From forming the idea, to reaching out to the first guests, to slowly realizing how much effort actually goes into producing one final piece, I’ve learned so much along the way.
More than anything, I feel incredibly grateful.
I’ve reached out to many founders, and most of them have been so kind, helpful, and responsive. I can’t really offer them much in return, yet they are still willing to spend their time writing thoughtful guest posts and sharing the messy, honest parts of their journeys with me.
There have also been a few situations I genuinely cannot wrap my head around on Reddit.
I once reached out to someone through DM. They immediately agreed to participate. Then, while I was trying to set everything up, they suddenly deleted their entire account.
I still have absolutely no idea what happened.
Anyway, four months later, I’m still here, still learning, and still looking for interesting people to feature.
The newsletter is called "They Moved the Needle". I invite founders who have actually gotten paid customers to share how they did it, what didn’t work, what they learned, and what finally moved the needle.
Here is the latest issue:https://xianli.substack.com/p/how-he-built-a-reddit-company-to
If you’ve built a SaaS, physical product, course, coaching business, service, app, newsletter, or honestly anything that someone has paid you for, I’d love to hear your story.
You don’t need a huge business or an impressive revenue number. I’m much more interested in the real journey behind getting someone to pay for something you created.
If you’d be interested in writing a guest post, feel free to DM me. :)