From 78 Emails to 4.7 Million Subscribers: The 1440 Story with Tim Huelskamp

Stop losing subscribers with your onboarding — get Chenell's Subscriber Onboarding Course included in The Growth Vault: growthinreverse.com/vault This episode is a live recording from the 2026 Newsletter Conference in New York City where Chenell sat down onstage with Tim Huelskamp, co-founder of 1440 — the daily digest for more than 4.7 million curious readers. Tim shares the full arc of 1440's growth: from 78 subscribers to a media company generating roughly $1M in revenue per employee, including the unconventional early tactics, the Facebook ad playbook that still runs today, and the ambitious new "Topics" platform they're building to become the Pinterest for knowledge. KEY TAKEAWAYSWhy Tim spent the first 7–8 months focused entirely on product before touching growth The counterintuitive decision to remove images from 1440 entirely The discovery that 3x'd sponsor revenue without adding a single new advertiserThe bet on their "Topics" platform: what "Pinterest for knowledge" actually looks like LINKS MENTIONED1440 Newsletter — 1440's daily digest (join1440.com)1440 Topics — 1440's new knowledge platform (1440.io/topics)WhoSponsorStuff — Newsletter sponsorship intelligence tool mentioned by Tim ("Ryan and Jesse's" tool)FOLLOW ON SOCIALChenell: Twitter | LinkedInDylan: LinkedIn | Substack | InstagramOUR NEWSLETTERSgrowthinreverse.comgrowthcurrency.netSubscribe & Leave a Review:Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform.