYWQtb25seSIsImV4cCI6MTc3Mjg5MTUwNywiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAuYmVlaGlpdi5jb20iLCJpYXQiOjE3NzI1NDU5MDd9.oXKcbQnkmyw3y2kCa_bjLBKXOKsT2DkBTMGuSB4s4CY) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoiOGI2YWFkYTYtNzQ5NS00ZDM1LWJjNWQtMGYwZWM5Yjg5OTNiIiwicHVibGljYXRpb25faWQiOiI0MmEzZWM3NS1lNjk2LTQ4ZmMtOGZkNS1hYjExYmMwZGQwOGEiLCJhY2Nlc3NfdHlwZSI6InJlYWQtb25seSIsImV4cCI6MTc3Mjg5MTUwNywiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAuYmVlaGlpdi5jb20iLCJpYXQiOjE3NzI1NDU5MDd9.oXKcbQnkmyw3y2kCa_bjLBKXOKsT2DkBTMGuSB4s4CY) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/mastermind-v5

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b267b6a8-5050-43dd-85a8-ccbe5212dce7/beehiiv_seed_deck__33_.png?t=1771784971) Follow image link: (https://lightfield.app/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=big_desk_energy&utm_content=primary_2-24-2026) Caption: -------------------- Every founder I know has the same relationship with their CRM: guilt. You know you should be logging calls, updating fields, writing follow-ups. But you're running a company. It doesn't happen. [Lightfield](https://lightfield.app/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=big_desk_energy&utm_content=primary_2-24-2026) is built for exactly this problem. It's an [AI-native CRM that updates itself after every meeting](https://lightfield.app/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=big_desk_energy&utm_content=primary_2-24-2026) — no manual data entry, ever. It reads your emails, records your calls, and builds a complete picture of every customer relationship automatically. Some of the things I wish I had when we were in the trenches doing early-stage sales: * Automated meeting prep pulled from your full account history * Post-call follow-up tasks drafted for you after every conversation * An AI agent that can answer "which customers asked for this feature and why?" * ChatGPT-like search across all your deals, calls, and emails Over 1,900 startups are already using it. Setup takes minutes — connect your email and calendar, and [it starts building itself](https://lightfield.app/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=big_desk_energy&utm_content=primary_2-24-2026). Use code **BIGDESKENERGY **for 3 months off 🫡. Try Lightfield for free (https://lightfield.app/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=big_desk_energy&utm_content=primary_2-24-2026) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/53aec54e-b9db-4238-a4fd-e9a3d3bc4d64/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-22T125709.855.gif?t=1771783199) Caption: -------------------- Like many of you, when ChatGPT launched in late 2022 it fundamentally changed how I work. Since then I’ve adopted plenty of AI tools for my own day-to-day: Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Granola, etc. And as a team we leverage some pretty powerful AI Slack integrations (i.e. Linear and Unblocked), coding tools like Cursor, and tons more for various different purposes. We’ve successfully been able to find leverage in doing everything from note-taking to research to creating mockups to shipping code to extracting important information from legal documents. But despite all of that, I’d still consider myself a pretty novice user of AI. I'd use AI when it was convenient, and it absolutely saved me a ton of time with specific workflows – but I always knew that I was just barely scratching the surface. Then something changed. In December, Claude Code had its big moment… likely due to the release of Opus 4.5 in November and people having some free time over the holidays. I couldn’t escape my feed where seemingly everyone was raving about building their own personalized apps. In mid-January, Anthropic released Claude Cowork, which allowed an agent to take over your desktop and start performing everyday tasks – organizing your files, updating spreadsheets, and responding to emails. This felt like a crossing of the Rubicon. AI went from what felt like being primarily for engineers to being able to tackle everyday tasks for anyone. Then in late January, OpenClaw (formerly known as Moltbot, formerly known as Clawdbot) went mega-viral on X. Every single post was about someone buying a Mac Mini or satire about someone buying a Mac Mini. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/jefftangx/status/2014812126192529732) OpenClaw is an open-source autonomous agent that runs locally on your machine and executes tasks async in its own environment. You can connect it to WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage – basically text your personal AI agent and it goes off and handles things on its own. I spent hours watching tutorials and reaction videos where people would showcase how they were leveraging all of these new tools. It was fascinating to witness what felt like a step-function change in what’s possible with AI today. Here's the problem though: by far my least favorite part of being a founder is the lack of time I have to explore anything outside of my core work. During the week I wake up around 5:30am, hit the gym, and am at my desk by around 8am. That's pretty much where I remain (meals and all) until around 9pm, when I finally retreat to bed to read for a bit. My weekends consist of wrapping up work I couldn't complete during the week, writing this very newsletter, and preparing for the week ahead. It's also quite frankly the only opportunity I have to get out, see people, touch grass. So despite my fascination with all of these developments, my love of technology, and my desire to 100x my output… I’ve mostly been on the sidelines. I’d love nothing more than to irrationally purchase a Mac Mini and spend 12 hours building a personal agent. But it all felt way too experimental at a time where beehiiv demands so much from me. It’s hard to justify tinkering when the day-to-day demands of the company are so overwhelming and tangible. As I documented in my last newsletter, last Saturday I had a 12-hour flight home from Europe where I consumed some small blue pills, didn't blink for the duration of the flight, and annihilated my to-do list. That bought me the first bit of freedom I've had in a while on Sunday. After a hot yoga sesh, I finished my usual Sunday work then made the mistake of downloading the Claude desktop app a few hours before bed. I slept for 3 hours. It wasn’t without trying though. I just couldn’t stop thinking about all of the repetitive tasks that I could begin to automate, or the performance gains we could get across the company by building some of these new workflows. I legit just tossed and turned thinking about what to build. The first thing I built was a weekly reporting tool. Over the past several years, our data team has built hundreds of invaluable dashboards that allow us to deep dive into specific metrics and trends. The issue is that it now requires someone loading and looking through 100+ dashboards on a regular basis to extract those insights. Nobody has the time for that. So I built a Claude skill that analyzes all of our most important dashboards, cross-references trends against our database, pulls in additional context from Slack conversations, and then surfaces everything that is remotely relevant or concerning. The second thing I built was a little petty. To start each week, everyone submits their top priority in a Google Form. It’s meant to be a forcing function to show up to work with intentionality, and it also provides a level of accountability (we review them at the end of the week). Participation usually hovers between 70-80%... which drives me absolutely nuts. I've always wanted to message everyone who didn't submit theirs, but that was never feasible… until now. I simply asked Cowork to cross-reference our employee list with the submissions and message everyone who didn't submit. That agent ran while I was in the middle of another meeting. Both examples are pretty simple. But one thing I know for sure: the capabilities and accessibility of AI today are 100x what they were just a year ago. I genuinely want to cancel all of my meetings for the next month and rebuild all of our processes to be AI-first. You can probably sense my excitement – and again, I’m just a week into diving deeper here (translation: I’m still such a n00b). In one of the most recent episodes of My First Million, Sam Parr does this thing where he regularly expresses how overwhelming the pace of change is with AI. Something I totally relate to, and I assume most others do too. But Shaan's response really resonated with me: “_I think if you put on yourself that you need to become a top 1%, 5%, or even 10% kind of AI builder/user, that's the wrong frame. All you need to do is say — 'All right, I'm already top 10 percent in business, in content, right? You've already done all that in your life.' And now if you just get to like 50th percentile in AI, which is not that hard to do, it multiplies against all your other skills._“ — (By the way — I simply described the quote I was looking for to Claude and it dug that out of the YouTube transcript for me in a few seconds.) I’m a founder of a startup that demands 80+ hours a week from me and I truly won’t ever have the luxury to be in the top 1% of AI users. But that’s alright – there’s an 80/20 rule at play here where I can spend an hour here or there pushing the limits of the latest tools and rebuilding my own workflows with AI. But the real leverage won’t come from me alone. I’m not looking to become an indie hacker and add “$7K MRR” to my bio – I’m looking to build a multi-billion dollar business. That means that I need my team of 120 employees to be just as excited about AI as I am. We’re an unprofitable startup that is burning ~$700K each month. The only way for us to escape the venture flywheel of trading control for capital is to radically transform how we’re growing and operating. 1. We need to exponentially scale growth and revenue. 2. We need to increase output while reducing costs (or prevent future costs). The good news: the exponentially scaling revenue part is already happening. We’re now adding well over $1M ARR per month in 2026 and should make a run at adding $2M ARR in March. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/31906320-4824-4172-ae57-3f63eb2ebedf/image.png?t=1771783816) Caption: As for increasing output, we need to level up our team to leverage the latest models and tools to entirely rethink how we do work: * If engineers used to complete 5 tickets per day, with AI they should be able to complete 15. * If customer support answered 50 tickets per day, with AI they should be able to answer 100. * If customer success could manage 40 customers at a time, with AI they should be able to handle 80. This isn’t optional – this is the path forward. You wouldn’t hire a growth marketer who refused to use a laptop for work, the same way I don’t think you can expect most roles today to perform tasks without leveraging AI. It’s a technology that should empower those who harness it to considerably expand their contributions to their work. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/GavinSBaker/status/2017231599813722539) The best companies, more than ever, are doing more with less. And the underlying technology is only going to compound. A few weeks ago we had our first ever “AI Show and Tell”. The idea was simple: have employees showcase what they’re building with AI, which would hopefully inspire others. I intentionally scheduled it on Friday afternoons, so anyone who struck inspiration had the full weekend ahead to tinker. But I came to the conclusion that “hopefully inspiring others” wasn’t an urgent enough timeline for the current situation. So we just launched an “AI Club” internally and mandated that at least one person from each team participate. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f23058dd-8449-4ead-9d03-1c949b54cb3b/image.png?t=1771894012) Caption: Early action from the #AI-Club Each week, participants will have to showcase at least one new workflow or task that they accomplished leveraging AI. In the next few months, the difference in output between those participants leveraging AI and those on their team who aren’t should become fairly apparent – causing a cascading effect of adoption across the company. The future is here, and it’s time to build it (with the help of AI). ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/slept-3-hours)[slept-3-hours](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/slept-3-hours) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/89de37f3-dcfd-44c4-8218-7ad383ea6b8a/image.png?t=1771781187) Caption: Credit: Michael Finn Shoutout Michael for the reader submission 🫡. It’s only fitting to showcase an old western office with a typewriter after writing 1,600 words about AI. Life is all about balance. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * [Ben Thompson joins the Cheeky Pint podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUSWtLu2RCE) (hosted by John Collison, cofounder of Stripe) to talk about AI ads, the end of SaaS, and the future of media. * [The head of Claude Code joins Lenny’s Podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We7BZVKbCVw). Very relevant discussion after writing today’s newsletter. * I can’t remember if I already plugged [my episode on My First Million](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6vY6NUUDDI)… but if you like this newsletter, you’ll love the episode. [Check it out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6vY6NUUDDI). * [Should you be afraid of the SaaSpocalypse?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1KQRPtgiM0) Solid episode of Hard Fork with Casey Newton. * Want to understand how newsletter operators are leveraging AI? [Complete the free survey](https://newsletteraisurvey.com/) and be the first to get the results. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24dab4e1-520e-4985-9bb1-67a80046895f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T144033.783.gif?t=1771189425) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. Or you can book an hour session with me (real me) directly → [here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3c23f140-176c-46e3-acf7-5a550193e855/Track_1.png?t=1771783228) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/5TaOMJUPaXu11tmNWlRNqJ?si=9d19a5a0c1024dff) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c49067fb-7505-43a3-b204-cf44b8e00f50/Track_2.png?t=1771783233) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/0nulmN0RJnBZ2E4OOHZKR3?si=ce69411a5681454b) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6dcb0b03-ae44-4a74-9d45-5868d0e09520/Track_3.png?t=1771783238) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6v8fGomePGiMsfGAn2VtpV?si=90d99af2f24d4aef) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5bd79d6d-8a9d-4c20-8991-be354f16c514/Track_4.png?t=1771783243) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/5Y2DaEyuEDmXBloJYddC2N?si=f95f92c3ea4643fd) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoiOGI2YWFkYTYtNzQ5NS00ZDM1LWJjNWQtMGYwZWM5Yjg5OTNiIiwicHVibGljYXRpb25faWQiOiI0MmEzZWM3NS1lNjk2LTQ4ZmMtOGZkNS1hYjExYmMwZGQwOGEiLCJhY2Nlc3NfdHlwZSI6InJlYWQtb25seSIsImV4cCI6MTc3MjI4NjgyOSwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAuYmVlaGlpdi5jb20iLCJpYXQiOjE3NzE5NDEyMjl9.1NP8LzhxLxF6zjCjeqYTdI7eCiIzQHl5Im5kz26jZSs) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoiOGI2YWFkYTYtNzQ5NS00ZDM1LWJjNWQtMGYwZWM5Yjg5OTNiIiwicHVibGljYXRpb25faWQiOiI0MmEzZWM3NS1lNjk2LTQ4ZmMtOGZkNS1hYjExYmMwZGQwOGEiLCJhY2Nlc3NfdHlwZSI6InJlYWQtb25seSIsImV4cCI6MTc3MjI4NjgyOSwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAuYmVlaGlpdi5jb20iLCJpYXQiOjE3NzE5NDEyMjl9.1NP8LzhxLxF6zjCjeqYTdI7eCiIzQHl5Im5kz26jZSs) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoiOGI2YWFkYTYtNzQ5NS00ZDM1LWJjNWQtMGYwZWM5Yjg5OTNiIiwicHVibGljYXRpb25faWQiOiI0MmEzZWM3NS1lNjk2LTQ4ZmMtOGZkNS1hYjExYmMwZGQwOGEiLCJhY2Nlc3NfdHlwZSI6InJlYWQtb25seSIsImV4cCI6MTc3MjI4NjgyOSwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAuYmVlaGlpdi5jb20iLCJpYXQiOjE3NzE5NDEyMjl9.1NP8LzhxLxF6zjCjeqYTdI7eCiIzQHl5Im5kz26jZSs) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/slept-3-hours

