Major Milestone

Hello again my friend.

This newsletter covers a lot of different topics, like dealing with people who did me wrong, to the luxury industry, to lessons learned from my day job at the fast-growing startup, beehiiv. I share my professional experience hoping it’ll help someone building their career or business.

And to give you a sense of where I’m coming from, beehiiv recently hit $20M Annual Recurring Revenue plus $10M from our Ad Network and Boosts ($30M total). I joined almost 3 years ago, when we were a $300K/year company. We’ve grown 100x since. An unreal achievement and incredible testament to our amazing team.

What’s interesting is that I get the most replies (by far), whenever I write about what we’re doing at beehiiv. It’s almost always people asking questions. And one question that always comes up, is how we’re so different compared to everyone else, but still successful.

Today, I’ll share lessons I’ve learned so far, some of which are the opposite of conventional business advice.

Let’s get into it.

I don’t mean ownership in the business (equity), though equity helps create what I’m talking about. I mean a sense of real responsibility for the work. beehiiv’s achievements do not start with goals, KPIs, rocks, processes, or any of that. It’s all about a small group of people who really care, and apply that care to everything they do.

It’s easy for people to say “That’s so and so’s job, I’m just going to chip in a little bit and leave it with them.” I’ve seen it before and it’s a common mentality.

For us, everyone shares an extreme attention to detail and ownership for every task (even if it’s not technically on anyone’s job description). Four of us will look at one thing, and take it so seriously that by the time everyone’s done, it’s so good that we can release it right away.

Many companies have “stay in your lane,” mentality in relation to the job description. I think this actually stifles a lot of creativity and can slow teams down. We’re very much the opposite. People have freedom, and there’s a lot of collaboration (regardless of job descriptions or hierarchy).

Our team is incredible, and it’s everyone’s sense of ownership that really takes us to the next level. There’s no substitute for people who care, work hard, and have the right priorities.

Imagine you are home, and the fire alarm goes off. It’s the real deal. The building is one fire, you can feel the heat, and the smoke is rising. You have 2 minutes to get out. Assume your partner, your kids, and pets are all safe. What’s the 1 thing you carry out of the building with you (knowing everything else will burn to ash)?

This is prioritization. You see where I’m going with this.

Now imagine a week goes by. You’re in your new home, and it happens again. But this time, you can take 2 things with you. What would you escape with?

When work is chaotic, you’ll have 5 priorities today, and then next week, 4 of them just don’t matter anymore. The week after, something new becomes the priority. Your house burning down every week is an extreme example, but the point is clear.

So, why is this great?

Because you’re too focused on what really matters to pay attention to dumb shit. You have to be. The house is on fire.

I rarely see businesses lose because they focus too hard on listening to their customers and working hard for them. I’ve seen more than one company lose when “following the process,” is everyone’s top priority. All things matter. Some things matter more.

Almost everyone told me I was wrong for joining beehiiv. Why? Because I turned down an offer to be a ‘Director’ with an agency here in Vancouver to be a front-line support rep at a (then) $300K/year startup instead. To almost everyone I knew, it didn’t seem like a good idea.

The people at that agency were great, their offer was too (it was more cash upfront). But, I wasn’t excited about the company, and didn’t look forward to working there.

They told me I made a mistake.

beehiiv’s grown 100x in less than 3 years, and that agency hasn’t changed since their offer. Again, great people, but it was not what I was looking for.

Consultants told me we need processes, an ERP, outside help, etc, or we will implode.

Never happened.

Other business owners tell me that what we’re doing at beehiiv can’t last.

The best is yet to come.

Most people just don’t get it. No matter their credentials, experience, whatever. All that unfounded negativity just showed me that the only person you can really trust with a big decision is yourself.

beehiiv is a proudly remote company, but remote work is not just for companies. It’s for great talent in smaller cities.

For example, I would’ve never had a beehiiv-level opportunity in Vancouver if not for remote work. We just don’t have many companies that grow 100x in less than three years here. And if we do, few of them are hiring, and some may even have reputations for questionable finances. Remote work creates so many incredible opportunities, and I’m proof of that.

This is a big part of cold emailing our CEO worked. If they were hiring in LA or New York only, I couldn’t have been considered. But I was, and it worked, and it’s been going well obviously.

If you’re in a smaller city, especially in Canada (Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal, etc), I really encourage you to consider looking for remote opportunities with American companies.

Thanks again for reading!

See you next week.

Darwin