Derek - How to master the art of growing and monetizing newsletters from scratch!

👉🏼 About the Guest:

Derek is the founder of Remote Jobs, the world's repository for remote jobs, and the creator of Daily UI, the #1 design challenge, with a combined total of 650K+ email subscribers. Join him in this episode to learn how he grew his user base from 0 to 650K+!

👉🏼 About the Host:

Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 24,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. He recently sold his second SaaS product, GuestLab, and he is working on a startup idea while hosting this show.

👉🏼 Sponsor Corner:

Shoutout to Acquire.com for sponsoring The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/

👉🏼 Description:

Listen in as Sharath and Derek discuss taking lessons from building community, how to curate the perfect service, how to monetize your user list, and more!
 
👉🏼 Timestamps:

• 00:00: Episode Highlight
• 00:43: Shoutout to Acquire.com
• 03:08: Introduction to Derek - founder at Remote Jobs
• 04:30: Growing your email list when you have 0 internet presence
• 10:23: Derek's lessons from organizing meetups & community
• 15:14: Lessons from 10+ years of building community
• 22:32: How to juggle a side project with a full-time job
• 29:37: Employee mode vs founder mode
• 37:30: How to grow your user base using curation
• 46:20: Breaking the tipping point of users to get to exponential growth
• 48:22: Hacks to grow a user list from 0
• 52:10: Common mistakes when building a user list
• 1:01:20: How to monetize your newsletter
• 1:08:07: Derek's new and upcoming projects
• 1:11:43: Outro and closing thoughts

👉🏼 Resources:

• Link to Acquire.com: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
• Playbook: https://www.playbook.com/

👉🏼 Where to find Derek:

• Twitter: https://x.com/derkolstad
• Remote Jobs: https://remotejobs.com/
• Daily UI: https://x.com/dailyui

👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harath
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harath
• Website: https://5harath.com/
• Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/
• Founder Gigs: https://foundergigs.com/

What is The Undefeated Underdogs?

The Undefeated Underdogs is a podcast unpacking the underdog stories you never heard of!

It highlights the underdog mentality and brings authentic conversations with people who play the long game, take action with a chip on their shoulders, and convert obstacles into opportunities!

Buckle up, as I will be bringing some authentic founders, VCs, community builders, and content creators who got underestimated their whole life, and yet they beat the odds and became insanely successful!