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The Tools Behind a 7-Figure Newsletter | Trends by The Hustle
So, you wanna start a newsletter?
If you’re like most prospective founders we talked to while researching the Trends Newsletter Guide, then one of your first questions is, “What tools should I use to build it?”
Today we’re dipping into our research to break down newsletter tech and show you:
- The 5 key tools newsletter businesses rely on.
- The most important question you need to answer when choosing newsletter tech.
- The software used by famous newsletters like Morning Brew, The Hustle, and more.
The combination of tools you use is called your “technical stack”…
Trash to Treasure: Opportunities in the Waste Industry | Trends by The Hustle
Introduction
Every day 28k tons of single-use plastic finds its way into the world’s oceans, ~86k dump trucks full of used or discarded clothing are either burned or dropped in a landfill, and ~109k tons of used electronics (the weight equivalent of ~68m laptops) are discarded.
Left unchecked, that would certainly spell environmental disaster, but it can also spell something else — big business opportunities.
Diversifying Revenue: Strategies from 1-800-Flowers. | Trends by The Hustle
Valentine’s Day got us thinking about how entire companies are built around certain holidays. But outside of these times, how do holiday-reliant businesses diversify their revenue?
To find out, we combed through dozens of SEC filings, cross-referenced them with Google search data on several holiday-reliant companies, and gathered lessons from one company — 1-800-Flowers — that has figured out ways to produce strong revenue streams outside of popular flower days.
Google searches for 1-800-Flowers spike on both Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Searches for Party City crest on Halloween. And many people come calling for Canada Goose around Christmas.
High Margin Breakdowns: Pool Cleaning Edition | Trends by The Hustle
Inside the Margins
Residential swimming pools and hot tubs are seeing a surge in demand since people have been homebound. According to the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance, the main U.S. industry trade group, revenues rose 10%+ in 2020.
Riding this same wave is the pool cleaning industry. Google searches for “pool service near me” and “chlorine tablets for pool” have doubled since last year, per Keywords Everywhere.
The Lucrative Business of Review Sites | Trends by The Hustle
Trendster Cooper Mitchell owns Garage Gym Reviews
Key Takeaways
- The product review industry has undergone significant change since OG Consumer Reports released its first print issue 85 years ago. The internet, affiliate marketing, and Google Search have played profound roles in reshaping the business.
- New trends in ecommerce, consumer online behavior, and influencer marketing are opening doors to new opportunities, with many companies making millions of dollars a year in the space.
- One testament to its growth: BestReviews was recently sold for $160m — $50m more than its purchase price in 2018.
- Amazon is the largest affiliate network. However, it has been consistently cutting commission rates, leading successful reviewers to forge new affiliate paths.
- We identified more than a dozen opportunities by evaluating the impact of new acquisition channels on existing high-performing affiliate products and uncovering new product opportunities in reliable distribution channels.
- Focusing on the one thing all consumers want will give new sites an edge.
Introduction
“People don’t want a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!” That’s what Harvard professor Theodore Levitt used to say. But as HBS students Momchil Filev and Ben Faw figured out, many people are actually looking for the best drill.
Filev and Faw were wrapping up their MBAs at Harvard in 2014 and saw an opportunity to capitalize on the $40B of products that are returned each year by consumers who aren’t happy with a purchase.
Business Trends 2021 Predictions | Trends by The Hustle
What do we expect for 2021? Here’s what our analysts had to say…
Ethan: Virtual events will be the “San Francisco” of 2021 as people flock back to in-person ASAP. Innovation in virtual gatherings will stall, as existing tech is “good enough” and lacks raving fans after being tainted by the memory of 2020. The only major exception will be esports (and Trendster Natasha Miller’s variety shows, of course).
Julia: While Bitcoin stole the show in 2020, decentralized finance (DeFi) will dominate in 2021. The road might be bumpy, but the total value locked in DeFi will continue to grow, spurred by the introduction of Ethereum 2.0. As a result, we will see a range of new DeFi innovations and applications (in addition to insurance, lending, stablecoins, prediction markets, and margin trading — which already exist).
Trends' 2020 Hits and Misses | Trends by The Hustle
A year ago, when we asked ourselves and the Trends family to predict where things were headed for 2020, we had no idea what a roller-coaster year was ahead.
But some of those predictions were surprisingly accurate. For example, Trendster Brian Breslin wrote, “We will see advances in insurance and health providers aimed at freelancers and gig workers. We will also see more tools to support remote work teams.”
Here’s a roundup of our favorite hits (👍) and misses (👎) from 2020.
👍 Remote Work (Steph)
High Margin Breakdowns: Laundry Detergent Edition | Trends by The Hustle
Source: P&G and Unilever annual reports, 2019
Key Takeaways
- Procter & Gamble and Unilever, 2 heavyweights in the laundry detergent business, consistently make a significant share of their revenue — and, in particular, their profits — from fabric care.
- Consistent innovation around convenient, sustainable, and premium design has created high margins for smaller, newer players.
- Entrepreneurs can participate in this space with relatively little expertise (a bestselling bleach alternative has a single ingredient and a 97% profit margin).
Inside the Margins
Liquid detergent has historically had high profits, thanks to its reliance on water as a main ingredient and consumers’ tendency to over-pour.
Esports: The Rise of the Next Behemoth in Competitive Sports | Trends by The Hustle
The esports market is booming. League of Legends, the most popular esport, broadcast a world final that drew more viewers than the Super Bowl in 2018. Last year the event was hosted in Paris, and tickets sold out within seconds.
With prize pools of $34m+, esports stars can walk away from tournaments with more money than Wimbledon singles champions.
Esports already has a larger audience than American football and rugby combined and is set to generate more revenue than both the UEFA Champions League and Formula 1 by 2022.
Trends Audio! Including bonuses with guests like Andrew Wilkinson, Jack Butcher, and Ryan Hoover | Trends by The Hustle
Introducing the Trends Audio newsletter! Here’s how you can access the recordings.
- Make sure that you see a list of app icons above. If you do not see these icons, please reach out to us at trends@thehustle.co.
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- Clicking each link should open up your app of choice and you should have the option to subscribe to Trends Premium.
- Once you subscribe, you’ll be able to listen to all of our episodes, including bonuses from our guests like Andrew Wilkinson, Jack Butcher, and Ryan Begelman! 🎉