From Newsletter to Startup Goldmine

Introduction:

Michael Houck is the founder behind Houck’s Newsletter, a weekly startup advice column with 70,000 dedicated readers, and Megaphone, a managed marketplace designed to boost Twitter or LinkedIn accounts. Houck's previous startup raised approximately $15 million, including a Series A led by a16z, and he has co-founded over 50 startups.

Houck organizes weekly fireside chats with experts, records these sessions, and hosts in-person meetups. He also plans to launch courses and playbooks to support his users' startup growth. His team of 450 members has collectively raised over $200 million.

If you're looking to attract leads or build your personal brand on social media, Megaphone could be a great tool. You might even find creators you already follow.

Origin:

Houck explained that Megaphone began by accident. He texted a few friends to gauge interest in a marketplace where prominent creators would amplify content to help others grow. All five friends were willing to pay immediately, which indicated he was onto something.

The initial version of Megaphone was quite basic. Houck set up a Typeform linked to Slack and Airtable. When someone submitted a URL through the Typeform, a message was sent to a Slack channel where VAs chose a few opted-in creators from a list and sent it to them on Telegram or WhatsApp.

Houck did not need to invest any capital, as he already had subscriptions to these tools and VAs for his newsletter.

Houck's newsletter began as a side project to enhance his personal brand and draw more customers to his previous startup.

Despite some peers advising him that a newsletter for startup founders was too broad, Houck pressed on. He identified a notable gap in the market. Most advice was very specific to various aspects of running a startup, but there was a lack of modern guidance, particularly from someone who had recently built a venture-backed company, despite the evolution of Silicon Valley since the early Y Combinator days.

Realizing the newsletter could turn into a business, Houck invested $10,000 but used only $1,500 for Beehiiv and other SaaS tools to get started.

Initial Marketing:

For Megaphone, Houck kept his newsletter strategy simple, expanding in concentric circles:

He began by texting a few friends for their feedback.