I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
The people hiding in your email list
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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 from the only thing we shipped. At least five creators came up to me last week and told me they were switching to Kit because of what we'd released. Subscriber SignalsI've always felt something was missing when you start to see your audience as just a number—like subscriber count or open rate. Because behind every email address is a person. Subscriber Signals enriches your list with job title, income, social reach, location, and purchase history for each subscriber, so you can find your next sponsor or dream client. Terry Rice ran Signals on his list and discovered that most of his subscribers were parents. He had no idea, but he started writing about it. Four days later, he launched a company called Build With Them, offering AI homework tools he'd been making for his own kids. He made his first sale within minutes after mentioning it just once in his newsletter. Six weeks later, Forbes covered it. Learn more about Subscriber Signals » New landing page editorOf all the things we announced last week, our new landing page editor got the biggest applause. We rebuilt Kit's landing page editor from scratch with a completely new set of templates and a lot more flexibility. Everything is customizable. But even more exciting… You can also build Kit landing pages through the MCP. Simply describe what you want in Claude, ChatGPT, or another AI tool, and it will build the page for you. The great thing is, it does this with the context about your business and your subscribers. So you don't have to start from scratch. Learn more about the new landing page editor » Engagement analyticsOur new Signals feature is great for telling you who your subscribers are. But you also want to understand where they came from and how they’re interacting with your content. You can now view things like attribution by source, a cohort-based engagement view, and average subscriber lifetime. And everything is filterable by tag, location, attribution source, subscription date, or even custom field. Learn more about engagement analytics » Kit Studios NYCIn other exciting news, we’ve officially opened our new Kit Studios location in Manhattan (I'm actually on a flight there right now). In addition to six video recording studios with different sets and scenes, there’s a mastermind area, a bookcase that folds into a stage for live podcasts, and an immersive recording studio where you can use a TV backdrop to create any scene you want. It's completely free for Kit users on Creator and Pro plans. Whether you're in New York or just passing through, come book a session. Learn more about Kit Studios NYC » – There was so much more, but just briefly:
Read the full list of everything we announced » VIDEOMy Craft + Commerce 2026 keynoteI think this is the best product announcement keynote I've ever given. The full screen video wall worked out really well and my favorite moment was the NYC studio reveal. You can watch it here (and let me know what you think!): PODCASTThe Secret Power of IP To Grow Your BusinessYou've probably built more intellectual property than you realize. Mo Bunnell spent 20 years turning his expertise into material others can learn and certify in. He's the author of Give to Grow and the founder of Bunnell Idea Group, a firm that has trained tens of thousands of professionals at some of the most prestigious organizations in the world. In this episode, he delivers a masterclass on building IP, walking through how he evolved his materials from early versions to the systems he now uses to land multi-six-figure contracts. He rarely walks through this publicly. Watch or listen to episode » Bonus: Mo also interviewed me in a separate episode over on his podcast where we talked about the hidden rules of wealth creation from my upcoming book, The Ladders of Wealth. You can watch it here » —Nathan P.S. Craft + Commerce was incredible this year. I shot a vlog about the experience that I'm excited to share with you. If you're thinking about coming next year, now is the time to get your ticket to Craft + Commerce. Use the code EARLYBIRD to get $200 off. It's the lowest rate we'll have all year and the event will sell out months in advance. |
Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
Hey Reader, Have you ever spent a whole day on something almost nobody saw? It's painful when the whole reason you worked hard was because you wanted to reach people. If you teach a workshop in person, you reach the 20 people in that room. But if you record that same workshop once, you can keep teaching for years on autopilot. This is the concept of leverage, and it's something I talk about in my upcoming book, The Ladders of Wealth (you can pre-order it now). A lot of people will look back...
Hey Reader, “But you’re a software company…” That’s what Tim Grahl said to me over dinner the night before Craft + Commerce a couple years ago. I had just walked him through everything we were about to announce from stage the next morning. Changing our name to Kit. Launching an App Store. Building recording studios for creators. The first two made sense to him. But the studios didn’t. Back in 2018, I pitched our team on physical locations for creators. I had a slide presentation and...
Hey Reader, When you hit a wall in your business, your first instinct is to ask what: What strategy am I missing? What should I do differently? Those are good questions. But there’s a shortcut. Ask who: Who already has the relationship I need? Who has the audience I want to reach? Who could open the door I’ve been knocking on? If just one of the right people started paying attention to you, it could make a huge difference in your business. Maybe it’s a sponsor, evaluating whether your...