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e7fb9788-af36-45e3-a03b-16f1c47e6774/beehiiv_seed_deck__31_.png?t=1771289873) Follow image link: (https://kleo.so/?el=tyler_denk_newsletter&htrafficsource=newsletter&hcategory=newsletter) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/bedad372-9064-4c15-9d7e-29306fd38cd2/image.png?t=1771289632) Follow image link: (https://kleo.so/?el=tyler_denk_newsletter&htrafficsource=newsletter&hcategory=newsletter) Caption: My buddy Rob went mega-viral on X (6.6M impressions). Then I copied his exact post template and ended up going viral myself (4M impressions). Coincidence? Unlikely. [The secret is Kleo](https://kleo.so/?el=tyler_denk_newsletter&htrafficsource=newsletter&hcategory=newsletter): The AI content tool top creators (and me) are using to grow their audience on LinkedIn and X in 2026. Some of my favorite features: * It learns your voice so your posts actually sound like you, not ChatGPT * It nails the hook every time (the part most people get wrong) * Hundreds of proven viral templates updated daily (this alone is worth it) * Weekly live group coaching with creators who've built massive audiences from scratch One of my goals for 2026 was to grow my LinkedIn to 100,000 followers. I personally [use Kleo every morning](https://kleo.so/?el=tyler_denk_newsletter&htrafficsource=newsletter&hcategory=newsletter) to write my daily post (and I’ve already added 8,000 followers in January alone). Rob is one of the co-founders of [Kleo](https://kleo.so/?el=tyler_denk_newsletter&htrafficsource=newsletter&hcategory=newsletter) and offered to give you an exclusive strategy session where he breaks down exactly how he engineers viral posts - just use code "**BIGDESKENERGY**" at signup to claim your spot. Start Growing Your Audience (https://kleo.so/?el=tyler_denk_newsletter&htrafficsource=newsletter&hcategory=newsletter) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c4444317-217d-4a21-9c63-984d35f6c238/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T142920.715.gif?t=1771183801) Caption: -------------------- Last week the [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) squad made the trip across the pond for an action-packed week in London. The goal was to meet with some of our existing UK-based creators, publishers, and journalists… and let everyone else know we’re open for business. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d3995f72-8b4e-4d0b-9889-a7904e176c4a/image.png?t=1771188087) Caption: We hosted four separate events throughout the week and lined up dozens of in-person meetings with all of the top publishers in the region. It was a massive success, and a whole lot of fun. Here’s how the week went down… ### Saturday Nothing beats kicking off a long week like the Medellin → Madrid → London red-eye. I left the eternal spring and arrived in a super dreary London just in time for dinner. Instead of booking an overpriced hotel, I opted to split an Airbnb with my homie Rob so I could remind our CFO how fiscally responsible I am. Yeah, that’s the same Rob from [the Kleo ad above](https://kleo.so/?el=tyler_denk_newsletter&htrafficsource=newsletter&hcategory=newsletter). After grinding solo in Medellin for the past few months, I thought some founder-to-founder co-working would be a nice change of pace. Naturally we grabbed a few pints to catch up, split the G, and hit a few pubs after dinner. ### Sunday I woke up and was reminded that I’m no longer 24: a red-eye right into a night out was probably a terrible idea. That was followed by the reminder that I needed a coat because I understandably don’t own one in Colombia. We grabbed breakfast then went shopping in Soho. I’m going to consider this more of a jacket than a coat, but it was a very necessary purchase for the week. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ca9c153f-95aa-468e-894e-fe482a7168bd/WhatsApp_Image_2026-02-08_at_09.10.57.jpeg?t=1771188191) Caption: After securing the bag, I went back to the Airbnb to knock out a ton of work and prepare for the week ahead. The Super Bowl started way past my bedtime, so I was asleep well before kickoff. ### Monday According to Spotify Wrapped, Bad Bunny was my top artist of 2025. True to form, I had to watch the halftime show — which was probably the best one since Prince? After catching up with everything else that happened while I was asleep (so I could make proper small talk), I headed to the gym to finally get back into routine. I met with Dan Thomas from the FT at some grungy members-only club that used to be full of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll in the 90s (allegedly). It was a great meet and an opportunity to learn a lot about the UK media ecosystem. I grabbed lunch with one of the newest members of the beehiiv squad, then went back to the Airbnb in time for the day’s (virtual) meetings, followed by a team dinner with the local London-based employees. ### Tuesday …was a doozy. I met with Charlotte Tobbit from the Press Gazette to chat about [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) and our ambitions to expand in Europe. Then I skipped across town to have lunch with a few of our London-based investors. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/beb95722-899d-48d8-93ce-e9fd757d2815/image.png?t=1771188395) Caption: Bertie and the BWC team led our $1.6M seed extension way back in 2022. He asked me to do a fireside chat for their startup community while I was in town. I had no expectations going into the event, especially given the tight turnaround, but was pretty blown away by the 75+ founders who came out in the middle of the day to hear my story. It felt a bit like an IRL podcast, and people stuck around for hours afterwards to meet and chat. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/fb81e626-1c32-47cf-916a-6956ba4eb228/IMG_6264.JPG?t=1771188451) Caption: I went right from the fireside to a 40-person dinner we hosted with the who’s who of UK media: The Guardian, The Times, Sky News, The Daily Mail, BBC, The Nerve, and plenty of others. Dinner ran late and I finally got back home around 10pm to start my (work) day. Whether or not I’m running around town all day — the real work still needs to get done. I ended up staying up til 3am before wrapping for the night. ### Wednesday For those of you who have been reading for a while, you know that I prefer waking up super early, being in the gym by 7am, and working west coast hours. That’s all to say, I absolutely hate working in the European timezone. I slept til 10am trying to unfuck my sleep schedule (didn’t work). Then I quickly ran to the gym before booting up work and taking meetings from the Airbnb all day. We hosted a Press Party that evening with tons of media execs and some of the most impressive journalists I’ve ever been around. I got to hear some pretty remarkable stories told by those who have been reporting from active war zones in Ukraine, Iran, and Gaza. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7ff4b665-5ffd-47dd-8a71-2f9633b74c15/DSC00415.jpg?t=1771188560) Caption: We also had quite a few of our users in attendance, who were great to finally meet in person. ### Thursday We co-hosted a full-day event with Google at their beautiful London office. It was loaded with tons of great sessions about media and tech. I kicked it off with a 45-minute presentation on audience ownership and [strategies to hyper-scale a newsletter](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/the-newsletter-playbook-for-founders). View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a5524519-79b2-4961-abcd-2f7d1dce35fd/DSC07179A.jpg?t=1771188685) Caption: The rest of the event was loaded with far more impressive speakers like the ex-President of CBS News, Wendy McMahon; Co-Founder of Local News International, Lauren Saks; Co-Founder at The Nerve, Sarah Donaldson; and Alex Schmitt from Lightspeed Venture Partners. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24670608-8f13-4036-9f35-cc0737933373/DSC00394.jpg?t=1771189081) Caption: After the event concluded, we co-hosted a happy hour down the street with Brian Morrissey from The Rebooting. The place was packed with beehiiv users (and soon-to-be users) and lots of great vibes. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4cdd01ef-244b-4151-b2ef-131d17639e6c/image.png?t=1771189248) Caption: One of my homies from a previous Costa Rica Mastermind flew in from Dublin and a handful of us hit the Hawksmoor for dinner before we each went our separate ways for the night. ### Friday One of Rob’s co-founders, Lara Acosta, is based in London and is a bit of a LinkedIn savant. She has a video team and invited us to the studio to record some content about launching a digital product on beehiiv and promoting it with [the help of Kleo](https://kleo.so/?el=tyler_denk_newsletter&htrafficsource=newsletter&hcategory=newsletter). View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8a990d95-1121-4df1-8b02-96c32202c996/WhatsApp_Image_2026-02-13_at_14.56.33.jpeg?t=1771189299) Caption: The rest of the day was just a block of virtual meetings, a personal order of 3 chicken tikka masalas, and our first ever team _AI Show and Tell_. ### Saturday 5am wakeup, 12 hours in the air, and 2 incredibly dialed-in lads. I can’t tell if it’s a blessing or a curse, but after the long chaotic week I genuinely couldn’t wait to board the plane and work for the entire duration of the flight. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8283f3ae-6055-4ce1-8929-564ba0388aac/image.png?t=1771189367) Caption: I’m so grateful to have had such a warm reception in London, to meet so many talented people, loyal users, and others who just took such an interest in what we’re building. I have a feeling you’re going to see a whole lot more of [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) in the UK. But we don’t have any plans to stop there. We’re on the verge of building something special, something with much larger global ambitions. This was just the first of many stops 😈. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/welcome-to-london)[welcome-to-london](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/welcome-to-london) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7e74bbc7-f6a6-4b53-a507-d8474b15b478/image.png?t=1771184841) Caption: Credit: Kurt TeWinkel Shoutout Kurt for the reader submission 🫡. Having a (real) background like that on calls might be one of the biggest flexes imaginable. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * Why the laws of startup physics has changed: an [interview with Ben Horowitz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID27juNvAfc). * The real chokepoint in the AI race is power, and [Elon is betting he can generate power in space faster](https://www.piratewires.com/p/the-spacex-merger-if-you-want-more) than on Earth. * I can’t open X without seeing something about Claude Code. Here’s a [tutorial posted by Eyad](https://x.com/eyad_khrais/status/2010076957938188661). * Given this got 82M impressions, I am a bit insecure posting this here. Matt Schumer shares [why this time feels different with the current state of AI](https://x.com/mattshumer_/status/2021256989876109403). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/24dab4e1-520e-4985-9bb1-67a80046895f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-15T144033.783.gif?t=1771189425) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. Or you can book an hour session with me (real me) directly → [here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/138a2626-7805-4e22-8187-a5452a6ff395/Track_1.png?t=1771190150) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/30RuOM3ddlc16d11USpZVz?si=6d9ed4a94cd44c8c) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ee022d8f-a7c2-4301-8888-d535e7312768/Track_2.png?t=1771190155) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/78BP00AkPTQmPP0nAwRNDw?si=f68b2da878cc4f18) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/89bd2ec3-ba5f-44d8-8d72-627c594b4755/Track_3.png?t=1771190160) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/4tAKd6ouFGZMGcU4CQvtH7?si=6f0cf433267e4730) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/51297cc2-bf3d-4790-891d-a59c483cc850/Track_4.png?t=1771190164) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6sTRRES1pZTUPbQtAYR5SW?si=2bfae7e0639e41b4) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/welcome-to-london

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4c7fbc89-50b2-49a3-8028-8a4c82f4e358/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px___61_.gif?t=1732348484) Caption: -------------------- hey there, I hope you're enjoying your weekend 👋🏽 I also hope you've been enjoying the newsletter so far. I’ve really enjoyed building in public and giving founders and others exclusive access to all of the internal docs and strategies that I’ve used to date. There’s on resource that people constantly tell me has been the most helpful: _**the beehiiv monthly investor updates**_. Ever since our first month in business, I've sent a detailed and unfiltered monthly update — what's working, what's not, key milestones, and what we need to do to continue to scale the company. It tells the entire story of the company to date, with tons of valuable strategies and insights. I've made these entirely free to access — [you can sign up here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/resources/beehiiv-investor-updates). Hopefully they can be used as a bit of inspiration to do something similar (feel free to copy my template). I think you’ll really enjoy them and hopefully learn a thing or two 🙂. Sign up for free (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/resources/beehiiv-investor-updates) See ya on Tuesday ✌️. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e8bc8a86-2485-4348-9605-096090f8a952/image.png?t=1702609432) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/bio) Caption: ----------

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4ff3f5e2-f5e6-4a99-9799-af37f531c00e/beehiiv_seed_deck__26_.png?t=1755384466) Follow image link: (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2cc47ac0-a079-49d6-8ccd-0f77b4d58f72/image.png?t=1770652653) Follow image link: (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) Caption: [Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) is the AI CRM for go-to-market teams that move fast. Connect your email and calendar, and [Attio builds your CRM for you](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) — every contact, every company, every interaction, automatically captured and enriched. Sync your calls, product data, billing data, and you have complete context without the busywork. Then ask Attio anything: * [Prep for any call in seconds](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) * Spot deals at risk before they go sideways * Keep your pipeline accurate without lifting a finger Fast-growing companies like Granola, Modal, Flatfile and more are already experiencing [the future of GTM with Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26). Try it for free → (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a1b6641a-cb31-4ac9-9067-f214a30523ed/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-10T111210.148.gif?t=1770721987) Caption: -------------------- Your zone of genius is where the work you enjoy, the skills you’re elite at, and outsized impact all overlap. It sounds simple, but ensuring that everyone remains focused in their zone of genius is one of the more difficult challenges while scaling a startup. