Hey Reader, Within the first few minutes of hearing about a business, I usually know whether it’s going to succeed or fail. It comes down to two things: The first is the physics of the business. And by physics, I mean the fundamentals of the business. Those things won’t change no matter how well you execute. Over the years, I've built a personal list of what I’d want a business to have before I start or invest in it. These are the five things I look for—and ideally a business has at least...

Hey Reader, There are opportunities hiding in your email list right now that you probably have no idea are even there. And that’s because while your audience may know you, at scale it’s difficult for you to know them. Until now. Last week was the biggest product week in Kit’s history. From the stage at Craft + Commerce, I announced a new Kit feature I’m really excited about called Subscriber Signals. It’s audience research done for you automatically. It was my favorite announcement but far...

Hey Reader, My worst business name ever was Unattended Media. The logic made sense to me at the time since I was building websites and software that ran automatically even when I wasn’t sitting in my desk chair. I laugh when I look back on it now, but the logo I made was actually an empty chair. The name meant freedom to me, but to a potential customer, their impression was that nobody worked there. Imagine a conference put on by “Unattended Media”. Kit used to be named “ConvertKit”, which...