Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
“Move fast and break things” - good or bad idea?
Hey Reader, You’ve probably heard Mark Zuckerberg’s now-famous saying: “Move fast and break things.” It’s from his letter to potential investors just before Facebook went public: Moving fast enables us to build more things and learn faster. However, as most companies grow, they slow down too much because they’re more afraid of making mistakes than they are of losing opportunities by moving too slowly. We have a saying: “Move fast and break things.” The idea is that if you never break...
The best platform to start on in 2024
Hey Reader, If you want to build an audience in 2024, where should you start? You might think because I own an email marketing company, I’m going to tell you to start a newsletter. While there are many benefits to an email list, you still have to figure out how people will discover your newsletter. That’s where creating content and being on social media comes in. But if you’re starting a content channel today, which one should you go with? Should you go all in on TikTok? YouTube? Instagram?...
Optimize for the content binge
Hey Reader, Have you ever discovered a new TV show, got instantly addicted, and then saw it already had several seasons out? Remember how happy you were? Wondering how you hadn’t heard about it sooner, but also thrilled because now you have a bunch of episodes to binge watch. This happens on YouTube too: you come across an amazing video and fall in love with the creator. Next thing you know, you’re watching all of their previous videos. Netflix releases shows intended for viewers to binge...
What would need to be true?
Hey Reader, If you regularly read this newsletter, you’re probably ambitious. You have dreams, goals, and aspirations. But sometimes those dreams can feel lofty or unclear. Maybe you want to be a published author Maybe you want to start writing a weekly newsletter Maybe you want to open up a new marketing agency How long is it going to take you to get there? How are you going to do it? What stands in the way? These questions can be hard to answer. Often things feels so overwhelming, you just...
3 keys to managing a company without burning out
Hey Reader, If you run a company, you know how exhausting it can be. So much responsibility and there’s a never-ending list of things to do. It’s really easy to lose yourself, over commit, and find yourself on the path to burnout. Back when I had a team of just five people, I might have been able to double my personal effort and watch the overall output of the business go up 40–50%. But with a team of 80 now, increasing my individual effort doesn’t have the same effect. Even if I put in a...
More than a name change
Hey Reader, When people heard me say I’m making “the biggest announcement in ConvertKit's history”, most thought I meant the name change. It’s true: we are renaming the company from ConvertKit to Kit. We help creators do so much more than convert, so it only makes sense. But we’re also changing the name to reflect our expanded vision: We are building the operating system for the creator economy. The “big announcement” for me wasn’t the name change; it was the app store. Launching an app store...
The biggest announcement in ConvertKit's history
Hey Reader, Last week, I teased we had a huge announcement coming. On Thursday, I finally came clean: we’re setting a new direction for ConvertKit that includes: An app store where any developer or platform can extend ConvertKit’s functionality A big focus on reporting and scalability for professional creators A new newsletter free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers that includes a basic automation and creator network A new site builder with 8 templates powered by Creator Profile ...oh, and...
What is the less-stressed version?
Hey Reader, Have you been feeling stressed lately? Stress takes the joy out of life, affects your relationships, your sleep, and your ability to focus. But stress doesn’t just affect you on an emotional level. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it can also have a detrimental effect on your physical health. Chronic stress can lead to anxiety, depression, and pain. It’s also partially responsible for the development of heart disease and cancer. Two years into building ConvertKit, I got a rash on my...
Community is a beautiful thing
Hey Reader, Everything changes when you go from single player to multiplayer. You might sometimes feel like the odd one out in your immediate social group. At least when it comes to your special interest. Chances are, your family and friends don’t share your same interests, hobbies, or career path. For the most part, that’s fine. You find other ways to connect and relate. But in some sense, you always feel like the odd one out. Whether your interest is illustration, coding, copywriting, video...
How to speak in soundbites
Hey Reader, I’ve noticed some people speak in a way that really sticks with you. I feel like a couple of my friends—Codie Sanchez and Nick Huber—are really good at this. When they speak, they have a way of delivering in soundbites or talking in clips. You can record them, and what they say is succinct and memorable without any editing. It seems effortless. But like with many things, the easier someone makes it look, the harder they’ve worked at it. That’s exactly what Nick said when I asked...
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.