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d66b8b1f-f8aa-48f3-bf69-35c25501e4d5/image.png?t=1770722086) Caption: Take for example, your best engineer. The one who can ship code in their sleep, solve every problem that comes their way, and reliably ships new high-impact features week after week. Assuming that they genuinely enjoy their craft, they are operating in their zone of genius. You want to keep people in their zone of genius. But humans are human, and alternative motives and misaligned incentives will undoubtedly creep into the various stages of startup life. To continue the example with our best engineer (we’ll call her Sarah). After a few years, the engineering team grows to a point where you’ll need to start layering in some engineering managers to keep things moving. Sarah, being the highest output engineer and one of the longest tenured, decides that she’d like to become a manager as the next step in her career. Being a manager means she now spends most of her days occupied in meetings. The move might make her look better on LinkedIn, but she likely isn’t operating in her zone of genius anymore. Even if she enjoyed people management and was quite elite at it, it’s likely that the company benefited far more back when the highest output engineer was still shipping code. To visualize this, here’s a team of 5 engineers, using a point scale to represent the “output” of each. Sarah was the star engineer on the left (congrats on your 100 Madden rating, queen). View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/044c5cc4-d3d1-4694-8ab4-bd9889aeef09/image.png?t=1770722127) Caption: Credit: Tyler Denk, Director of Graphic Design But then we chose to move her into a management position. And perhaps “it works” to the extent that the output of the other engineers each increases by 10! View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f2d7c2af-412a-4f1d-bd87-279a8a9e76f2/image.png?t=1770722149) Caption: Credit: Tyler Denk, Director of Graphic Design Well, now you’re still 60 points short of the output you had previously when you had your best engineer… well, engineering things. And sure, you could argue that the other members of the team could increase their output by more than 10… but I’ve never seen an engineer 2x their output because of a manager. That’s an example of someone who was previously in their zone of genius, but moved out of it due to the scaling nature of the company (i.e. needing engineering managers). The inverse is also really common: someone who had to operate outside of their zone of genius out of necessity, then the momentum and ego of startup life makes it difficult to later course correct. In the early days, it’s your co-founders and a few early employees who are all wearing multiple hats and doing whatever is necessary to keep the lights on. People start leading initiatives out of necessity, not because they are the right person for the job indefinitely. Next thing you know, your co-founder who said that they would help out on growth because no one else was doing it is suddenly running a 20-person growth team and is way over their skis. Maybe they were the right person for the job back when you were a pre-seed company and needed someone to set up ads on Facebook, but much less so today. As far as the zone of genius goes – perhaps they love the work, but that may not be their most prominent skillset, nor is it what creates the most value for the business. But it’s difficult to have those conversations. My co-founder, Ben, is one of the most gifted product and design oriented engineers I’ve ever come across. No matter what he works on, he’ll come back with a final product that is 10x better than what you were anticipating was the best-case outcome. Despite being one of the highest output engineers on the team, he expressed interest in becoming the Head of Product, which he was for about a year. He has all the intangibles to be the world’s best, but it wasn’t his zone of genius. Turns out that he didn’t love people management or having a calendar full of meetings. Worse, the company missed out on having him contribute to what he does best. We moved him back to exclusively working on the highest impact engineering projects at the company. He’s back in his zone of genius. I’m not immune to any of this. In the early days, I spent all of my time talking to users, building the product roadmap, and working closely with engineers to make the platform the best it could be. But along the way we hired lots of people, built new teams, and introduced all sorts of new responsibilities. At the end of last year I had 18 direct reports and spent meaningful time each week working on everything from ads, sales, growth, content, product, and just about everything in-between. It’s not that I couldn’t continue doing it, it’s just that my time was better spent elsewhere. I spent four years at Morning Brew building the infrastructure and tools to scale the company to a $75M exit. For the past four years, I’ve built beehiiv to become the de-facto platform for the world’s most popular newsletters. And in the past two years, I’ve scaled a newsletter of my own into a million dollar side project. I feel like I know this industry better than anyone in the world. In between Morning Brew and beehiiv, I was also a Product Lead at YouTube. I love product work and am damn good at it – it’s my zone of genius. But I wasn’t spending the majority of my time there. So in just the past several weeks, we made a lot of changes to get everyone back into their respective zones: * We moved Preeya to become the Chief Customer Officer. She was previously the VP, of Global Customer Success at CM Group, which is home to several enterprise email platforms like Sailthru, Campaign Monitor, and Emma. * We moved Dan to become COO. He previously ran growth and/or helped launch The Information, Puck, Air Mail, and The Telegraph. Then did strategy and operations work at Meta and DoorDash. * We hired Darren to become the CMO. He was previously a founder whose startup was acquired by Calendly, where he has led growth for the past several years. * We hired Andrew to join as VP, Ad Sales and CSM. Andrew spent the past decade at LiveIntent, which is one of the largest ad networks in email. First of all, that’s an absolute power squad and I can’t express how loaded we are on talent and experience right now 😮‍💨. Second, in making some of these changes I was able to shed a few direct reports and shift the majority of my time back to product. And speaking of product, we are absolutely ripping. We are only 6 weeks into the year and we’ve already dropped quite a few goodies… Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/2020920459341259059) I’ve recently been able to do things I could never find the time for previously. I noticed we have had a massive influx of new users migrating over from Mailchimp, so I randomly emailed 20 of them to jump on a call. Those calls were some of the most wildly productive meetings I’ve had in years. I took pages of notes and was able to identify why people initially chose Mailchimp, what they liked and hated about it, where they found out about [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/), what excited them about us, their early feedback on the platform, etc. That led to us iterating on our onboarding, updating our lifecycle comms, squashing some bugs, improving a few features, and launching an entirely new ad campaign. **My goal is simple:** make the product 1% better every single day. I’ve honestly never been more excited about what we’re building. The next six months are the most ambitious yet, and I whole-heartedly believe that [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) will be in a league of its own by the time July comes around. It’s a new day at [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/). We’re back in the zone. **By the way:** if you’re a beehiiv user, I want to hear from you. Reply to this email with feedback on what we can do to make the platform better and put me to work. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/zone-of-genius)[zone-of-genius](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/zone-of-genius) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a00d3d0d-4284-47ca-8c6b-b402d3d1d9b0/image.png?t=1770722427) Caption: Credit: Rob Hoffman I’m actually in London sharing an Airbnb with Rob for the week. Our WFH setup is pretty similar to that office minus the view, floor-to-ceiling windows, furniture, plants, and presumably heat. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * Speaking of London, beehiiv is co-hosting an event at Google’s beautiful London offices this Thursday, February 12th → [RSVP here](https://luma.com/mtr5nook). * There are thoughtful smart people, and then there’s Marc Andreessen. [This podcast with Lenny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Pm0SGTtN8) was fantastic. * Both Polymarket and Kalshi launched free grocery stores in New York. Here’s a complete timeline of [the prediction market meme wars](https://www.piratewires.com/p/polymarket-v-kalshi-a-complete-timeline). * You’ve probably seen plenty of Bad Bunny content of late… so what’s one more opinion? I thought this [NYT opinion piece](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/opinion/bad-bunny-super-bowl.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KVA.CaPK.hPJpq3QHxLK2&smid=url-share&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top) was great. * How TBPN built the luxury brand of the creator economy — [a podcast with Colin and Samir](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-colin-and-samir-show/id1379942034?l=es-MX&i=1000747003046). -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/609d09a0-422e-45e7-8390-93f42fed4aef/Track_1.png?t=1770721926) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/7uoxGQlji7HkgIZxJOJCCE?si=df4f773ab8c14081) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/cc2fcea3-9f29-42f5-b8fa-55d1866ab68f/Track_2.png?t=1770721935) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6IYiPIUfrt25DcPDMQdxsL?si=b01438bb948247f2) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/208e8ab3-f1f3-4a85-b451-5b83d1157158/Track_3.png?t=1770721943) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/5iDzBrUuAFnQBbRfNGODmy?si=89473f607dd348f8) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6912e646-8073-4166-9453-ba2af4271bf8/Track_4.png?t=1770721954) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/3wYj8b48cdMv3nnsTEev4q?si=e9ea5140a35a410e) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺🏽 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/zone-of-genius

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4ff3f5e2-f5e6-4a99-9799-af37f531c00e/beehiiv_seed_deck__26_.png?t=1755384466) Follow image link: (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/fd536850-ba92-4644-8ab7-d826a468aa44/image.png?t=1769980189) Follow image link: (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) Caption: **Introducing: **[**Attio**](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26)** – the AI CRM that builds itself.** Your CRM shouldn't feel like a second job. Connect your email and calendar, and [Attio](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) instantly transforms your data into a flexible, AI-powered CRM. Every contact, company, and interaction, already organized and always up-to-date. AI isn't just a feature—it's the foundation. Here's what you get: * Instantly find and route leads with [AI research agents](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) * Get real-time insights during customer conversations * [Build powerful AI automations](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) for your most complex workflows Granola, Taskrabbit, and Snackpass already made the switch. [Get an AI CRM](https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) that grows with your business from day one. Try it free → (https://attio.com?utm_source=big_desk_energy&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorship&utm_campaign=BDE-Y26) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ed660381-6520-4f6c-97de-9053bd1bd857/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-02-01T170806.716.gif?t=1769983882) Caption: -------------------- In what feels like a decade ago (it was last month) the Wall Street Journal published the article: [_Companies Are Desperately Seeking ‘Storytellers’_](https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-are-desperately-seeking-storytellers-7b79f54e)_._ It included examples of security startup Vanta offering a salary of up to $274,000 for a Head of Storytelling, along with companies like Notion and USAA building out entire teams of storytellers. Predictably, the internet mocked the notion of “storytelling” as a profession. But I don’t think this is a fad. Rather, it feels like companies are finally waking up to the fact that they need to own attention, not beg for it. Here are just two of the many related posts I saw on my timeline last week. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/db1f6c90-f9cd-4b12-9369-3ec90ea40f1d/image.png?t=1769980603) Follow image link: (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/noahg_ramp-just-opened-a-head-of-content-job-this-activity-7421961114273382401-QIAi/) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4def9ef6-3f14-40ff-adad-c77b54c82914/image.png?t=1769980642) Follow image link: (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dibratto_vanta-hiring-head-of-storytelling-notion-activity-7422281548181405696-Lgjj/) Caption: In addition to those listed in these posts, other companies that are actively hiring some sort of editorial or storyteller role: Rippling, Toast, Via, Chime, Plaid, BetterUp, ZoomInfo, Mercury, Okta, CoreWeave, FanDuel, and Netflix. These businesses don’t exactly look like media companies to me. According to Linkedin, the percentage of job postings in the U.S. that include the term “storyteller” has doubled in the past year. So what exactly is going on, and why are all of these companies suddenly trying to storymaxx? Here are the five underlying trends I see contributing to this shift. ### 1/ Distribution is the real bottleneck Reaching people at scale has never been more difficult: * Paid acquisition is saturated and increasingly expensive (CPMs and CPCs across Meta and Google have risen roughly 2-3x over the past decade). * SEO got professionalized, commoditized, and asymmetrically harder for brands to stand out. * Social no longer reliably reaches your audience; rather it distributes whatever content the algorithm wants to reward (i.e. the shift from network-based social like Facebook in the 2010s to content-based like TikTok today). Companies are instead investing heavily into owned audiences like newsletters (and I’m not just talking my own book here). HubSpot was early to the trend and acquired popular tech and business newsletter, _The Hustle_, back in 2021. Rather than fight the social algorithms and battle for search prominence, HubSpot could now directly and reliably reach millions of engaged readers each and every morning. They actually doubled down on the strategy and recently acquired AI newsletter, _Mindstream_, which was built (and remains) on [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) 😏. Robinhood did the same: acquiring daily newsletters _MarketSnacks_ and _Chartr_. The playbook is to build, or acquire, owned audiences that are made up of your ideal customers. ### 2/ People follow stories, not features Granted, we ship a shit ton of new features at [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) that I do genuinely believe is a core competitive advantage of ours. But in the age of AI, the speed of shipping new features will continue to increase and over time platform functionality across industries will become more commoditized. In a world where there are dozens of near-identical CRMs, AI writing assistants, and SOC2 security vendors, the companies who have a strong narrative are the ones who will differentiate the most. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5cfd0fc-0574-4205-b510-31300394332c/image.png?t=1769981266) Caption: It’s hard to think of a better example than Tesla. Despite their recent troubles, they entered an incredibly competitive industry and became the first successful U.S. automaker since Chrysler in 1925. They didn’t win by simply building a better car – Tesla won by telling a better story about the future. It obviously helps to have a generational founder like Elon, but everything from the launch events to the showrooms told a story. Narratives don’t need to be as grand as electrifying the world. It can be as simple as “creating characters” and just being human online so others can relate to what you’re building. Our entire team is incredibly active across socials and our self-proclaimed “chief evangelist” routinely posts moronic posts on LinkedIn, to which I chime in to keep him humble. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/887087a6-699e-44cb-a4af-8f6d941a2c5e/image.png?t=1769981372) Caption: You’d be surprised how many emails I’ve received with a _“you and Daniel’s relationship is the best thing on LinkedIn. I love you guys and beehiiv.”