Send & Grow by SparkLoop

What does it take to revive a decades-old publication, grow its newsletter by 45%, and turn a niche audience into a sustainable media business?In this episode of the Send & Grow Podcast, Hunter Kallay sits down with Garrett Oden, owner and publisher of Fresh Cup (https://freshcup.com/join-the-newsletter/), a media brand serving the coffee industry. Garrett shares how he brought Fresh Cup back to life in 2022 and transformed it into a growing business with newsletters, resources, courses, and services for coffee professionals.They dive into the challenges of monetizing a niche publication, why going deep and staying human matters more than ever in the age of AI, and how Fresh Cup is building revenue streams beyond sponsorships—including Roaster Link, a matchmaking service connecting coffee roasters with potential wholesale customers.Garrett also breaks down the strategies behind Fresh Cup’s newsletter growth, from engaging social media carousels to targeted Meta ads, and shares his hot take on why coffee businesses shouldn’t feel guilty about doing what it takes to make money.00:10-01:19 – Introduction: Garrett Oden of Fresh Cup01:19-02:58 – Garrett’s go-to coffee order02:58-05:31 – Ranking the biggest coffee chains05:31-07:59 – Garrett’s favorite coffee shops around the world07:59-09:43 – How Garrett became a coffee marketing consultant09:43-11:32 – Why Garrett brought Fresh Cup back to life11:32-13:02 – The challenges of relaunching a legacy publication13:02-14:31 – Why monetizing a niche media brand is difficult14:31-15:40 – Fresh Cup’s sponsorships and welcome box15:40-17:21 – How to build a successful niche publication17:21-19:22 – Operator Notes: Turning industry expertise into useful content19:22-21:00 – Why personal opinions and experience matter in the age of AI21:00-23:06 – Hot take: Why coffee businesses shouldn’t feel guilty about making money23:06-26:35 – Roaster Link: Connecting coffee roasters with new customers26:35-27:57 – How Fresh Cup grew its newsletter by 45%27:57-29:11 – The role of social media and multiple growth channels29:11-30:39 – Using Meta ads to acquire newsletter subscribers30:39-31:44 – Newsletter creators Garrett recommends following31:44-32:31 – Final thoughts: Be friendly to somebody

What happens when a newsletter creator sees a gap in the media landscape — and decides to fill it herself? In this episode of Send & Grow, Hunter sits down with Kim Nunley, founder of 30 Second Timeout, a daily women’s basketball newsletter that helps fans keep up with the biggest stories in under three minutes. Kim talks about building a media business around her passion for women’s basketball, growing an audience across social media and email, and why she decided to take things one step further with the Post Up Club (https://thepostupclub.com/)— a monthly snail mail membership where fans receive personal letters, basketball stories, and physical surprises in their mailbox. Subscribe to Send & Grow 2.0 for more conversations with the people building, growing, and powering the newsletter industry. 

What actually determines whether your newsletter reaches the inbox or quietly disappears into spam?In this episode of Send & Grow 2.0, Hunter Kallay sits down with LB Blair, an email business and technology expert who has worked with some of the world's biggest email senders.LB breaks down the often-misunderstood world of email deliverability, from sender reputation and list hygiene to infrastructure, authentication, traffic patterns, and the spam filters deciding whether your email gets through.They also talk about some of the worst deliverability advice floating around online, why open rates don't tell the whole story, how AI is changing the spam ecosystem, and what newsletter operators can actually do to protect their lists.If you send email, deliverability isn't something you can afford to ignore.Subscribe to Send & Grow 2.0 for more conversations with the people building, growing, and powering the newsletter industry.

What does it actually take to build and run a successful newsletter business? In this episode of Send & Grow 2.0, Hunter Kallay sits down with Jakub Chodounský, who runs four curated newsletters, to talk about the realities of building a newsletter business—from keeping content fresh and managing a relentless publishing schedule to finding ways to step away without everything falling apart. #Newsletter #NewsletterBusiness #EmailMarketing #NewsletterGrowth #creatoreconomy They talk about the challenges of running time-sensitive newsletters, how Jakub approaches growth, what he's learned from building multiple publications, and what it really takes to keep a newsletter business going week after week. Follow Jakub's newsletters: C# Digest (https://csharpdigest.net/), React Digest (https://reactdigest.net/), Programming Digest (https://programmingdigest.net/) and Leadership in Tech (https://leadershipintech.com/) Hunter's newsletter: FryAI (https://www.fry-ai.com/) 

In this episode of Send & Grow 2.0, Hunter Kallay sits down with Dave Gerhardt, founder of Exit Five and former CMO at Drift, to talk about building a modern media and community business around B2B marketing. About Send & Grow: Send & Grow is a podcast about the people, strategies, and businesses behind today's most interesting newsletters. We talk to newsletter operators and creators about how they build audiences, create great content, and turn attention into sustainable businesses. Subscribe to Send & Grow for more conversations with the people shaping the newsletter industry.