Optimism-Pessimism Balance

Alex Lieberman and Austin Rief built Morning Brew with a unique combination of optimism and pessimism that drove their success. They had an unwavering belief in their eventual success while maintaining a practical approach to growth, particularly in their aggressive but calculated spending on customer acquisition.

Key Points:

• Mindset for Success:

  • Deep conviction in eventual success: "We had this like deep in our bones feeling that we were going to succeed... and it was just a matter of time"
  • Balanced optimism and pessimism: "You have this really cool combination of optimism and pessimism"
  • Austin would be "afraid all the time yet logical enough" to map out likely outcomes

• Growth Strategy:

  • Aggressive reinvestment: "We spent every penny we possibly could" on customer acquisition
  • Data-driven approach: "I would track daily cash flow to make sure that we had enough money"
  • Scaled to spending "500k a month on ads" by the end of 2018
  • Grew from 100,000 to 1 million subscribers in 2018
  • Some days grew by "20,000-25,000 subscribers in a day"

• Financial Discipline:

  • ROI focus: Willing to "spend $1 to make $1.1" and reinvest every dollar
  • Austin's only regret: "We couldn't figure out a way to find more money" to put into Facebook ads

• Personal Motivations:

  • Alex was driven by personal experiences: "My dad dying and feeling like I needed to provide for my family"
  • Alex was also motivated by "being bullied from fifth grade to twelfth grade and feeling like I just wanted to prove that I was worthy"
  • Austin created "an opponent in his head" to drive his competitive spirit

• Company Culture:

  • Core values included "ownership mentality" and "underdog mentality"
  • Positioned themselves as "a group of misfits" challenging legacy media
  • Approach: "We are gonna kick the shit out of all these legacy media companies"

• Talent Strategy:

  • Found "undiscovered talent" with high potential that traditional media overlooked
  • Hired people who weren't traditional media hires but could execute their vision