_ ### 3/ The marginal cost of content is now zero For most of social media’s history, content followed a power law: the vast majority of people consumed, while a small minority created. Creating content used to require some thought, intentionality, and time in order to produce something of value. But today, anyone with access to the internet has near-unlimited capabilities to produce boundless content thanks to AI. The result has been an explosion of content that varies from “pretty good” to AI slop. Which means there’s a premium for content that is truly “exceptional.” These companies are investing in editorial roles to create content with taste, a strong POV, and distinct voice that can emerge from the muck of online slop and sameness. Brands like Cava and Zola have experimented with episodic micro-series. Cava launched a social media-native dating show, [_Bowlmates_](https://www.instagram.com/bowlmatesshow/), which racked up nearly half a million cross-platform views. Which admittedly isn’t massive, but at least it’s different. Side note: I fucking love Cava. ### 4/ Trust becomes the true scarcity To recap: features are now cheap, software is easy to launch, and content is effectively infinite. We’ve entered an era of (low-quality) abundance. In this era, trust becomes one of the largest differentiators. If there were thousands of newsletter platforms, you’d probably choose the one used and trusted by a lot of the content creators and publishers you admire and look up to. [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) is the platform of choice for creators like Jay Shetty and Codie Sanchez, superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Russell Westbrook, journalists like Oliver Darcy and Joanna Stern, and publishers like TechCrunch and TIME. It’s our job as a company to tell their stories. While all of these companies are suddenly starting to hire editorial positions, we were early to the game. A few years ago we brought on Francis Zierer as Lead Editor of [_Creator Spotlight_](https://www.creatorspotlight.com/): our owned and operated media outlet that shares the tactics and stories of the rising creator class. Francis (and now Natalia too) have spoken to hundreds of the world’s top creators and have produced days’ worth of quality content across newsletters, podcasts, and video. They have become experts, and with that, have built a ton of trust with this audience. By the way: their newsletter is legit one of the best I get. [Sign up with one-click](https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/b95740fa-e8eb-44a5-ab87-ddd2c5d6a75d?email=b@email.gomodulr.com). ### 5/ The rise of founder-led marketing I’m a simple man — when I talk about founder-led marketing I start by sharing this post from Tommy Clark. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5c99317e-1a03-4d49-aa03-2faf78cf0e4e/image.png?t=1769981731) Caption: To repeat that last point again: people want to follow, engage with, and buy from other people. Founder-led marketing makes the company feel personable and real, not like a faceless corporation. Founder-led marketing is also the encapsulation of the previous four trends: **Distribution is the bottleneck.** I diversified away from being overly reliant on social media and launched this very newsletter two years ago. My content now cuts through the algorithms and lands directly into the inbox of 130K people each Tuesday (thanks for reading by the way). **People follow stories, not features.** Whether I’m [recapping my week in Cannes](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/cannes-vidcon) or sharing the [play-by-play of our $12.5M Series A while in Mexico City](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/series-a-story)… these are real stories with genuinely compelling narratives. **The marginal cost of content is now zero.** Which is another way of saying AI can produce surface-level content en masse… but personality-driven content isn’t replicable. **Trust has become the true scarcity.** I’m the face (and voice) of the company. Being openly transparent and having others get to know me better builds trust, which naturally extends to beehiiv. I’m not alone – there are legitimately thousands of founder-led newsletters on [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) (I counted last week). Narrative is the latest moat, and it looks like companies are taking notice. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/storymaxxing)[storymaxxing](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/storymaxxing) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d2efbaa5-8729-49e2-8a44-a1059591f16a/image.png?t=1769983307) Caption: Credit: Adrian Richardson Shoutout Adrian for the reader submission 🫡 Personally, I’m a big fan of the therapy chair — the perfect accessory to question all of my decisions in-between meetings. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * beehiiv is co-hosting an event at Google’s beautiful London offices on Thursday February 12th → [RSVP here](https://luma.com/mtr5nook) ‼️ * The founder of Ro breaks down the [economics of a Super Bowl ad](https://x.com/ZReitano/status/2016862026501378535). * [I joined ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6vY6NUUDDI)_[My First Million](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6vY6NUUDDI)__ _to share the playbook on how we generated our first million (in revenue) at beehiiv. * In case you live under a rock, the internet went wild with Moltbook over the weekend (think of it as Reddit for AI agents). Whether or not it’s legit, there was still some really great content 👇️ Tweet: (https://twitter.com/legeonite/status/2017150919431840101?s=46) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full _[_Big Desk Energy playlist_](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)_._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a5b19631-a140-485c-9244-880d6cd92b04/Track_1.png?t=1769983855) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/4IMVC2fbZO6rVw9dE3piCZ?si=d81db736bee94481) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/267dd45c-ec5c-4857-b2ca-747d474196a8/Track_2.png?t=1769983861) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/5eoZEB6ybIQWFgW1NTxt8D?si=dc38ceb3b5f24c0a) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b242ae8d-28e9-4418-b49a-2046e3372ba1/Track_3.png?t=1769983866) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6uKfcZXuDfd4jxxfu0OdP2?si=d9342c4994724aae) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/11035cd6-65a7-43cb-8c17-cb9b98c3ddd2/Track_4.png?t=1769983870) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/7aXRGZ6p4U3xEm5owOeQP6?si=f16dffa078674e64) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/852b9187-9fc7-483f-ad5b-baef403312fb/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px___91_.gif?t=1747697813) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. It’s also trained on my voice, which means you can call it and have full conversations. [Give it a try](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) and let me know what you think. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/storymaxxing

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f31fd5dd-a90f-469c-a5b1-bacd35fa153f/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-01-25T190948.973.gif?t=1769386277) Caption: -------------------- I made over $7,500 in exchange for just 10 minutes of work. That might sound like some clickbait YouTube thumbnail, but it’s legit. And ever since, I can’t stop thinking about my latest obsession: digital products. Let me explain… I began “building in public” way back when we first launched the business. “_Building in public is the practice of openly sharing the journey of creating a product, service, or business online, including progress, challenges, lessons learned, and metrics, to build community, trust, and awareness._“ — I routinely share updates about the business, behind-the-scenes stories, and strategies. Just last week I shared the milestone of us surpassing $2M MRR, along with a mega-thread of insights and tactics for other founders to copy. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/2013618810016690461) That post did numbers by the way – almost **4M** impressions (but who’s counting). Anyway, I took this “building in public” thing to a whole new level when I launched this very newsletter a few years ago (on [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/), of course). Not only does a 1,500 word essay allow for a lot more depth, but it doubles as an opportunity to build a successful newsletter using the platform that I’m building. It’s like build-in-public inception. I also started to record videos and document some of the ways I was using the platform to share strategies and tactics with users. If you visit our [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@beehiiv) (which you should [subscribe](https://www.youtube.com/@beehiiv) to), you’ll see an entire playlist called “Building with the CEO.” View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/36817039-081b-4d29-8e30-dddee6e9b9d7/image.png?t=1769379949) Caption: Last November, we launched Digital Products as part of the [_Winter Release Event_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNx0WyMXwvo) (our livestream product event where we dropped 10 new features). Digital Products allow users to monetize their expertise by selling templates, guides, eBooks, or live sessions. I didn’t think I had anything to sell, but I wanted to create a video showcasing the feature. So I dug up a 60-slide presentation that I gave for a webinar last summer and converted that, along with a video recording of the session, into a simple playbook. **[The Newsletter Playbook for Founders](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/the-newsletter-playbook-for-founders)**** **was born. It covers** **how to “build in public” along with the exact tactics I used to scale my newsletter to 100K+ subscribers. I launched it on beehiiv as a digital product for the purpose of recording a how-to video 👇️ Youtube: How to create Digital Products in beehiiv (Tutorial) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAZPKJUCtPI) Again, the purpose was to educate users how to launch a digital product, not about the product itself. Of course I mentioned the playbook, but I genuinely didn’t expect anyone to purchase it. But shortly after the video went live, a few dozen sales came in. Then I got a few emails from customers who had purchased it and were posting on X about how helpful the playbook was. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/primal_brainer/status/2012513016177459326) I decided to lean in and post on X and LinkedIn to promote it a bit more intentionally. The result? My inbox was unusable for a full two days from all of the purchase alerts. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8af4ae95-a714-41ec-bddf-c723c7298d36/image__529_.png?t=1769380415) Caption: holy dopamine I ended up selling more than 750 playbooks. That’s more than $7,500 for something that legitimately took me a few minutes to launch. And [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) is one of the few platforms that doesn’t take a cut of revenue, so I got to keep all of those earnings 😏. Meanwhile, adoption of the feature had been growing exponentially week over week (even without any sort of dedicated promotion). Users were organically launching and selling digital products in droves. That’s all the signal I needed: * I personally experienced the upside and magic of the feature. * Lots of users were organically adopting it and having success. In addition to being the CEO, I also run the product team here at beehiiv. I took that signal and pivoted a ton of our resources to making digital products 100x better. Well, that’s what we’ve spent the past six weeks working on. And yesterday we introduced [Digital Products v2](https://product.beehiiv.com/p/digital-products-v2). This newsletter isn’t meant to be a product update, so I’ll spare all of the details and just hit you with the highlights. We launched a beautiful new product page that’s optimized for conversion. We also launched product reviews that you can automatically collect from customers and display on your page. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1460977e-d885-4116-8057-c3256029f5bf/image.png?t=1769380487) Caption: We launched support for 10 international currencies, and introduced Apple Pay and Google Pay for frictionless mobile checkouts. But where I think digital products really shines is around how seamlessly it fits into the broader beehiiv ecosystem. With a simple backslash command you can add products directly to your newsletter, you can launch automated journeys when someone purchases something, and you can use the website builder to design your pages to match the rest of your brand. Here’s mine: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f52a9bc0-89f2-46c7-9c50-176f25e319a5/image.png?t=1769380520) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/the-newsletter-playbook-for-founders) Caption: Oh, and did I mention that [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/features/digital-products) is one of the only platforms in the industry that doesn’t take a penny of revenue from its users? View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/42e0af8a-d0a1-4f82-945b-250748adc78b/image.png?t=1769380704) Follow image link: (https://www.beehiiv.com/features/digital-products) Caption: The other benefit of dogfooding your product as a founder: you are the feedback loop. During this whole experience, I have been drowning the team Slack channels with feedback on ways to improve the experience for both customers and users. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5ca66460-bc43-47e7-9ec6-64309a934daf/Screenshot_2026-01-22_at_1.43.22_PM.png?t=1769380776) Caption: But what genuinely excites me the most: the near-unlimited possibilities this unlocks for our users. There is such a diverse range of expertise currently being monetized on the platform: * Dinner Guides for Diwali * Job Searching in Japan * 1:1 Coaching for Asana * AI Guide for Boomers * NFL Cheat Sheets * Online Flute Lessons I can’t teach you how to play the flute, but as a part of [my most recent video](https://youtu.be/FIAD-Qu-hP8), I showcased how easy it is to launch coaching sessions on beehiiv. And true to fashion, I plan to open up an hour each week for a [1:1 founder session](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m). If you want to chat for an hour about startups, fundraising, storytelling, GTM, or anything else, you can now [book time with me directly](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m) on my website (all thanks to beehiiv). ¡Viva Digital Products! ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/viva-digital-products)[viva-digital-products](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/viva-digital-products) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2a95b56b-c1f0-4b13-8cdf-a4540bad6e8c/image.png?t=1769381479) Caption: Shoutout to Erik for the reader submission. Let me take a moment to say that I have been very pleased with the quality and quantity of reader submissions lately 🙃. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * beehiiv is co-hosting an event at Google’s beautiful London offices on Thursday February 12th → [RSVP here](https://luma.com/mtr5nook) ‼️ * If you spent any time online this past weekend, you may have seen lots of Mac Minis and chatter about Clawdbot. Here are two resources I found interesting: * Alex Finn [27-minute video ](https://x.com/alexfinn/status/2015182480064893118?s=46&t=vwsGKi9h3Lr47pnXrEoTrw)on Clawdbot setup and use cases. * Shruti’s [X article](https://x.com/heyshrutimishra/status/2015327280911073789) on her takeaways after 40 hours of research. * Mike Solana spoke with 21 billionaires about California’s asset seizure ballot proposition. [Here are their plans to leave, fight back, and the future of tech in California.](https://www.piratewires.com/p/exodus-the-largest-wealth-flight) * Tyler Denk launched live 1:1 founder coaching sessions → [book time](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/founder-session-60m) 🙃 -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c17dc19e-70d7-4138-a62a-7f6322fe23bf/Track_1.png?t=1769386670) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/5p5zCHnz2LYexULLbY8y1P?si=0723e8fbddab4c69) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4fef55f7-5857-4ff0-a136-11cfe1e25a49/Track_2.png?t=1769386675) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/4rEmeNTBTYF8TcelJX7tpv?si=1ccf417b4f0547fa) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d891c92d-c4ad-474e-ad58-69c96a47385a/Track_3.png?t=1769386681) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/2FSsaOoQEXreqPM4dHn845?si=9e6375486ad14344) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a46bf0f-4485-4b31-be14-34d3672a01a0/Track_4.png?t=1769386689) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/1AP3mpHMrSjdZ9n5jyENjN?si=6efc1909510c4c71) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/852b9187-9fc7-483f-ad5b-baef403312fb/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px___91_.gif?t=1747697813) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. It’s also trained on my voice, which means you can call it and have full conversations. [Give it a try](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) and let me know what you think. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9&jwt_token={{jwt_token}}) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/viva-digital-products

