🦅 Build for trust first (and reach 4.5M readers)

In this issue, you’ll find:

• Build for trust first (and reach 4.5M readers)

• News creators should know

• Rock the first 90 seconds of your discovery call

Build for trust first (and reach 4.5M readers)

Tim Huelskamp built 1440, a $20M/year newsletter with 4.5M readers.

While others chased clicks, he focused on trust. A simple daily email with yesterday's news—fact-based, bias-free.

They started with 78 readers (friends and family).
One week later: 91 subs.
Next week: 104.

No flashy growth hacks. Just relentless consistency.

Today, they have 300K new subscribers per month.

How did they earn that trust?

• By keeping the content neutral. No spin, drama, or agendas.

• By showing up every single day.

• By prioritizing clarity and curation, readers saved time and felt informed.

• They optimized for readers, not clicks or algorithms.

Trust wasn't a branding exercise. It was a product decision.

In Tim's words: "If you have trust with the reader and they feel like they're in this safe space where whatever is put in front of them can be trusted... It's such a huge competitive advantage."

The playbook is simple (although not easy):

1. Master the basics

2. Serve your audience daily

3. Build trust, not just reach

Most people are building AI products wrong

Any product can be enhanced with AI, but bolting it onto existing features isn’t the move. Too many teams chase flashy demos instead of value.

As Aakash Gupta puts it, true AI magic comes from invisibility.

The best AI features don’t feel like tools. They feel like superpowers—baked right into the workflow, invisible and seamless.

AI experts aren't worried about job losses

According to recent survey data from the Pew Research Center, AI experts aren't overly concerned about artificial intelligence causing job losses. Only 25% of AI experts worry about job displacement, significantly fewer than the 56% of the general public who fear layoffs due to AI.

For a comprehensive look at AI-related risks and optimism levels among experts and the general public, check out the infographic below:

Reddit as a retention engine

Instead of just pushing content, 1Password taps into Reddit to listen. It’s a B2B brand using Reddit as a goldmine for user insights. This lets them:

• Spot user pain points

• Prioritize features users ask for

• Educate and onboard new customers

Rock the first 90 seconds of your discovery call

Open Zoom. The lead shows up.

You’ve got about 90 seconds before another notification wins their attention.

Most sellers fill that time with “How’s the weather in Boston?” or “How's your day going?”

• Lame

• Useless

• Zero credibility boost

99% of sellers try to schmooze their way into their leads' pockets. And it's a huge downer.

Instead, show them you value their time, and open with a kick-ass line.

Find out more in the last issue of 🧲 The Lead Magnet:

Last poll: How are you using WhatsApp in your business?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 📣 Starting to use it for marketing/sales (57.14%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🟢 Just for customer support

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💰 Actively using it as a sales channel

That’s it for now, everyone! We’ll meet again next week to discuss some more of this!

Don’t forget to try Hypefury (for free) if you haven’t yet.

Feel free to reply to this email. It goes directly to me.

Cheers,

Yannick Veys
Co-founder and CMO of Hypefury