Before · After
Email from day zero
Capture the address before you capture the follow. Social is a billboard. Email is an asset you can still reach in five years.
Algorithms change. Lists compound. The makers who survive a dead Twitter week are the ones who can send a letter.
How to run it
- 01Put an email capture on every public surface, including the product itself.
- 02Send a useful note on a cadence you can keep — weekly is plenty.
- 03Write like a person. Teach, then ask.
- 04Never build a business whose only door is a rented feed.
In the wild
Drip was born from Walling's belief that email is the independent maker's home field. AppSumo is an email machine with a storefront attached.
Used by · 5
Patrick McKenzie
@patio11
SEO + copy · charge more
SEO, copy, and charging more — the Kalzumeus school of software marketing
Noah Kagan
@noahkagan
Validation · email
Talking to humans, tiny price tests, and email as a weapon
Arvid Kahl
@arvidkahl
Embedded · audience-first
Audience-first SaaS inside a community you already belong to
Justin Welsh
@thejustinwelsh
Content system · LinkedIn
Turning a personal content system into a one-person media company
Rob Walling
@robwalling
Bootstrap compounder · email
Start Small, Stay Small — bootstrap compounding as a go-to-market