💡 Hello You

Céad míle fáilte!

First off: thank you. Really. Whether you’re reading from Dublin, Sydney, Toronto, or a home office somewhere in between — know this: we see you, we appreciate you, and we’re grateful to have you along for the ride.

This newsletter isn’t some faceless brand spitting out corporate updates. It’s built by a small independent crew trying to build something useful, honest, and — hopefully — help you (and us) learn something along the way. And of course we can’t forget about the sh*t memes too. 😂

Now, let’s catch you up. We’re over halfway through the year, so here’s where things stand — the wins, the wobbles, and the plan for what’s next.

Enjoy ☕

P.S We recommend enjoying this week's edition online 👇

Crunching The Numbers

THE NEWSLETTER (THE CORE)

1,365 subscribers.

Six months ago, we had 718. That took 18 months to build — so we’ve doubled in under half the time! 👏👏

How? Simple, but not easy. Here have been our main drivers:

1) Consistent content builds trust.
22 editions. Weekly consistency? More or less. Coffee helps.
Regular, valuable updates keep people coming back — and word of mouth still works better than any algorithm.

2) Targeted LinkedIn outreach.
This has been a bit of a gamechanger. We’ve focused on inviting the right people directly and we have had a 36% success rate. Not bad since no one likes random invites. (More on that below in the What’s Gone Well section).

Our open rate sits at 59.75% — steadily climbing, up 5.9% and Impressions (15,623 in total) are up 56% compared to the same period last year.

Click-through rate is slightly down in the last 6 months. We are only getting about 91 clicks per send but the bigger picture matters: Every key metric is tracking well above industry averages.

WHO’S READING?

We introduced a new subscriber survey at the start of the year, which 79% of you completed — legends!

👉 If you haven’t completed our subscriber survey please click here - it only takes 30 seconds!

It’s been fascinating getting a better sense of who’s actually reading and it’s helping us shape our content.

In short: founders, execs, and sharp operators from Ireland and across the Anglosphere.

💼 Top 4 Job Roles:
1️⃣ 34% – Employees (likely future founders!)
2️⃣ 22% – Founders
3️⃣ 20% – Company Execs
4️⃣ 12% – Investors

🌎 Top 4 Countries/Regions:
1️⃣ Ireland – 40%
2️⃣ ANZ – 25%
3️⃣ N. America – 17%
4️⃣ UK – 8%

LINKEDIN (OUR PRIMARY SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM)

In our last behind-the-scenes update, we said we were doubling down on LinkedIn and leaving other platforms alone — for now!

LinkedIn’s not just a vanity metric for us — it’s pulling people into this community. People like you. 😀 

• 2,687 followers (added 536 this year)

• 92,847 impressions (and climbing since January)

And by focusing on just one platform, we’re able to test, tweak, and refine what works. We’re also starting to push content through our individual LinkedIn accounts to build personal reach alongside the main page.

THE FINANCE PART…

Revenue: Zero. (You heard right.)
Expenses: ~$1,725 (USD)

For nearly 18 months, we spent nothing. But once we crossed 1,000 subscribers, we had to move to a paid Beehiv plan (which we love by the way), invested in a lead gen tool, and some productivity tools — all self-funded.

To put it in perspective: we’re now spending about ~$2.66 per new subscriber.

It’s not exactly cheap considering the zero revenue part but the growth and efficiency gains we’re seeing make it feel like the right call for now. And who knows? If we keep this up, maybe one day it’ll even pay for itself.

The Good And Not So Good.

 👍 THE GOOD

1) Conor Flan joined the team! (Yes, he’s as sound as he sounds.)
We’ve been talking about expanding the team for a while — and we’re genuinely thrilled to have Conor onboard. He’s already making a big difference, helping us grow and keep things moving.

2) Targeted Outreach (With a Plan Behind It)
We’ve focused heavily on Irish founders, VCs, and execs with a series of targeted deep dives:

• Irish founders in Y Combinator

• Irish talent reshaping global finance

• Irish VCs driving global tech

For each edition, we emailed those featured — growing both subscribers and visibility.

At the same time, PhantomBuster handled LinkedIn outreach:

• 1,960 profiles scraped

• 1,707 invites sent

• 1,278 accepted (75%)

• 36% engaged or subscribed for the newsletter

Smart content + focused outreach = real growth.

3) Content Library (Our Secret Weapon)
The most exciting update? We’ve built our own content library system (Version 0.1)

Using a mix of media sources, newsletters, alerts, and a workflow powered by ChatGPT, Notion, and Zapier, we can now scan, summarise, and curate content far faster than before.

The result? We’ve cut newsletter and social post production from 7–8 hours to just 3-4 hours a week — while also being able to produce 4–5 social posts consistently.

Not bad for a small team trying to scale smart.

👎 THE BAD

1) Energy and Time
Energy’s finite. Between our jobs, and, well, life, consistency is a challenge.

Some weeks, we’re flying. Others, we’re crawling. But we’re still here, and we’re not stopping.

2) Community (Non-)Vibes
Back in May, we announced plans to launch a WhatsApp community… and over 100 people have joined the waitlist! But truthfully? We haven’t had the time to get it moving yet.

That said, this is something we’re genuinely excited about. A private space could help us connect founders with talent, investors with startups, and build real connections across different regions and cities across the globe.

🎯 It’s still on the radar — just waiting for the right moment (and some spare hours).

What’s Next?

Honestly? We’re trying not to bite off more than we can chew.

The next 12 months are going to be big both in life and work. Growth is great — but balance matters too.

That said, if we can keep the current pace, hitting 2,000 newsletter subscribers feels possible by the end of the year. It’d be a great milestone.

On the work front, the focus is simple:

✅ Keep producing solid, consistent content.
✅ Get Conor fully up to speed (he’s already flying, but more hands = more progress).
✅ Continue refining the content engine and LinkedIn outreach without overcomplicating things.

We’re trying not to chase shiny objects — we’re building steady, sustainable growth.

Let’s see where it goes. 🚀

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