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7f9c93be-a00c-47e5-bed2-183263a86081/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-01-18T174000.551.gif?t=1768776069) Caption: -------------------- I had planned something else to write about today, but I needed to interrupt the regularly scheduled program to announce a little something – beehiiv just surpassed $2M MRR. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/2013618810016690461) 👆That thread breaks down exactly how we scaled the company in the early days (with videos). It also took me an entire Saturday afternoon to create, so if you wanted to support the cause and show it some love, I’d appreciate it :). Lately, I’ve become pretty desensitized from the numbers on the screen. Milestones allow for a nice victory lap on socials (see above) but there are still so many problems to solve and things to build. That said – I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on the journey and share some of the insights along the way. The first year was a dog fight. We were the new kids on an already crowded block. There were a few dozen email platforms that were multiple times our size doing tens to hundreds of millions in revenue. Substack had launched four years prior and was already the venture-backed upstart in the industry. Twitter had recently bought Revue to launch native newsletters, and Facebook launched their own standalone newsletter service, Bulletin, with writers like Malcom Gladwell and Erin Andrews. Perhaps it isn’t a surprise that more than 40 investors passed on our seed round. When we first launched in November 2021, the platform could barely send emails. Early users were often disappointed with the lack of, well, just about everything. We were just a small team of four and we had our work cut out for us. But we hustled in those early days (still do). Our goal was to launch one marketable feature every single week. Not because we needed marketing assets, but because we wouldn’t survive otherwise. Just as we began to build some momentum, we tragically lost our CTO and cofounder ([RIP Platty](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/three-years)). I thought for sure the ship was going down after that – Andrew was a unicorn engineer and our secret weapon that made everyone else on the team better. But we persevered. I was writing code, making product decisions, closing deals, onboarding new customers, running marketing… and spent each night answering support tickets well past midnight. I ran myself into the ground to keep this thing moving. And of course, I didn’t do it alone. My cofounders and the entire early team are the real heroes. The urgency and passion they brought in the aftermath of Andrew’s passing shaped the DNA of our company. Feature after feature, problem after problem, we just blocked and tackled our way to a few small wins each week. During that first summer, I was on a call with an older founder and investor. I spoke with such excitement about the product and the vision for what we were building. Towards the end, I somewhat embarrassingly mentioned that we had just surpassed a measly $30K MRR. His response: “That’s incredible. That’s the hardest part — you’ll be at $300K MRR in no time.” And I’ll never forget the way that made me feel. Just a few months prior we had lost our CTO and I thought for sure the company was going to fall apart. When things finally settled, it never got easier. Each passing day felt like a 12-round heavyweight fight. My battered, sleep-deprived mind couldn’t comprehend what it would feel like to refresh Stripe and see $300K in MRR. But he was right. We never took our foot off the gas, and continued to build with the same intensity we always had. The score took care of itself. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/1707793753359171873) The dog days became the golden days. We were shipping a new high-impact feature almost every single week. We became this startup darling with a cult-like following of people who couldn’t help but rave about the product. We raised a $12.5M Series A [in just a single week](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/series-a-story), then a $33M Series B a year later. It was all-systems-go all the time; scaling the team with incredibly talented people and launching tentpole initiatives month after month. Working 100 hour weeks didn’t bother me for a second. I was so high on vibes and the palpable momentum of the company fueled me. That feeling lasted through Q1 of 2025. While we had a blowout quarter on the surface, some cracks had begun to surface. We were spending at irrational levels without any clear direction, and the strategies that were effective in the early days were no longer as impactful. We ultimately came to the difficult realization that we didn’t have the right leadership, experience, and strategies to scale the company to the next level. We were in a different league, and the playbook that got us from zero to one wouldn’t be the same playbook that took us from one to one hundred. In July we parted ways with a third of the growth team and decided to go in an entirely different direction. I refer to it as the great growth reset. We stopped and reevaluated everything: no more spending on paid acquisition, no more webinars and events, no more sending our top affiliate partners on luxury vacations. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a430cdb9-ce70-4e3c-94f5-88798407ef2f/image.png?t=1768868663) Caption: You can see the stage of peak irrationality before the reset in the chart. Runway plummeted from 35 months in January to just 16 months in May (i.e. we burned through nearly 20 months of runway in 4 months). And since the change — we reduced our burn rate by more than 60% and extended runway back to 2.5 years. In retrospect, the reset seems brilliant, but there was nothing easy about it… What the chart doesn’t show is the five consecutive months of growing MRR by a measly 2-4% MoM. We began 2025 by adding an incremental $1M ARR every few weeks, but the reset sharply compressed our growth rate. To put things into perspective: we are an unprofitable startup competing in a remarkably competitive industry. We made a deal with the devil to ride this venture-backed trajectory where the only real option is hypergrowth up and to the right. Refreshing the Stripe dashboard to see days where we added just $300 of MRR was gutting. Momentum is the most powerful force for startups, and we had willingly opted out. But it was undoubtedly the right decision. We shifted our focus towards the product. We hosted our first ever _Winter Release Event_ and announced 10 game-changing features that considerably expanded our addressable market. The message was delivered loud and clear: we are much more than a “newsletter platform.” View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/319f6c47-8784-487a-a9ac-00e47763fb92/image__499_.png?t=1763392982) Caption: On the growth side – we got back to the basics and rebuilt the foundation. We invested in data to better understand what was working, rebuilt our marketing site and funnels, doubled the size of the team, and brought on an experienced leader who has led companies to hundreds of millions in revenue. It was a long 5 months, but when we departed for the holidays, I felt better about the direction and potential of the business than I ever had. And we came out in January ready to ball. If you zoom in on the screenshot of our MRR, you might notice a vertical uptick at the end. That’s (half of) January. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/07f4c443-f7d1-48a4-a3f4-5c4a14bfee80/Screenshot_2026-01-19_at_7.01.22_PM.png?t=1768867912) Caption: 🔍️ 🔍️ We have added more MRR in the first half of January than we did in the first half of Q4. We now have the right foundation, team, experience, and initiatives in flight to properly compound this thing. Our revenue goal for 2026 is $50M, and I personally think we’re going to smash that. I share all of this because on the surface we’re a four-year-old company that just surpassed $2M MRR. But behind-the-scenes it’s been one hell of a journey to get here. Startups aren’t supposed to be easy. **By the way:** if you’re curious what tactics worked well for us in the early days, reminder to check out [this thread](https://x.com/denk_tweets/status/2013618810016690461) that I spent way too much time creating. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/startup-revenue-playbook)[2m-mrr](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/startup-revenue-playbook) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e879564f-ec99-4cfb-8bf6-3b7217835ca3/Ramir.G_Dream_Cloud_Office.png?t=1768771402) Caption: Credit: Ramir Givens Shoutout to Ramir for the reader submission 🫡. As he describes it: a cloud office in the rain forest. Shrooms are working. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * beehiiv is co-hosting an event at Google’s beautiful London offices on Thursday February 12th → [RSVP here](https://luma.com/mtr5nook) ‼️ * Everyone is injecting peptides, [but what do they even do](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/health/a69936750/peptide-injections-longevity-wellness-benefits/)? * Remember the Apple Vision Pro? [Interesting analysis by Ben Thompson](https://stratechery.com/2026/apple-you-still-dont-understand-the-vision-pro/) on what Apple keep’s getting wrong. * [The singular life of Rick Rubin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmkAH6MzRgM) was an excellent pod episode by David Senra. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/362104b2-2e98-450f-921e-0d204bf22fe9/Track_1.png?t=1768775998) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/148XpeTm2bVUIa4k54OUj8?si=5394f2fc150c442b) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/070e9b61-55cf-4fad-b970-5a085f690e97/Track_2.png?t=1768776003) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/1EIQTujhBzTnZClEr97aAJ?si=add414e5d5304bad) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/74568ba2-6384-4c75-9523-9e1b49fa25c2/Track_3.png?t=1768776009) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6y3IYZRf5JzpqkoJRHuYET?si=84ee8301381a432a) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f7163b2d-fb65-4c14-8d2a-7dcab5c7a861/Track_4.png?t=1768776014) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/3bm2mcKW7O3pDMoEE9ox3X?si=5d8336621ade4daa) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/852b9187-9fc7-483f-ad5b-baef403312fb/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px___91_.gif?t=1747697813) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6b0bd387-30fa-4d74-9515-c5a4da2858fa/image.png?t=1747697854) Follow image link: (https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) Caption: Chat with [DenkBot](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) — my AI clone. It’s trained on everything I’ve ever published and the entire beehiiv knowledge base 🧠. It’s also trained on my voice, which means you can call it and have full conversations. [Give it a try](https://denkbot.bigdeskenergy.com/) and let me know what you think. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/2m-mrr

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4c7fbc89-50b2-49a3-8028-8a4c82f4e358/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px___61_.gif?t=1732348484) Caption: -------------------- Yo! Tyler here. The fact that you started reading _Big Desk Energy_ a few weeks back means the world to me 🫶. It began as a humble side project to share startup insights and launch my very own newsletter. Fast forward to today and _Big Desk Energy_ is now a vibrant community of over 100,000 startup founders and employees. It also generates 6-figures in additional revenue 🤯. **The wildest part?** I only spend a few hours per week working on it. Thanks to [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com?via=bde) I was able to create a beautiful website and newsletter with zero code, while the growth and monetization is entirely on auto-pilot. If you’re looking to build a newsletter of your own, you can use my personal link to get **20% OFF** for three months. The link: [https://www.beehiiv.com?via=bde](https://www.beehiiv.com?via=bde) And if you have any questions, feel free to reply and let me know. I’m always happy to help. 👉🏽 [Your newsletter journey starts here. ](https://www.beehiiv.com?via=bde) View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e8bc8a86-2485-4348-9605-096090f8a952/image.png?t=1702609432) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/bio) Caption: ----------

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8dc6aba2-6549-49ec-98f0-b97fd03e4c70/beehiiv_seed_deck__17_.png?t=1743479929) Follow image link: (https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/22a8e6bb-21d6-45bb-9030-e1f10efb1a46/image.png?t=1767647500) Follow image link: (https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter) Caption: One of the biggest revenue unlocks for beehiiv in 2025 was compliance. It doesn’t sound sexy, but it helped us accelerate deals and close tons of new revenue. Fortunately for you, [Vanta’s Agent Trust Platform](https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter) helps fast-moving startups get audit-ready fast and stay compliant. **Translation:** it’s never been easier to get compliant thanks to [Vanta](https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter). The Vanta team is [hosting a live demo](https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter) on January 15th. Join to learn more about: * Accelerating compliance across frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, HITRUST, ISO 420001, and more * Building real security foundations, not check-the-box fixes * Showing credibility faster with a public Trust Center and AI-powered questionnaires * Keeping engineers focused with guided workflows and developer-native automation Register for Free (https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d1e525ee-48ed-4507-808d-61a2feccb492/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-01-12T172629.906.gif?t=1768256805) Caption: -------------------- It took just two years for us to surpass $5M ARR at [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/). And while that might either sound wildly impressive or not at all depending on who you are… perhaps it’s worth mentioning that we raised just a small seed round and didn’t spend a dollar on user acquisition back then. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/1707793753359171873) I want this to be the best thing you read all week, so let’s get tactical. Here are 10 actionable things we did to grow revenue in the early days, without spending a dollar… ### Build a waitlist When I started building beehiiv as a side project, I began posting more on socials and connecting with people in the industry. For me, that meant building relationships with people who were writing and scaling newsletters. As we were nearing a beta launch, I teased what we were building and fired off this tweet: Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/1404817547770449935) Nearly 400 people submitted the form to join the waitlist. I also collected tons of valuable information like what platform they were using and how large their list was. That waitlist became my hit list for the next several months. I would email each of them one by one every single week until I could get them to convert to becoming a user. I eventually converted about 25% of that list as early adopters. ### Raise money from strategic angels  A lot of founders chase clout trying to raise from Tier 1 funds. I spent my time chasing strategic angels who would actually use beehiiv and champion the platform.  