Tyler Denk

Big Desk Energy, Beehiiv, building in public and the future of media.

Author

Paolo Salvetti
January 15, 2025

I spent my early 20s working as a journalist for a few local Italian newspapers.

I wrote about new supermarket openings, sheep transhumances, town hall elections and car accidents - not exactly the dream job, but I loved it! And it will deserve its own story someday.

I took this photo during my first-ever gig, following a shepherd in Central Italy who was facing legal issues over sheep transhumance.

While I dreamed of climbing the ranks in journalism and one day writing for the biggest publications, it became clear that even the best journalists in the field struggled to make a living solely from print.

One day, during a conversation with the Italian reporter and writer Pablo Trincia, I realized that print journalism was no longer the future. It wasn’t sustainable: those in the field were stuck in precarious positions with unstable contracts. Despite having worked for some of Italy’s biggest newspapers and TV programs, Pablo had transitioned into audio journalism and established himself as one of the top podcast creators in the industry.

One of the best pieces of advice I received at the time.

Since then, I’ve moved on to other fields, but I’ve kept thinking about alternatives to traditional media outlets—without much coming to mind in recent years.

That is until I came across Tyler Denk and Beehiiv.

With Beehiiv and the Beehiiv Media Collective, Tyler is redefining the media industry, empowering content creators to own their audiences and scale without needing unlimited resources.

BIO
Why Tyler Denk?

If you subscribe to other newsletters or write one yourself, you’ve probably come across Beehiiv and Tyler Denk’s work.

Tyler is the founder of Beehiiv, one of the fastest-growing newsletter and media platforms, which he launched in 2021 after being one of the first employees at Morning Brew.

He’s also a blog writer and the creator of Big Desk Energy, a newsletter with over 70,000 subscribers. In it, Tyler shares his journey of building Beehiiv, transparently sharing highs and lows.

An advocate for remote work, building in public, and free media, he offers a transparent and personal perspective, making him one of the most engaging writers on the web.

While every Big Desk Energy publication offers quality writing and valuable insights, here are three of his best essays to get you started.

PS: he also curates one of the best playlists I’ve found on Spotify.

Topics: Entrepreneurship, Remote Work, Media, Fundraising

3 ESSAYS TO GET YOU STARTED
1 - Building in public

One of my favourites - and the one that got me started.

It’s about the value of building in public to attract talent and cultivate a supportive community of users and potential investors.

He discusses the advantages of transparency in startup growth (sharing company milestones, product updates, personal insights, etc.) and how it led to significant achievements for Beehiiv, including a $12.5 million Series A funding round completed in just six days.

“Building beehiiv literally provides me with an unlimited supply of content. Whether the results of an A/B test we ran on our landing pages, or some new hiring practice we put into place… sharing what we’re doing is so simple and enjoyable to me. Especially if it can help others.

Providing value → more engagement → more followers → more distribution.

And the more people I can reach, the more opportunities we have to win new users and scale the business.”

In “The war on hustle culture is bullshit” He challenges the growing criticism of hustle culture.

In short: sometimes you need to work hard because there’s no shortcut to success.

He doesn’t dismiss work-life balance but acknowledges that, at times, you have to sacrifice it—and many people simply aren’t willing to do that.

“No this newsletter isn’t sponsored by big pharma (yet). And I’m not here to brag about how much work I got done while you were being normal at Surf Lodge.

Rather, I’m writing this because I am constantly looking for competitive advantages. And as a founder, you probably should be too.

I’m not the smartest, wealthiest, or most connected person in the world. I’m not even the smartest, wealthiest, or most connected person within a mile radius of me. But I’m willing to sacrifice my time to the extent most others aren’t.”

A sharp critique of Substack's evolving role in the publishing landscape, and one of his latest and most shared pieces.

Much like Amazon's dominance in e-commerce, Substack offers writers an illusion of independence while controlling distribution and audience relationships.

It’s a brilliant and provocative piece that I recommend reading.

“When I shop on Amazon, I rarely seek a specific brand. My entry point is Amazon’s app or website. Searches are algorithmically sorted to favor Amazon’s interests, prioritizing their own products or those with the highest margins. After a purchase, I receive emails from Amazon, the item arrives in an Amazon box, and my relationship with the seller is almost non-existent. Amazon collects vast amounts of customer data, while only minimal insights are shared with sellers.

This same misalignment of incentives exists between Substack and its publishers: writers might feel independent but are actually operating within constraints set by the platform (see above: consensual hallucination).”

If you’re looking for a solid handbook on growing and scaling your newsletter, this might be the one for you.

It’s packed with insights on how Tyler launched Big Desk Energy and the strategies he used to grow it - from lead magnets to pre-launch hype.

Here’s one piece of advice I found particularly useful when I was launching Web Worth Reading:

WHAT IS WORTH CHECKING THIS WEEK?

Some of our favourite things we found on the internet this week:

  • Check out how maps have changed over time on this interactive website [Old Maps Online].

  • Benedict Evans' "AI Eats the World" presentation [AI Eats the World].

  • There are a few things I can never get bored of listening to, and one of them is the Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary Video Archive Podcast. The new season is absolutely the best one [Video Archives Podcast].

  • A collection of random vibe screenshots by Alexey Guzey [Vibe Screenshots]

SUGGESTION BOX

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Enjoy Tyler Denk’s writing & see you next week! 🙂