🌟 Editor's Note
Welcome to the third edition of the Owned & Operating Newsletter! We've got a packed newsletter full of insights, events, and inspiring stories from the world of owned media.
Also thanks to the 22 people that subscribed in the past 7 days!
1️⃣ The Weekly Play
Foster Community and Feedback
You need a way to talk to users regularly. Not surveys. Not guesses. Actual conversations. A small, active community helps you:
Find out what’s broken
Learn what’s working
Keep users engaged so they don’t churn
Set it up like this:
Start a private group for users. Invite power users to ask questions, share tips, and connect - Slack is good for this.
Add feedback buttons. Use simple forms or reactions on docs and blog posts.
Use a public roadmap. Let users see what’s coming and vote on what they want.
Highlight users on your blog. Feature how real customers use your product.
Offer early access. Let engaged users try new features and give feedback.
No need for a huge team. Just set up the channels and start listening!
2️⃣ This Week in Growth
98% of Your Website Visitors Leave. Here’s How to Fix That.
Samuel Wilde breaks down a brutal stat: 98% of your site visitors leave without doing anything.
He shares CRO tactics that doubled consultation bookings for a divorce lawyer. They also boosted leads by 150% for a real estate agent without spending more on ads.
Moves to know:
Fix broken contact forms
Make your phone number impossible to miss
Add real testimonials with names and photos
Speed up your site (especially on mobile)
Use exit popups and urgency-based CTAs
Worth a read if you’re still guessing why visitors aren’t converting.
3 Headlines You Shouldn’t Miss This Week:
Why platforms like Substack won't make sense for much longer. AI is making self-hosting easier than ever. Platforms like Substack may soon be obsolete relics of a creator-hostile past.
Meta leaked scraping list reveals massive content harvesting operation. Leaked docs reveal Meta secretly scraped 6M sites to fuel its AI, ignoring rules, rights, and ethics.
YouTube to roll out new AI-powered technology aimed at identifying teen users. The new AI will flag teen users based on watch history, regardless of their listed age.
4️⃣ The Scroll Stopper
Substack Is Amazon. Beehiiv Is Shopify.
That’s the comparison Beehiiv’s CEO makes in a recent post with Jason Calacanis. He explains how Beehiiv scaled to $20M ARR by starting with a narrow wedge (like Ramp), moving fast, and staying behind the scenes.
While Beehiiv wins by letting creators own their audience, branding, and revenue, Substack stays front-and-center. With Beehiiv adding a CMS and website builder, it’s not just a newsletter tool anymore. It's aiming to be the full-stack platform for owned media.
If you’re choosing between platforms or thinking about long-term content ownership, this breakdown is worth a look.
🔁 In the Loop
Watch: Dan Martell (SaaS Coach + Investor)
@danvmartell How to build the ultimate SaaS onboarding experiences #software #founder #SaaS #tech #twitter #startup #business #onboarding #leadership
In today’s TikTok feature, Dan breaks down how top SaaS companies use a simple “product story” framework to improve onboarding and homepage conversions.
The framework is simple:
Use a hook + promise + CTA structure:
Hook = What your product does (“The easiest way to send invoices”)
Promise = How it delivers that value (“Manage your money on mobile”)
Add a strong CTA right below that message.
📣 Forward or Reply
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📣 Forward or Reply
If you liked this edition of Owned & Operating, forward it to a founder who needs to stop renting audience — and start owning it.