This led me to people like Scott Galloway (Prof G), Jason Yanowtiz (Blockworks), Brian Morrissey (The Rebooting), and Litquidity (Exec Sum).  The rationale was simply about aligned incentives: we needed early users, and they were financially incentivized to help us grow. Litquidity migrated his list of over 100,000 subscribers within a month of us launching and gave us the early credibility and case study we needed to acquire other customers. The others followed suit shortly after.  Tweet: (https://twitter.com/denk_tweets/status/1458543535154556930) ### Identify your key differentiator  Back when I was at Morning Brew, I built the viral referral program that led to millions of new readers. Hundreds of readers would contact me every week asking for the secret sauce so they could replicate it for their own newsletter. I eventually decided to write a detailed deep dive on exactly how it was built and operated. You could argue this was the beginning of my “build in public” journey — the [article on Medium](https://medium.com/the-mission/how-morning-brews-referral-program-built-an-audience-of-1-5-million-subscribers-3315482c1aa5?sk=193ad8a9c491fbfb588cae2d3c1dfe69) got crazy traction and feedback.  Fast forward a few years to 2021 when my cofounders and I launched beehiiv. The industry was ridiculously crowded with dozens of established competitors, but we had something no one else had. While Morning Brew was at the height of its success, any newsletter on beehiiv could have the exact same referral program that they did. That was a huge differentiator for us in the early days. ### Do things that don’t scale  Today, we have a fancy security team with lots of cool infrastructure and automated workflows. In the early days, I was the security team. Every new user had to submit a form before they were allowed to use the platform… and I would manually review and approve every single one.  The form required them to submit their social handles as part of the verification. I would connect and follow each new user who signed up and send them a quick note.  View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/daa63bce-d3ab-437e-968f-287027ea67a0/image.png?t=1768254260) Caption: This built a ton of goodwill towards me and the company, and helped drive early adoption. I converted them into fans, who would now see all of my posts about beehiiv in their feed (which would further spread to their network if they engaged, helping us reach even more people). A good ol’ fashioned flywheel. This also created a direct line of communication with our early users, which helped me collect feedback, improve the product, and prevent churn. ### Don’t make people think  Most of our competitors charged based on the size of their list, or the volume of emails sent each month.  Both required users to think and calculate their costs to use the platform.  We launched with an all-inclusive plan that gave access to all of our premium features and allowed users to send unlimited emails for just $99 /mo.  In contrast, Mailchimp has variable pricing based on list size with tons of other limits and considerations, and would cost the same potential users more than $800 /mo. As a new entrant in the market, you want to do whatever you can to reduce friction and get people in the door. Our simplified pricing was such a great deal relative to competitors and was so simple to communicate.  This is admittedly a double-edged sword, because eventually we had to mature and adopt a more scalable pricing model (which was painful). But I’m a big believer in fighting to see another day: the future isn’t guaranteed and some problems are better to solve later. ### Turn every product release into a moment When we first launched, beehiiv was so immature relative to our competitors. Users would often churn because we didn’t offer most of the features they were used to on other platforms. Product velocity became a core competency out of necessity. We came up with a simple goal: ship one marketable feature every single week. This is the framework we used to decide what to build: 1. **Prevent churn.** Complaints from our existing users would always take precedent. 2. **Unlock growth.** We would race to launch any feature that we were missing that prevented us from converting new users. 3. **Maximum hype.** What would cause the biggest splash when we announced it? We would do our best to ship a product update every week. This consisted of an email to all of our users recapping the updates, and a highly produced video on socials to show the world what we just launched. Turning every product release into a moment, week after week, built the narrative that we could ship better than anyone (which was in strong contrast to our competitors whose only annual updates were to increase prices). We made the product feel alive. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/beehiiv/status/1831678536501076207/) ### Make the product inherently viral Product-led growth (PLG) is a super power. The Hotmail story is the quintessential Silicon Valley example. The early Hotmail team added _“Get your free email at Hotmail”_ in the footer of every email, which led to crazy viral growth. Our iteration: the footer of every email and website has a “_Powered by beehiiv_” badge that links to our homepage. As we grew, that resulted in exponentially more readers seeing that their favorite newsletters were built on beehiiv, which drove tens of thousands of additional signups. We try to factor virality into everything we build. The dashboard is extremely shareable and features our signature pink. When people share their progress on socials it’s obvious that they are building on beehiiv. We later launched badges, milestones, and recaps. Tweet: (https://twitter.com/stevenvan_/status/1983959027676758237) ### Everyone is distribution Our entire team is ridiculously active on socials, which is an absolute cheat code. It allows us to amplify marketing, engage with our users, and “build characters” that outsiders can follow. In a world where functionality is commoditized, people want to follow people, stories, and narratives. We built a culture that encourages employees to promote company initiatives on their own channels and engage with our users. We even created a dedicated Slack channel where employees share posts that we should engage with. “Everyone” isn’t just employees though, it’s users too. Rather than us telling the world how great we are, we let our users do that for us and we amplify their message (which leads to more users doing the same). And of course, I have been “building in public” from day one; I share company milestones, releases, tactics, and everything in-between. That builds trust with our users, and also helps grow my accounts… which leads to more people seeing these company updates and launches ♻️. ### Don’t sleep on LinkedIn Of all of the social platforms, LinkedIn by far drives the most ROI for me. In the early days, I would go through every single person who engaged with my content and shoot them a message about signing up to [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/). Obviously they weren’t all great leads, but some of that outreach converted into large enterprise deals. LinkedIn also allows you to export those interactions. When we hired our first seller, I would export the interactions on all of my posts and give them to him to do the outreach. The response rates were crazy high because these were people who were already familiar with me and beehiiv. ### Send monthly investor updates One of my best pieces of advice for any founder is to send a monthly investor update… even if you don’t have any investors. I have sent one every single month from day one, to a list of a few hundred investors, employees, colleagues, friends, and family. In a nutshell, these updates: * Hold me accountable. * Keeps beehiiv top of mind each month. * Clearly communicates our problems and priorities. * Allow me to make asks to the most connected people in my network. It’s also a cheat code to stay in touch and impress potential investors without having to waste time “catching up for coffee.” We raised our $12.5M Series A in less than a week thanks to this. If you want inspiration → you can [signup for free](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/resources/beehiiv-investor-updates) to receive every investor update I’ve ever written for beehiiv. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/startup-revenue-playbook)[startup-revenue-playbook](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/startup-revenue-playbook) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d85a750a-1040-4a6b-9786-9d595a0560c5/image.png?t=1768252795) Caption: Credit: Richard Venneman Shoutout to Richard for the reader submission 🫡. I feel like you need to have a massive chip on your shoulder to work from this office. Plotting to take over the world (or B2B SaaS). ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * beehiiv analyzed over 28 billion emails and released their [2026 State of Newsletters Report](https://beehiivblog.beehiiv.com/p/the-state-of-newsletters-2026). * Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix,[ joins Invest Like The Best](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmZzcV0a2CY) to discuss the company that changed entertainment forever. * I loved Ben Thompson’s writeup on [AI and the human condition](https://stratechery.com/2026/ai-and-the-human-condition/). * We’re hosting an event with Google in London! [RSVP here](https://luma.com/mtr5nook) ‼️ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/36821f7e-bee0-4899-a699-06795d983542/Track_1.png?t=1768257850) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/3sdsfR4Xm09qdCkHhDbF0t?si=398160118c2845ae) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/926536bb-09b3-4664-bf07-4615aa453bb3/Track_2.png?t=1768257857) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/3ADOUoMcmbT07M8mbx5PFN?si=567cd8e0d42c482f) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2872b333-63e5-4f22-b059-7e5f04c1a560/Track_3.png?t=1768257862) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/7pgRjPxesXnlqlFavNvBRB?si=52195646a38a4ab2) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/28bcbcf7-84ce-4d25-bfc5-fe7fe117f0f8/Track_4.png?t=1768257867) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/3bm2mcKW7O3pDMoEE9ox3X?si=5d8336621ade4daa) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/startup-revenue-playbook

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8dc6aba2-6549-49ec-98f0-b97fd03e4c70/beehiiv_seed_deck__17_.png?t=1743479929) Follow image link: (https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/22a8e6bb-21d6-45bb-9030-e1f10efb1a46/image.png?t=1767647500) Follow image link: (https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter) Caption: One of the biggest revenue unlocks for beehiiv in 2025 was compliance. It doesn’t sound sexy, but it helped us accelerate deals and close tons of new revenue. Fortunately for you, [Vanta’s Agent Trust Platform](https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter) helps fast-moving startups get audit-ready fast and stay compliant. **Translation:** it’s never been easier to get compliant thanks to [Vanta](https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter). The Vanta team is [hosting a live demo](https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter) on January 15th. Join to learn more about: * Accelerating compliance across frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, HITRUST, ISO 420001, and more * Building real security foundations, not check-the-box fixes * Showing credibility faster with a public Trust Center and AI-powered questionnaires * Keeping engineers focused with guided workflows and developer-native automation Register for Free (https://www.vanta.com/webinars/learn-how-to-automate-compliance-for-soc2-iso27001-and-more?utm_campaign=live-demo&utm_source=big-desk-energy&utm_medium=newsletter) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/eefcb466-655f-4d70-87cd-a87805c82e22/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2026-01-05T192933.006.gif?t=1767659379) Caption: -------------------- We’re six days into 2026, so let me hopefully be the last person to wish you a happy new year. It’s so damn good to be back. I took the past two weeks off from writing the newsletter and have two (somewhat contradicting) takeaways: **One: **I’m such a sick fuck for writing a weekly 1,500 word newsletter while also building a startup. As you would assume – beehiiv consumes 99% of my time and mental bandwidth. The newsletter hangs over my head for the entirety of the week, and I dedicate most of my weekends to actually writing it. Given the two week hiatus, I actually got to enjoy these past few weekends. I didn’t realize how much the newsletter weighed on me until it was (temporarily) gone. **Two: **I am so incredibly inspired and motivated to get back to work and dominate 2026. As much as I enjoy working, I find it ridiculous that some companies expect employees to work the few days between Christmas and New Years (almost as absurd as making people work the Friday after Thanksgiving). Each year, we give the entire company off for “winter break.” Due to how the dates fell this time around, everyone got to enjoy 11 days off before coming back to work yesterday. I spent the majority of that time off the grid in Costa Rica: surfing, reading, writing, and relaxing. Some people enjoy being up in the mountains, others like to stay put where they are. For me, I prefer not to wear a shirt or shoes for days at a time and spend a ton of quality time with friends out in the sun. It’s the perfect reset to unplug and prepare for the year ahead. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0020a9ba-79f8-4202-85ca-6593ca7ac33c/IMG_6500.jpg?t=1767659987) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a01d926b-8bf3-43ac-b5b7-3c7b926661ab/IMG_6520.jpg?t=1767659999) Caption: But as you could probably imagine, I’m not someone who can sit still for too long. After a couple of days, I start to get that itch to get back to work. I assume it’s analogous with “recharging my battery” or whatever, but I’m currently riding a crazy high of motivation and excitement to build. I’m not much of a resolutions person; I don’t need the excuse of a new year to force myself into making changes in my life. But I do find the new year to be a great source of motivation to take stock of where I am and set goals for where I want to be. I wrote this in my notes app over the break. For the sake of accountability, here are my goals for 2026: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e59389bf-edcc-4430-ad4b-9306cecb01fe/2026_Goals.jpeg?t=1767658116) Caption: ### $50M revenue beehiiv My first, second, and third priority in life right now is to build [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) into a multi-billion dollar business. I think we have the opportunity to build a generational company, and I anticipate 2026 to be a transformational year for us (see above: $50M revenue). We spent the majority of Q4 building the foundation to make this possible: we doubled our Growth and Ad Network teams, made a few crucial executive hires, and introduced a suite of new products to considerably expand our addressable market. **Translation:** we’re locked and loaded to accelerate this year. My boy Teddy Rosevelt said, “comparison is the thief of joy.” It’s true, I can’t help but look at a company like Lovable who has $200M ARR within a year of launching and feel a bit of envy. But focus is the real competitive advantage. It’s not $200M ARR (yet), but in our fifth year of business we’ll exceed $50M of revenue. And I’d anticipate another year of 80%+ growth in 2027 to get us close to $100M. Most of our largest bets as a company are still ahead of us, many of which we’ll launch later this year. Needless to say, I am super bullish on the future of [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) and am incredibly excited to smash this goal. ### 200K newsletter subscribers This newsletter has become my passion project. It’s my creative outlet, my community, and my instrument of choice to document this wild startup journey. And for good reason; Big Desk Energy has opened up more doors for me than I could possibly fit into a single newsletter… but I’ll try to encapsulate a few into a list: * I’ve built real