We’ve only gone and bloody done it!

A few weeks ago, without even realising it, Irish Insights turned one! 🎂

It doesn’t feel like a year has passed, probably because we spent a few years sitting on the idea before finally launching it.

These past twelve months have been both delightful and fulfilling, allowing Chris and me to uncover and promote the incredible Irish tech scene and the many successes achieved by these people and companies all around the globe.

When we started this journey, we promised to document and evaluate our progress as much as possible. Now that we’ve reached the one-year mark, it feels like the perfect time to take stock. In this edition, we’ll cover:

• Crunching the numbers 📊

• The good and the not-so-good 🫳

• Plans for year two 🔮

• What We’ve learned along the way 🧠

But before we dive in, we want to say a huge thank you to all our followers.

It’s been fantastic to have you follow, read, comment, and share our stories and newsletter over the past year. Your positive feedback has motivated us to keep growing Irish Insights in year two and continue being your passport to Irish tech abroad.

Thank you! 🤝

Crunching the Numbers 📊

This is something we probably spend too much time refreshing and checking—every new subscriber and LinkedIn follower still delivers that sweet dopamine hit.

Since launching our first newsletter under the original Digital Irish Abroad branding (R.I.P.)—aptly titled “Perfect is the Enemy of Done”— in August 2023 to a modest 78 subscribers, with an impressive 58.94% open rate and a 17.39% click rate, we’ve come a long way.

Forty-two newsletter editions later, we’re happy to report some strong engagement metrics. The growth to 616 subscribers has been achieved organically, driven by the strength of our content.

Linkedin has been great for growth.

Consistently posting stories and updates on our LinkedIn page has been the key driver of newsletter growth. We’ve amassed 1,631 followers on LinkedIn and have successfully converted many of them into newsletter subscribers. In total, Irish Insights LinkedIn posts have attracted 167,000 impressions.

The Good and Not-so-Good 🫳

In the famous words of my favorite Italian footballer, Gennaro Gattuso: "Sometimes it may be good, sometimes it may be shit." This has undoubtedly been the case for Irish Insights’ efforts throughout the year. Here's what stood out to me, for better or worse, in year one.

One of the best developments has been the rebrand to Irish Insights, along with the new tagline: "Your passport to Irish tech abroad." Paired with a sleek color scheme, it’s a significant upgrade from the “back-of-the-cigarette-box” branding strategy that initially got us off the ground.

Researching and writing a weekly newsletter, while also trying to grow the subscriber base, is a lot of work. Having a co-founder and an extra set of hands on board has not only improved the consistency and quality of the content but has also made growing the page more enjoyable.

However, the biggest area for improvement—something I’ve alluded to before—is content distribution. Thankfully, the people who come across the stories or sign up for the newsletter tend to engage with it, but we haven’t spent nearly enough time running campaigns to get Irish Insights in front of a larger audience.

The final area for improvement, which I don’t want to be too harsh about, is content consistency. There were a few weeks when no newsletter went out. In year two, the goal is to stay ultra-consistent with daily posts and ensure the newsletter is sent out every Tuesday.

Plans for Year Two 🔮

The first and most crucial step is consolidating the newsletter and delivering great content, including our Founder Focus stories. Our goal has always been to stay focused and work towards reaching 1,000 subscribers—or "True Fans," if you’ve ever read Kevin Kelly’s famous blog post (though we have no plans to turn you into paying customers 😅).

After experimenting with some video interviews for our Founder Focus series, we found them enjoyable and engaging. Given how compelling some of these stories are, we’re excited to go deeper by expanding them into full video interviews and podcasts.

We now have a fast-growing community of 2,000 combined followers across LinkedIn and the newsletter, all with a keen interest in Irish tech abroad. We want to start fostering interaction between you, especially in countries with large Irish diaspora communities.

To encourage deeper community development, we’re looking to involve more people in the day-to-day running of Irish Insights. If you're passionate about Irish tech abroad, digital community development, or newsletters, we’d love to hear from you! You can reply directly to this email or send us a message via our website.

What We’ve Learned During the Process 🧠

My biggest takeaway from year one is that putting yourself out there—like launching a small newsletter like Irish Insights—increases your surface area for good things to happen.

Over the past year, I’ve been fortunate to meet so many interesting people doing amazing things in the global tech space, all while staying up to date with the latest trends and successes of Irish startups and innovators worldwide.

We’re excited to double down on this in year two, and we can't wait to write the year two review to see how far we’ve come.

Thanks again for following along! If you have any comments or suggestions on how we can improve, we’d love to hear your feedback.