Beehiiv’s CEO isn’t worried about newsletter saturation
Beehiiv’s co-founder and CEO Tyler Deck spoke to TechCrunch about why the company has been expanding, and where the media business is going next.
Newsletter platform beehiiv recently celebrated its four-year anniversary by launching a suite of new features, including an AI website builder, plus support for podcasts and the sale of digital courses and products.
In other words, beehiiv is about a lot more than newsletters now. Co-founder and CEO Tyler Denk (who writes a popular startup newsletter of his own) spoke to TechCrunch about why the company has been expanding, explaining that it was largely in response to customer demand, particularly since beehiiv offered very basic blog templates from the start.
“All of our users were like, ‘Hey, this is great, I like using your email stuff, [but] my blog looks like everyone else’s. It’s terrible. It’s not customizable. I want to sell courses. I want to collect leads. I want more flexibility on my website,’” Denk recalled. “So that led us to acquiring TypeDream — they were a YC company to address that need, as people wanted better websites. Then, you know, you give an inch, they ask for a mile.”
Related Knowledge Center: State of the business model
The traditional journalism business model has long since collapsed, and news organizations have shrunk or disappeared entirely. While a number of promising experiments are under way, the public has not shown a willingness to buy what news organizations are selling.