relationships with hundreds of readers and founders. * Wrote a few angel checks into startups introduced to me by readers. * Some of our largest enterprise users were initially readers of this newsletter before learning about beehiiv. * I’ve hosted four incredible founder masterminds in Costa Rica (btw: the next one is in February if you want to [apply here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/forms/5dbf2b20-f7e5-48ad-93cb-97039bf30982)). * The ad revenue pays my rent, which is pretty chill (btw: I have limited spots remaining if you want to advertise your company in an upcoming newsletter, [book here](https://app.beehiiv.com/direct_sponsorships/42a3ec75-e696-48fc-8fd5-ab11bc0dd08a)). In addition to being the CEO, I also run the product team here at beehiiv. This newsletter is my secret weapon to making beehiiv the best product in the industry. Companies often use the term “dogfood” when they allow their employees to test new features before releasing it to users. But I don’t simply “dogfood” beehiiv; I am a legitimate power user. I personally built [my website](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/) using the new website builder, I have built dozens of lead magnets and automations, I leverage recommendations and Boosts for growth, and use the editor, dashboards, and analytics on a daily basis. I even launched a digital product a few weeks ago and have over 650 sales 🤯 (you can download [my playbook](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/the-newsletter-playbook-for-founders) on how I scaled this newsletter to 130K subscribers [right here](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/the-newsletter-playbook-for-founders)). I’m building in public using the platform that I’m building (very meta, I know). That’s all to say – Big Desk Energy is a massive competitive advantage for me (and the business) and I want to continue to scale it in 2026. Today’s newsletter was sent to 131,540 people, which means I need to find 68,460 more readers by the end of this year. If you’ve ever gotten any value from this newsletter, it’d mean the world to me if you could share this with just one person who you think would enjoy it 🙏. Your personal referral code: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) ### 80K LinkedIn & 60K X Followers For context, as of this writing I have [56.2K followers on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-denk/) and [37.8K followers on X](https://x.com/denk_tweets). And truthfully, I’ve never intentionally tried to grow either account. But after spending the past four years building a platform dedicated to helping content creators grow and monetize their audiences, I don’t need to be convinced any further about the benefits of having a large and loyal following. There are so many second and third order effects to creating valuable content on the internet. This is the first time that I am going to more intentionally create content on socials. I’m a big believer that this will compound into more brand awareness for [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/), more subscribers for the newsletter, more opportunities for me, and better outcomes for all the above. ### Spanish B2 After initially writing my goals for 2026, I realized that they were all business related… so I added two personal goals at the last minute. I’ve been loosely practicing Spanish for a few years and would consider myself conversational (albeit conversational for a 7-year-old). In addition to spending a ton of time in Latin America, I do twice-weekly lessons (that I sometimes cancel due to work), and spend a whole 5 minutes on Duolingo each night to extend my streak. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9731214f-bc65-4048-aca5-914b8053d364/Captura_de_pantalla_2026-01-05_a_la_s__7.52.03_p.m..jpeg?t=1767660770) Caption: This year I’m going to be more intentional about learning Spanish. According to ChatGPT, B2 is considered “upper-intermediate”: * Understands complex texts and discussions * Can interact fluently with native speakers * Can argue a point and explain pros/cons * Accent and errors still present, but not limiting Voy a lograr esta meta 🎯. ### Eurotrip Classifying a vacation as a personal goal feels a bit silly, but after listening to [this podcast with Jesse Itzler](https://youtu.be/DcNRcQkjgm8?si=p6-kwzligWNdUSfP) on how he plans his year, I was inspired to create a goal for the sole purpose of making memories and enjoying life. Aside from this annual end of year trip to Costa Rica, I haven’t taken a normal vacation during the year since exploring Germany and getting piss drunk at Oktoberfest in 2022. Well, after four years I think that I’m finally due for a proper vacation. I’m planning a little Eurotrip this summer and anticipate spending some time in the Mediterranean with my absolute boys. I have to admit, it feels pretty good writing down a goal that doesn’t have a KPI attached to it. Because we’re all about accountability here, feel free to reply to this email with a few goals of your own. Let’s have a killer 2026 together 🤝. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/2026)[2026](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/2026) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/01e996b1-2a62-4ea0-b928-e92688e9449c/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2025-12-07T144524.358.gif?t=1765136738) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/56af2263-dd8b-41a6-972d-dff8d6646ff1/image.png?t=1765133433) Caption: I’m renting a house with Houck (founder of Founding Journey) in Tamarindo, Costa Rica in February with **7 **other founders. We’ll be working, vibing, and delivering shareholder value. Other details: * Everyone will have their own private room and bathroom * Private chef and food are all included * All activities are optional but included (surfing, yoga, private boat, spa, etc.) * Perfect mix of strategy sessions and down time to relax * **Dates:** Wednesday February 25th to Sunday March 1st Apply to Join (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/forms/5dbf2b20-f7e5-48ad-93cb-97039bf30982) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7da3aa18-eca2-40ce-895d-7ad2299c9aaf/image.png?t=1767657098) Caption: Credit: Me This is pretty damn close to a dream office setup. What I would do to lock in from here… ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * David Friedberg drops perhaps [the greatest X post of the year](https://x.com/friedberg/status/2005172467485020239?s=20). * Ric Elias, CEO and Cofounder of Red Ventures, joins [Invest Like The Best](https://joincolossus.com/episode/ric-elias-the-art-of-living-well/) in what was a masterclass on cultural values and philosophies that transcend mere financial gain. * I caught up on some Acquired episodes over break. The three-part series on Google was fantastic: [part 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1nkN0sM2wc), [part 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhAftC_zFr8), [part 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCEB7xHer5U). * I think about this a lot 👇️ Tweet: (https://twitter.com/chrishlad/status/2005451865681711468) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/048a9f2d-4ac2-4e6a-afca-94ea657b4334/Track_1.png?t=1767661634) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/4ZueF5RjC1xzSodnMTVlnS?si=882a2a9e8ebc4de2) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8889bb93-8cb4-4757-87b8-b43f39a786ee/Track_2.png?t=1767661640) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/4py97jkt3UjrYu73lPzvIS?si=ae7526cfb7344dce) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/73f67153-9540-4357-b900-8485c83adc39/Track_3.png?t=1767661646) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/77PhNPDEYkT9CzX6MiAmjQ?si=37edd411a29a4d00) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f81e30e2-ae3a-4f30-ba06-8d4286f3ce50/Track_4.png?t=1767661651) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/6wMtkY6RfQ9ApTmfcCjcsA?si=c77df5d644cf4cb9) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/2026

---------- View image: (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.aCMxCPXAiuWC-s5yj_9bZxUX2FcmLtZtk0-d1sQkW8T6imPReli2YZ90n-Ka_jxLTanmY-uRo3eGagebblDRHfoS8qwPwssOVBc7fwOA9QqPJzB0BFRMQxJx5QWDveTTA3yByZDjb0K-rPs3W_ygDMq5imPioJr2_tvlYPr70jSOGCPYonT1W1q3AvXD_B0oYttkmk-WQC22yXSClf3gQICdtcp2kzxasXnH_UhS3PpkIqnhJmQ-fosCcPSJBGpw9MWxvlQgncaRdmTVRYq-Eo4a8FAVZcMTmtXSR2n6f9Q/4mq/eMnxD89QTG6i4ZxaYTGR_Q/t0/h001._PVztxhjmWfgkpyDmoc7q4O_G2CLPpu2m9-8rlCQtDk Caption: -------------------- hey there, thanks again for subscribing. You’re one of the first people to hear about this (honestly), because I just launched it. For the first time ever I’m making the _**beehiiv Series B Deck **_publicly available. It’s totally raw and unedited, and is the deck I used to raise a **$33M Series B** led by NEA, backed by Lightspeed, Sapphire Sport, DST, and others. View image: (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.aCMxCPXAiuWC-s5yj_9bZxUX2FcmLtZtk0-d1sQkW8T6imPReli2YZ90n-Ka_jxLTanmY-uRo3eGagebblDRHfoS8qwPwssOVBc7fwOA9QqPJzB0BFRMQxJx5QWDveTTA3yByZDjb0K-rPs3W_ygDDWfNrx8KX2FvX3q6jLbBJ6-LUZQrWOHEq7d70OgSGn3rugRSlxli3wUXFqSieVyE-rgwt0FWj_2BL_Fn39KNadzImmpwt8LLNlhvS16hAAh/4mq/eMnxD89QTG6i4ZxaYTGR_Q/t1/h001.ciG8-4TVg0ITq4dIM1AvdVc00WdfvwKqvlbSVSpYt5U Caption: Sneak peek It’s truthfully the best deck I’ve ever created and I’m damn proud of it. I hope that it can be a valuable resource for you as well. All you have to do is **refer just one person** to sign up for _Big Desk Energy_ using your personal referral code: [https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.32qsV2Y9eDkl0zKJ08rXnSD9eTiOIDUtMLWkKJUSGhIZjAJtdnV0samLlk_SLl7i5vBxHFE0t7Se3JL4g_32-A/4mq/eMnxD89QTG6i4ZxaYTGR_Q/t2/h001.6Nb25Ne--B-2lR-kWgL9I-m-4HydFJg90Fz7j7TPMko](https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.32qsV2Y9eDkl0zKJ08rXnSD9eTiOIDUtMLWkKJUSGhIZjAJtdnV0samLlk_SLl7imhFUKpmKspGGwyO1gYp_ovo_UZYVXhB7nLlQzMpIGhc/4mq/eMnxD89QTG6i4ZxaYTGR_Q/t3/h001.cQAXbn9L1iaMFcHgFZcyuBNsMBuMd8rB7jei3UZBt28 …then it’ll land in your inbox. See ya on Tuesday ✌️. View image: (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.aCMxCPXAiuWC-s5yj_9bZxUX2FcmLtZtk0-d1sQkW8T6imPReli2YZ90n-Ka_jxLTanmY-uRo3eGagebblDRHfoS8qwPwssOVBc7fwOA9QqPJzB0BFRMQxJx5QWDveTTA3yByZDjb0K-rPs3W_ygDAlLw-cP7_8e0eiGGesFGM-q8vm-ZgbyXD9F1VoAEzOq1rcEMDREv_5_A1yD3I-mSlfT-J35X3KZlFyNlaUoRn4deQnp7TjLjNgXmiLTUMYJ/4mq/eMnxD89QTG6i4ZxaYTGR_Q/t4/h001.wj-nqbWz350BeP11NHGHcFyEh4Z2mUM453SgpTOPu3M Follow image link: (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.tDxIBpn8x0eE2waqmv2gvKkdHNnaYXTDsRQUEvyNsFg8ZU2SGP_PEQXUAQF_TAzx/4mq/eMnxD89QTG6i4ZxaYTGR_Q/t5/h001.Zpb-uIrhfF6o95w7lATgFjW-hTTlhkOuGj2z1Z6URvo Caption: ----------

---------- View image: (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.aCMxCPXAiuWC-s5yj_9bZxUX2FcmLtZtk0-d1sQkW8T6imPReli2YZ90n-Ka_jxLTanmY-uRo3eGagebblDRHfoS8qwPwssOVBc7fwOA9QqPJzB0BFRMQxJx5QWDveTTA3yByZDjb0K-rPs3W_ygDOT63U1TTZcD-tKxudqBJbpblPTZG1mg5rQ53S-cM5cOAvynVQG-BwNGFlgn1QMx955h9Tx_54fEp7tbnjNwWIr_mml042HawXdKrgMbnfjRJjdQuxynJdsAR8N2LwKnWy6Se7SFm1WKiFKUdGmJfdk/4mi/VTe3SkG1SxmVzN1kAtIrNQ/t0/h001.E2UkAgc1DmTKInh1Fq4kV2z-4qyXE26iUibUB7pODUA Caption: -------------------- Hey I know you just recently signed up and were all excited… but it looks like you skipped over the [onboarding survey](https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.32qsV2Y9eDkl0zKJ08rXnSD9eTiOIDUtMLWkKJUSGhIrwAJDXhyiTiBKJLirIZ0kpMXmzSPZCQug3iKk1K6rjidK0YvKKzuZ7khIeWdZ-euWIcdIUAbL3fR0zl9IkEZJmTbBlfb0R3U7B4ZsnMI7bg/4mi/VTe3SkG1SxmVzN1kAtIrNQ/t1/h001.quseJxJaWYZxtoKDLd2eqNMlg2qicxcexD1OEVjCSt0 I have such high ambitions for this project and the **[30 second survey](https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.32qsV2Y9eDkl0zKJ08rXnSD9eTiOIDUtMLWkKJUSGhIrwAJDXhyiTiBKJLirIZ0kpMXmzSPZCQug3iKk1K6rjidK0YvKKzuZ7khIeWdZ-euWIcdIUAbL3fR0zl9IkEZJlu8ZAInfKRWt50x9xdnvWYgGkByzz4nzr1x8dvaS7ws/4mi/VTe3SkG1SxmVzN1kAtIrNQ/t2/h001.siUA3Sl-DUbjC2ABFa5AvjfefnLyhFOL3O4e45jup-I **will help me a ton to better serve you and the community. Think… * potential job opportunities * helping founders fundraise * potential deal flow for investors * valuable introductions to other readers * IRL meetups and events * …and so much more Click to submit survey (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.32qsV2Y9eDkl0zKJ08rXnSD9eTiOIDUtMLWkKJUSGhIrwAJDXhyiTiBKJLirIZ0kpMXmzSPZCQug3iKk1K6rjidK0YvKKzuZ7khIeWdZ-etS6U7n-dKww5cPZSuYB2UM/4mi/VTe3SkG1SxmVzN1kAtIrNQ/t3/h001.LVAh77gj6GcVRoh21g_cM89pMAK4S2l8xceLProjBMc Thanks a million and see ya on Tuesdays 🏄🏽‍♂️ View image: (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.aCMxCPXAiuWC-s5yj_9bZxUX2FcmLtZtk0-d1sQkW8T6imPReli2YZ90n-Ka_jxLTanmY-uRo3eGagebblDRHfoS8qwPwssOVBc7fwOA9QqPJzB0BFRMQxJx5QWDveTTA3yByZDjb0K-rPs3W_ygDAlLw-cP7_8e0eiGGesFGM-q8vm-ZgbyXD9F1VoAEzOq1rcEMDREv_5_A1yD3I-mSlfT-J35X3KZlFyNlaUoRn4deQnp7TjLjNgXmiLTUMYJ/4mi/VTe3SkG1SxmVzN1kAtIrNQ/t4/h001.2avhXh6ApvR07Hi2NmNxgsi83KA19gcbK-_c6wl38bI Follow image link: (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.tDxIBpn8x0eE2waqmv2gvKkdHNnaYXTDsRQUEvyNsFg8ZU2SGP_PEQXUAQF_TAzx/4mi/VTe3SkG1SxmVzN1kAtIrNQ/t5/h001.lGCWHDi1H5RsYaB9H1WUhP2njIBxpxXguO9rv5PkzXQ Caption: ----------

---------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d6328c83-5ed8-41dd-9d67-4f490869f152/beehiiv_seed_deck__9_.png?t=1739233206) Follow image link: (https://superpower.com/welcome?via=tyler-denk) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5c448949-3479-4ff2-aa53-19731bd0ade5/TYLER1A.png?t=1765831650) Follow image link: (https://superpower.com/welcome?via=tyler-denk) Caption: Here’s a list of things billionaires have access to: * All medical records in one place * Concierge medical team they can message * Lab draws at-home rather than in-lab * Best pricing to top of the line supplements * Personalized action plan created by top medical teams * 24/7 Concierge support on their health Now what if I told you that you could have all of that for just **$199** with [Superpower](https://superpower.com/welcome?via=tyler-denk)? [Superpower is the all-in-one health membership](https://superpower.com/welcome?via=tyler-denk). I’ve personally been an avid supporter of [Superpower](https://superpower.com/welcome?via=tyler-denk) since I first joined a year ago and have recommended it to dozens of my closest friends and family. Luckily for you, if you reply to this email with a screenshot of your membership purchase, I’ll send you a **$50 gift card **to the Superpower marketplace. Priortize Your Health in 2026 (https://superpower.com/welcome?via=tyler-denk) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d2cca226-3a20-4c0d-a8b5-afd8d68a8e5a/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2025-12-15T173632.026.gif?t=1765838251) Caption: -------------------- This will be the last newsletter of the year, as I plan to spend the next few weekends with family and enjoying some much needed time off the grid. I’m not a New Year’s resolutions guy, but I do find a lot of inspiration around this time of year to reflect and plan for what’s ahead. Given that others may be doing the same, I figured I would share some new habits that I developed this year that have totally transformed my life. And I mean that sincerely. Back when I was in college, I was burnt out between majoring in engineering and launching a startup of my own, all while trying to maintain some resemblance of a normal social life. When that company failed, I jumped right back into the chaos of early startup life becoming the second employee at Morning Brew. After Morning Brew, I joined YouTube and spent every night and weekend tirelessly building [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) in parallel. And since launching beehiiv, I’ve experienced four years of sleepless nights and have totally normalized living with the insurmountable pressure of scaling a high growth startup. Earlier this year my mental health hit a breaking point. My focus was absolute shit and the stress was debilitating. I had to make some serious lifestyle changes and can proudly say that today I genuinely feel better physically and mentally than I ever have in my life. I’ll often catch myself working at 9pm with as much focus and energy as I had back at the start of my day. Most days I genuinely feel like I could go on forever. If you don’t care for “self help” or improvement stuff, feel free to skip this one. But making these changes and taking care