New Media
New Media is a podcast for founders and creators building independent media businesses. We explore how to grow and monetize audiences without depending on algorithms, advertising, and platforms you don't control. Each episode shares practical insights on building profitable media and education businesses.
A GrowLetter podcast, hosted by Matt McGarry and Kolby Hatch.
Episodes
111 episodes
The Truth About Local Newsletters No One Wants To Admit with Daniel Berk
Daniel Berk (Moneywise Podcast by Hampton) joins Matt and Kolby to talk about why the local newsletter isn't the business—the audience is, how AI services are the untapped green space for local brick-and-mortars, why the viral Substack t...
Monetization Brainstorm with Justin Moore - Events, Paid Challenges, Books, Best Funnels For Creators, and More
Justin Moore (Creator Wizard) joins Matt and Kolby to talk about how Sponsor Games lost ~$10K in year two but still turned a profit, why 22% of his challenge attendees upgrade to VIP every single time, the great event food debate, and ho...
This Guy Makes $1,500,000 PER MONTH From Texting
Matt Paulson (MarketBeat) joins Matt and Kolby to talk about the SMS playbook that's now 25% of MarketBeat's revenue, why he pays Twilio $400K a month to make it work, and the case for treating digital media as a depreciating asset he'll...
HubSpot Spent $100M on Creators — Here's Why (With Jonathan Hunt VP of HubSpot Media & Head of The Hustle)
Jonathan Hunt (VP of HubSpot Media) joins Matt and Kolby to talk about how HubSpot built a 50M-reach owned-media network, the four-part test they run on every acquisition (Hustle, Mindstream, Starter Story, Futurepedia), and why they kil...
The Secret Behind $100M+ Personal Brands
Katelyn Bourgoin (founder of Unignorable) joins Matt and Kolby to break down the 6 types of ownable ideas, the 5-question framework she uses to engineer one, why courses are losing value to AI-enabled "brainware" agencies, and a live aud...
$100M Course Seller: Info Products Are Dead Forever (Here’s What’s NEXT)
Ryan Deiss (DigitalMarketer, Scalable.co) joins Matt to talk about why he killed an eight-figure course business, the 80% sales drop that forced the pivot, why AI is replacing courses faster than anyone wants to admit, and how to actuall...
The Media Trends Nobody Is Talking About
Brian Morrissey (The Rebooting) joins Matt and Kolby to talk about his three-archetype theory of modern media, why most TBPN streaming-show clones will fail, the real strategic value of SMS, and why aging out of LinkedIn is a bigger flex than f...
Inside a Top 10 Spotify Podcast Business, Local Newsletters To Agency Funnel, Will AI Change Email Marketing Forever?
In today's episode, Ethan Brooks (Austin Business Review), Alyssa Dulin (Kit), and Jonathan Barshop (Modern Wisdom) join Matt and Kolby to discuss how to monetize a local newsletter with services instead of ads, what AI is ...
Life Update
Join here: WriteGrowSell.comEnrollment ENDS May 4th at 11:59 pm EST. This is the last opportunity to join Write, Grow, Sell for the next 5+ months and get in at the lowest price...
This Free Site Makes More Than His $10M Course (w/ Neville Medhora)
In today's episode, Neville Medhora (Swipefile, Copywriting Course, ex-AppSumo) joins Matt and Kolby to talk about how good copy delivered AppSumo's first $10,000 day, why his flagship Copywriting Course business is being eaten by AI whi...
He Raised $4M in 4 Hours With One Email
Walker Deibel (Buy Then Build) joins Matt and Kolby to talk about how he wrote a category-defining book, built a newsletter to 300,000 subscribers, and used that list to raise $4 million in four hours. They cover his grassroots book launch stra...
The Real Reason OpenAI Acquired TBPN for $100M+
Matt and Kolby break down OpenAI's acquisition of TBPN for over $100 million and what it actually means for media. They dig into why the deal was less about audience size and more about an aqua hire of founders John Coogan and Jordi Hayes, how ...
How to Build a Creator Business Worth Acquiring
Taylor Cromwell (Creator Diaries) joins Kolby to talk about what it actually takes to go from creator to founder — and what makes a media business acquisition-ready. They break down the Starter Story and Salary Transparent Street deals, how to ...
Is Mr. Beast The Next BuzzFeed?, SMS Is The New Email, Durable Creator Businesses
In today's episode, Matt and Kolby dig into what's actually working in audience building right now — fandom vs. impressions, the channels that actually build real community, and why frameworks are the ultimate cheat code for creator brands. Che...
How Trade Shows Make Millions
Brent Davidson built a 500-person trade show for HVAC contractors from scratch — and in this episode, he breaks down the business model behind it: how exhibitors and sponsors pay the bills, how to design attendee flow, and why in-person marketp...
The Substack TRAP, Why Creators Plateau, How To Create Frameworks
In today’s episode, we sit down with Matt Ragland to break down how top creators actually build leverage, grow audiences, and scale sustainable media businesses. We dive into frameworks that make you memorable, the reality of plateauing on YouT...
$6M Newsletter With 1 Employee, HubSpot Buys Starter Story, $500k/Month WITHOUT Ads
In today’s episode we break down four media companies including Breaking Points, Starter Story, Lenny's Newsletter, and Colin and Samir's creator summit, pulling out what's working, what's being left on the table, and what every media founder s...
New Media in 2026: What Actually Works
Welcome to the first episode of the New Media Podcast with Matt McGarry and Kolby Hatch. In this episode, we break down the business of media—from newsletters and YouTube to events and monetization strategies. We also dive into lessons from New...
UPDATE: We’re relaunching this podcast with a new name
In this episode, I share an important update about the future of the podcast as we relaunch with a new name and direction. While the show started focused on newsletters and email marketing, the new version will expand into helping you build an ...
5 Frameworks That Made My Clients $100M+
Get the slides and resources mentioned from this episode linked here. In this video, I break down the 5 frameworks that helped my clients generate over $100 million in ...
How To Build a 7-Figure Membership Business
Learn more about Uscreen https://www.uscreen.tv/In this episode, I sit down with Allison Yazdian, CEO of Uscreen, to break down how creators can build scalable, recurring revenue with video-first me...
The #1 Monetization Model Publishers and Creators Miss!
Learn more about Ezoic: https://www.ezoic.com/I sit down with Gavin Bechtold (Ezoic) to reveal how publishers, creators, and newsletter operators are leaving serious money on the table by ignoring we...
Beehiiv’s CEO Breaks Down His Exact Newsletter Growth Playbook
🐝 Join beehiiv here and use code GROWLETTER for 20% off:https://www.beehiiv.com/I sit down with Tyler Denk to break down how he built Big Desk Energy into a 120k+ subscriber newsletter—while st...
The Fastest Way to Turn Your Expertise Into a $1M/Year Business
Traditional online courses are dead. People don’t need more information. They need execution. In this video, I break down why live cohort-based programs are the fastest way to turn your expertise into a $100K+ offer and eventually a $1M/year bu...
The Future of Newsletters: Experts’ Predictions For 2026
What’s changing in newsletters, email marketing, and the creator economy — and how do you grow, monetize, and scale in 2026?In this FREE online event, 8 industry experts share 15+ data-backed predictions on newsletter growth, email deli...