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- 📌 1440’s growth: lessons from 4M readers
📌 1440’s growth: lessons from 4M readers
1440's 3 non-negotiable rules
Anatoly Zaslaver
February 07, 2025
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This week, we’re spotlighting 1440 daily news newsletter by Tim Huelskamp (the CEO of 1440), Andrew Steigerwald (the Editor-in-Chief of 1440 Media), Pierre Lipton was a co-founder of 1440 Media (who tragically passed away in 2023).
Backstory
The media industry thrives on drama-breaking news, clickbait, and hot takes.
1440 ignored all of that.
Instead, they built a fact-first, no-fluff daily news digest. No political slant. No algorithm manipulation. Just pure information that respects your time.
And guess what? It worked.
4.27 million subscribers open this newsletter every morning.
They’re adding 40,000+ new readers every month.
I read it at 5:45 AM.
My kids (sometimes) read it.
Even my wife reads it - and she says it’s good. (Big win for me.)
What's in it for you?
1. The simple, repeatable rules to build a thriving media business.
2. How to dominate an industry - even if you’ve never worked in it before.
3. Downloadable templates to help you structure high-performing content.
Opens & Email Delivery
Most newsletters never make it to the inbox.
They get buried in spam, flagged by filters, or ignored by algorithms.
1440 took a different approach.
Instead of trying to game the system, they built trust with readers - and email providers followed suit.
Here’s how:
Exceptionally High Open Rates (65%) – Gmail prioritizes emails people actually read.
With millions of engaged subscribers, 1440 stays out of spam.
A Clean, High-Converting Sign-Up Flow – Every element is deliberate, from the copy to the visuals.
It makes subscribing feel effortless.
Landing Page – Every word on their landing page is intentional.
It’s a conversion engine, using a mix of smart copy, eye-catching visuals, and seamless UX.
A Welcome Email That Trains the Reader – It sets clear expectations, and keeps emails out of spam.
And it even solves one of the biggest subscriber mysteries:
Where did the name 1440 come from - click & scroll down to find out
Content
Imagine waking up, grabbing your coffee, and opening the news - only to be hit with a wall of outrage, clickbait, and noise.
That’s exactly what frustrated Tim and Andrew.
Smart, busy professionals like them didn’t have time to sift through bias-filled headlines or scroll endlessly to find what mattered.
They needed just the facts, efficiently delivered.
This is how the idea of 1440 was born, a daily newsletter that’s part intellectual concierge, part fact-based curator.
The goal?
Give readers everything they need, nothing they don’t.
Each 1440 issue follows a structured, reader-friendly format.
Top Stories – Three key headlines with clear, concise summaries.
Quick Hits – Brief updates on notable events across various sectors.
Human Interest & Culture – Positive, uplifting stories.
Deep Dives & Curated Links – Summarized insights with sources for further exploration.
Sponsored Content – Clearly labeled, relevant ads.
The Formula: Comprehensiveness + Impartiality
1440 is a carefully designed experience.
Every day, their team of subject matter experts sifts through mountains of information across politics, science, business, and culture.
Their job? Extract the most critical insights, strip out the noise, and summarize it in a way that makes readers smarter in minutes.
Instead of feeding emotions, they feed curiosity.
They don’t tell you how to think.
They don’t push an agenda.
They lay out the facts - so you can form your own opinions.
And it works.
With over 4 million daily readers, the open rates and engagement levels are among the highest in the industry - 65%!
Why? Because 1440 respects its readers’ time.
Every word is intentional. Every story is vetted.
Every issue is designed to make learning effortless.
Most media thrives on keeping you addicted.
1440 thrives on keeping you informed, inspired, and in control. It’s not news as entertainment.
It’s news as an essential daily tool - crafted for the modern thinker who values clarity over chaos.
Three Best Podcasts About 1440
Growth
In 2017, 1440 started as a simple idea - a clean, bias-free news source.
The first issue was sent to 78 friends & family via Google Docs.
The test was simple: If open rates hit 40%+, they’d keep going.
They hit 65%.
1440’s growth philosophy?
Build a world-class product first, then scale.
Unlike media startups chasing VC money, they focused on unit economics - knowing exactly how much a subscriber was worth before spending a dollar on growth.
Subscriber Growth Milestones
2017: Launched with 78 subscribers, driven by word-of-mouth.
2018: 15,000 subscribers - early paid acquisition begins
2019: 500,000 subscribers - scaling through Facebook and Google ads
2020: 1 million subscribers - pandemic-driven demand for factual news
2021: 2 million subscribers - consistent paid acquisition expansion
2023: 3.5 million subscribers - averaging 100,000 new readers per month
2024: 4 million+ subscribers - expanding with 1440 Topics
But 1440’s success wasn’t just about growth - it was about building a sustainable, people-first company.
Hiring the Best Talent for the Long Haul
Tim spends most of his time hiring and shaping company culture.
The philosophy?
Hire the smartest people and treat them like royalty.
Every hire is made with long-term roles in mind, not short-term needs.
If they don’t see a place for someone for decades, they don’t hire.
Unlike media companies that hire aggressively and lay off in downturns, 1440 prioritizes job security.
Employees are well-paid, given equity, and shielded from outside investor pressure. Every quarter, they review financials with employees, reinforcing stability.
Sustainable Growth Over Hype
1440 became profitable early, allowing them to control their own destiny.
They never chased short-term wins or VC money - they focused on delivering value.
Topics - try the new 1440 product
By 2024, 1440 had built a massive, engaged audience and expanded with 1440 Topics, a knowledge hub solving readers’ biggest frustration: finding trusted, curated information easily.
Monetization
Instead of chasing VC money, the 1440 team mastered unit economics, built a predictable revenue model, and reinvested profits to fuel growth.
At the core is their 3:1 ratio - for every $1 spent on acquiring a subscriber, they generate at least $3 in revenue.
That’s the gold standard for a sustainable VC deal.
Subscriber Economics & Monetization
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): ~$3–$4 per subscriber.
LTV (Lifetime Value): $9–$12 per subscriber.
Break-even period: 4 months, after which each subscriber is pure profit.
Open rate: ~60% (meaning each subscriber opens ~15 emails per month).
Ad revenue per open: ~$0.05 CPM.
Monthly revenue per subscriber: ~$0.75.
Advertising Strategy: Targeting High-Performance Brands
1440 doesn’t do banner ads. They sell premium, native ad placements that seamlessly blend into the newsletter’s content.
Early advertisers included
Dollar Shave Club and Casper, but as their list grew, so did their demand - now, they attract Fortune 50 brands.
Instead of relying on low-quality programmatic ads, they hand-pick advertisers that match their audience, ensuring high engagement, premium pricing, and repeat business.
Why It Works
Ad revenue fuels subscriber growth, creating a self-sustaining Flywheel.
No investor pressure means long-term strategy over short-term gains.
A lean, disciplined approach to growth keeps them profitable year-round.
1440 isn’t just building an audience—they’re building a media empire that prints money while keeping their readers happy.
Did you learn something new today? |
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