of myself has been one of the best investments I’ve ever made as a founder. ### Meditation I meditate for at least 15 minutes every single morning, non-negotiable. I started with some guided meditations, and now just freestyle while listening to some hippie sound bowl melody. I’m not going to sit here and write about all of the benefits of meditation: less stress, lower cortisol, better focus, improved mood, etc. You get it – but it’s probably the best habit I’ve picked up this year and the difference has been staggering. ### Undisrupted mornings I used to wake up at 5:30am and scroll Slack before even getting out of bed (being in LA, I’m 3 hours behind most of the team). Jumping from channel to channel triaging problems and putting out fires, all before the sun rises, isn’t a particularly healthy way to start the day. But it wasn’t just Slack and work. The moment I open iMessage, I’m catching up on conversations ranging from sports to news to whatever else is going on with the people in my life. I began to realize how much these outside signals would influence my thoughts. Instead of being in control of my mornings, my mornings were entirely dictated by whatever notifications were on my phone. If, for example, someone texted me about plans for the upcoming weekend, then I spent my morning thinking about that. Now, I don’t touch my phone for the first hour after I wake up. I protect that time to ruminate, stretch, mediate, whatever – without the influence or disruption of the outside world. Almost all of my best ideas occur during this time. And I feel 100x better, as opposed to being some lab rat clicking through notifications and ingesting the shit content and drama that most people consume themselves with. ### No coffee Don’t get me wrong – I love coffee. I love the taste of it, I love the rush of it, and I love coffee culture at cafes (shit, I might actually relapse while writing this). But as a founder, I already operate with a heightened baseline of cortisol and stress. No matter how much work I complete, there’s always some insurmountable amount of work remaining. That feeling mixed with three cups of cold brew translated to a level of crippling anxiety that I could never escape (granted, I probably could have settled on one cup). Caffeine is a stimulant that fucks with the chemical composition of your brain, and after years of normalizing the existential anxiety, I decided I wanted out. So I cut coffee cold turkey earlier this year and have never felt more alive. The stress levels measured with my Oura ring seem to agree. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8a54cad4-ba8a-41fe-9bc7-e4f8632de8af/image.png?t=1765833132) Caption: Left: stress in February. Right: stress in May. ### Supplements Earlier this year, I used ChatGPT and uploaded the labels of all of the vitamins and supplements that I was taking. I discovered that I was consuming way too much of certain things (like zinc) and way too little of others (like K12 and omega-3s). I spent an hour going back and forth as it recommended the right supplements to balance everything and ensure I wasn’t overly-saturated or deficient in anything. Then I did a ton of additional research to identify the highest quality supplements in each category. I’m not going to shill my supplement stack, but I am a big believer that we are all, quite literally, made up of chemicals. And by consuming the right balance of vitamins, minerals, and supplements you can make marginal improvements in your energy, mood, sleep, focus, and overall well-being. I’ve experimented a ton over the years, and feel like I’ve finally cracked the code for my body and regimen (it varies depending on your goals, activity levels, diet, habits, etc.). I highly recommend firing up ol ChatGPT and giving it a try for yourself. ### Podcasts in the gym I religiously go to the gym each morning before work (after the whole stretch, ruminate, and mediate routine and all). I used to think that this was total psychopath behavior (maybe it is), but I began to listen to podcasts instead of music while I workout. I’m bought into the concept of an information diet. tl;dr – what you read, watch, and consume impacts your thinking, focus, and well-being. Well, my podcast rotation is almost entirely focused on business, startups, and tech. And the episodes are either informative and tactical (i.e. things I can do to improve the company) or inspirational (i.e. stories that motivate me to work harder). Lifting weights and consuming this type of content is an electric combination. I get back to my desk around 8am absolutely juiced with energy and inspiration. By the way, if you’re interested in the podcast rotation: * All-In * My First Million * Founders * Invest Like The Best * Acquired * Pivot * Lenny’s Podcast * Stratechery ### Reading before bed Speaking of All-In, at the All-In Summit Bryan Johnson said, “the single best thing I've learned out of everything I've ever done is (lowering) your resting heart rate before sleep is the best thing you can do for your health.” I began reading each night before bed and it’s made a massive difference in the quality of my sleep. I’ve experimented a ton with my nighttime routine and according to my Eight Sleep and Oura ring (both companies that should sponsor my newsletter), my sleep scores are noticeably better. And similar to my undisrupted mornings, I try not to use my phone at all for the last hour or so before getting into bed. ### Everything else I think we are still so early in understanding our health and how the foodwe eat, air we breath, water we drink, content we consume, and products weuse actually impact our wellbeing. I’ve installed reverse osmosis filters in my apartment and only drink ultra-filtered water. I have hardcore air purifiers in every room. I’ll measure my glucose from time to time to ensure my diet isn’t impacting my health. I’m not trying to live forever. I genuinely don’t really give a shit about the whole longevity trend. I just want to feel incredible _today_. I want to build [beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/) into a multi-billion dollar business. I want to scale this newsletter and community to millions of founders. I want to create tons of incredible content, build fun side projects, explore the world with my friends, and have a damn good time doing it all. That all takes a ton of energy and ambition. I just want to do everything that I can to always feel and be at my best. Take it or leave it, those are some of the habits I built in 2025 that have helped me accomplish that. See you in 2026 ✌️. ——————————————————————————— If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: [mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/2025-habits)[2025-habits](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/2025-habits) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/01e996b1-2a62-4ea0-b928-e92688e9449c/Section_Headings__1128_x_80_px__-_2025-12-07T144524.358.gif?t=1765136738) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/forms/5dbf2b20-f7e5-48ad-93cb-97039bf30982) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/56af2263-dd8b-41a6-972d-dff8d6646ff1/image.png?t=1765133433) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/forms/5dbf2b20-f7e5-48ad-93cb-97039bf30982) Caption: I’m renting a house with Houck (founder of Founding Journey) in Tamarindo, Costa Rica in February with **7 **other founders. We’ll be working, vibing, and delivering shareholder value. Other details: * Everyone will have their own private room and bathroom * Private chef and food are all included * All activities are optional but included (surfing, yoga, private boat, spa, etc.) * **Dates:** Wednesday February 25th to Sunday March 1st * **Cost: **$10,000 (business write-off 😉) Apply to Join (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/forms/5dbf2b20-f7e5-48ad-93cb-97039bf30982) -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7c971039-4c30-4ac8-a282-cd525382a8db/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy__2_.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/eb1e84e4-412d-42ad-b13d-e854f14658db/Screenshot_2025-12-02_095950.png?t=1765834040) Caption: Credit: Curtis Ingram Shoutout Curtis for the reader submission 🫡. Having the home office walking distance from the beach is all that I ask for in this life. ——————————————————————————— _Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions _📨_. _ -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23c480c1-8067-4d74-80b2-d0723b219e0b/BDE_heading_-_surfing_the_web.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…_ * I helped scale Morning Brew to 4M+ subscribers, and this very newsletter to 125K+. Here’s my full newsletter playbook → [download](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/products/the-newsletter-playbook-for-founders). * Want to launch your own digital product on beehiiv? I created [this video tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAZPKJUCtPI) to show you how. * Behind every influencer is an army of the influenced. [The platforms need influencers and influencers need audiences](https://www.theverge.com/cs/features/836456/influencers-tiktok-debt-shopaganda). * [Europe is weak and delusional](https://world.hey.com/dhh/europe-is-weak-and-delusional-but-not-doomed-8b10e7cb), as written by DHH. -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0a9f67c6-163c-4eda-9aab-4e03ac39d25a/BDE_heading_-_tracks_of_the_week.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- _Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full __[Big Desk Energy playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5s8443tfYUq3LLARJwGeYP?si=16012ae913534271)__._ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d3506170-b55c-4c9e-8c54-a51b41097040/Track_1.png?t=1765838618) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/1KQgVOzETywRJpcIyhqjLB?si=3a5b4fdb8542483c) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/41b1cfe6-1d0a-41d5-a088-de59831bcf30/Track_2.png?t=1765838623) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/0Gx7RAZ8eVpoFxzIYhLug7?si=a254a1cb29e8433d) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8afff778-a297-4c3f-9685-2b0e666a0add/Track_3.png?t=1765838628) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/5Hzfo2ZP0Q6vdTPQwKe7z6?si=471ac2eb522d499b) Caption: View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/185d83f4-4e43-4807-a6f8-0cd6c8ef8126/Track_4.png?t=1765838635) Follow image link: (https://open.spotify.com/track/1aUnUW9nPKxjyzYRvr2J3v?si=5d0ea149d4ec4078) Caption: -------------------- View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d633ed24-1ef5-43ee-8fdd-804e980688f5/BDE_heading_-_share_big_desk_energy.gif?t=1702686765) Caption: -------------------- Share this newsletter with your friends, or use it as a pickup line. View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bd5b97b-19b5-4548-8d8b-a0fb04b82c63/image__352_.png?t=1737322595) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Caption: **1 Referral** _beehiiv Series B Deck_ View image: (https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e5a68731-aa9e-48e9-adcf-8dababa71984/BDE_Gif.gif?t=1730173455) Follow image link: (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Caption: **3 Referrals** _$10 OFF BDE Merch_ 👉️ ==**Your current referral count: 0**== 👈️ ——————————————————————————— Click to Share 🕺 (https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe/8b6aada6-7495-4d35-bc5d-0f0ec9b8993b/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9) Or share your personal link with others: [https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7](https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/subscribe?ref=msywXzlYA7) -------------------- 📥️ Want to advertise in Big Desk Energy? _[Learn More](https://docsend.com/view/d6uy7rq8w87k2qkf)_ ---------- ——— You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience, copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/2025-habits

---------- View image: (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.aCMxCPXAiuWC-s5yj_9bZxUX2FcmLtZtk0-d1sQkW8T6imPReli2YZ90n-Ka_jxLTanmY-uRo3eGagebblDRHfoS8qwPwssOVBc7fwOA9QqPJzB0BFRMQxJx5QWDveTTA3yByZDjb0K-rPs3W_ygDOT63U1TTZcD-tKxudqBJbpblPTZG1mg5rQ53S-cM5cOAvynVQG-BwNGFlgn1QMx955h9Tx_54fEp7tbnjNwWIr_mml042HawXdKrgMbnfjRJjdQuxynJdsAR8N2LwKnWy6Se7SFm1WKiFKUdGmJfdk/4mh/wcGIxKXASseaCmbnOQCX2A/t0/h001.RA-eASZbUt8CHXQwvFDrkLaw3TaCgCjWRdkj1ZTokxA Caption: -------------------- Hello and welcome to Big Desk Energy — a tiny part of the internet I carved out for big ambitions and even bigger vibes ✌🏽. As a formal introduction, my name is Tyler Denk. I’m currently the cofounder/ceo at [beehiiv](https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.UyGhFp3k4H9H6Zy31bpnRVBa1uCiapban0BcgFuZ7DezUdczRhuri-fJlnBf54Jm/4mh/wcGIxKXASseaCmbnOQCX2A/t1/h001.nCNkeVKA-Xyp9skWRjpxnZEgFZsTzTN6pgi1_lgjHGU Prior to that, I was the second employee at Morning Brew, where I spent my days up until the acquisition by Business Insider.  I’m no mathematician, but the only correlation I can find between the success of the two is Big Desk Energy.  **What is Big Desk Energy?** ~~First and foremost it’s a mindset.~~ Don’t try so hard. * It’s the [undisputed best work playlist on the web](https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.QHJUpEFcZUOtk9mLFo8gQ6FuFJ0hfuvl0qP0evfcNlES5pGNU86Ibp3COVXB54zGz-ManFpThDzd_6QpXPgLn3_H1p7usj21uV4OZIjdq5yRDkA7W9spbhK5RxoxdoDr/4mh/wcGIxKXASseaCmbnOQCX2A/t2/h001.CXLrLF1hhcGRVrX3aYK-xXFIfVM6yp-OnoUDiFlgR9U — consisting of 40+ hours of music _far_ from the mainstream. Optimized to keep the vibes, energy, and focus pumping. * It’s a [Windows 98 themed website](https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.UyGhFp3k4H9H6Zy31bpnRSPs9z_RMEp7OHaygUQvOiIQBKCmLtbkpKEJCFnBLph9/4mh/wcGIxKXASseaCmbnOQCX2A/t3/h001.H40vSvrAMduuEBE8gnEhX7XhTL5GJW5FfORXFQeWtOU that I built during covid to fuck around and teach myself how to code in react. * It’s a [weekly newsletter](https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.32qsV2Y9eDkl0zKJ08rXnSD9eTiOIDUtMLWkKJUSGhK5Ot1PyI0up54Yxqrct8rxI9kWoKzgfSTJn-F1QJW4NQ/4mh/wcGIxKXASseaCmbnOQCX2A/t4/h001.pZwnRnRjIwnsIzLPm8jTAVd9JY8VRIekJpy1iJKYbHE where I share my experiences, processes, and philosophies as a startup founder with a lot of strong opinions and absolutely no filter. Oh and some music and good vibes mixed in. **Why another newsletter? ** I think there’s a lot of people in the startup world who like to give advice that aren’t really doing the damn thing.  I also think there’s a ton of qualified people who are now too far removed from the trenches. But I’m an open book and in the thick of things right now. I’ll share what we’re trying, what’s working, what’s not, raw numbers, trends I’m seeing, “oh shit” startup stories, and everything in between.  **Get started…** [Follow the official BDE playlist here](https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.QHJUpEFcZUOtk9mLFo8gQ6FuFJ0hfuvl0qP0evfcNlES5pGNU86Ibp3COVXB54zGz-ManFpThDzd_6QpXPgLn2Cnky1OIdX5Ufb8MalemIHpfPkAKNWWpMNDhKNPypm5/4mh/wcGIxKXASseaCmbnOQCX2A/t5/h001.lYeCkVKe_855rSydCOw7j0p6LK-YshcjdDCnEKjzXnY and reply with a link to your best song. I’ll give you a shoutout if I add it to the playlist. See you on Tuesdays 🏄🏽‍♂️ View image: (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.aCMxCPXAiuWC-s5yj_9bZxUX2FcmLtZtk0-d1sQkW8T6imPReli2YZ90n-Ka_jxLTanmY-uRo3eGagebblDRHfoS8qwPwssOVBc7fwOA9QqPJzB0BFRMQxJx5QWDveTTA3yByZDjb0K-rPs3W_ygDAlLw-cP7_8e0eiGGesFGM-q8vm-ZgbyXD9F1VoAEzOq1rcEMDREv_5_A1yD3I-mSlfT-J35X3KZlFyNlaUoRn4deQnp7TjLjNgXmiLTUMYJ/4mh/wcGIxKXASseaCmbnOQCX2A/t6/h001.VZGBiUmhyUyQSBPa--0TatbVx-4F5lDgrbKP5fNADQg Follow image link: (https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.tDxIBpn8x0eE2waqmv2gvKkdHNnaYXTDsRQUEvyNsFg8ZU2SGP_PEQXUAQF_TAzx/4mh/wcGIxKXASseaCmbnOQCX2A/t7/h001.xONOpyPaQ5d2aNDHhUu3deCk2L5FHUws0CRXLJ5y3_c Caption: p.s. if you think someone else you know may like this newsletter, share your referral code with them to join: [https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.32qsV2Y9eDkl0zKJ08rXnSD9eTiOIDUtMLWkKJUSGhIZjAJtdnV0samLlk_SLl7i5vBxHFE0t7Se3JL4g_32-A/4mh/wcGIxKXASseaCmbnOQCX2A/t8/h001.UjUUEB37N22G7YMlrJPWvlpHWJGCDa3JlTmc_MYcP3o](https://elink.mail.bigdeskenergy.com/ss/c/u001.32qsV2Y9eDkl0zKJ08rXnSD9eTiOIDUtMLWkKJUSGhIZjAJtdnV0samLlk_SLl7i3guy0WrvCpxzosb_6wIagA/4mh/wcGIxKXASseaCmbnOQCX2A/t9/h001.fcYHZmfu1ZMiBoCISwlb_bIYyZe8okbO-keC_wAHELw ----------