The Travis.vc Newsletter
A weekly investing & startup newsletter
Via our fantastic startup & investing community, we’re able to filter through the noise to send you a curated email with the best startup, investing, bootstrapping, and entrepreneur stories of the week.
The Travis.vc Newsletter
A weekly investing & startup newsletter
Via our fantastic startup & investing community, we’re able to filter through the noise to send you a curated email with the best startup, investing, bootstrapping, and entrepreneur stories of the week.
The newsletter is read by innovators at:
"Best startup newsletter that I've ever read in my life. Lifted my IQ by at least 48 points. Also the owner is really good looking"
- TRAVIS JAMISON. VERY HUMBLE FOUNDER OF SMASH.VC 
"Best newsletter that I've ever read in my life. Lifted my IQ by at least 48 points. Also the owner is really good looking"
"If I leave a testimonial do I get a backlink?”
— NICK K, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT SMASH DIGITAL 
"If I leave a testimonial do I get a backlink?”
"Best top of the funnel gimmick ever. Startup people love these things.”
— KARL K, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING @ SMASH DIGITAL 
"Best top of the funnel gimmick ever. Startup people love these things.”
“I read the investing newsletter every week. It is a great source of information for business and tech-related news and helps me keep track of the tech market trends. Are you currently accepting guest posts?”
— TASHA, OUTREACH MANAGER AT SMASH DIGITAL 
“I read this startup newsletter every week. It is a great source of information for business and tech-related news and helps me keep track of the tech market trends. Are you currently accepting guest posts?”
“This newsletter is the bees-knees! Also, how come Nick gets a link and I don't?”
— TIM, DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICES, SMASH DIGITAL 
“This newsletter is the bees-knees! Also, how come Nick gets a link and I don't?”
All the best info, none of the fluff
100% free.
10 Best Startup Newsletters for Founders and Entrepreneurs in 2023
The thought of subscribing to yet ANOTHER newsletter made you audibly scoff.
Yet, as startup founders, it’s crucial for us to stay informed about the latest trends, insights, and opportunities.
So I did the work for you.
I subscribed to dozens (literally) of blogs and scoured through a ton of spam to find the best startup newsletters.
10 Best Startup Newsletters – Overview
Investing.io
The investing.io startup newsletter is brought to you by Travis Jamison, founder of investing.io and a dozen other bootstrapped companies. He also has a few meaningful exits under his belt.
When it comes to influential entrepreneurs, Travis punches with the heavyweights.
Secret Club For Entrepreneurs
His weekly newsletter stands out by bringing you tech news, startup news, private businesses for sale, DeFi opportunities, experimental tools, marketing strategy, and more all in one place.
It’s like getting an invitation to a secret club where entrepreneurs share their best-kept investment secrets and craziest prototype tech ideas.
This is perfect for early stage startup owners, but has also become a popular resource for entrepreneurs interested in investment opportunities. Whichever the case, a possibility to tap into this wealth of experience and entrepreneurial mindset can be priceless.
And now you can, through a weekly newsletter.
Benedict Evans Newsletter
Benedict Evans, a well-regarded analyst and venture capitalist, sends out his startup newsletter once a week to an audience of over 175,000 people.
Cutting Through the Noise
This startup newsletter isn’t about bombarding you with every bit of news that crops up in the tech industry. Rather expect to hear about the changes and ideas that truly matter, this is about cutting through the noise to provide context and analysis.
Free or Premium?
It’s available in two formats – a free edition and a premium edition. The free edition provides the core news and analysis. It’s a great way to stay in touch with the pulse of the tech world without investing a penny.
The premium edition, however, offers significantly more value.
For a monthly fee of $10, you get a roundup of the key stories, ideas, and data in tech every Sunday evening. This includes an exclusive column that isn’t available to free subscribers. In addition, premium subscribers have access to a complete archive of over 450 past issues, serving as an invaluable repository of insights and analysis.
There are also discounts for teams of more than ten people, making it an attractive option for startup teams looking to stay ahead of the curve.
High Praise From Tech Giants
The Benedict Evans startup newsletter is highly esteemed in the tech industry.
It’s been praised by influential figures such as Om Malik, who is a journalist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist.
Benedict Evans is a good way to catch up on all the relevant technology news with context, without unnecessary filler.
-Om Malik
Y Combinator Newsletter
Y Combinator was founded in 2005 by Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, and Trevor Blackwell. Their mission was to create an accelerator that could help startup founders succeed by offering startup funding, mentorship, and resources.
Y Combinator is behind success stories such as Airbnb, Stripe and Dropbox – just to name a few.
If you’re an entrepreneur or aspiring startup founder, you might do well to listen when Y Combinator has something to say.
Learn How to Scale a Business
You’ll gain access to a wealth of resources that will help you navigate the challenging terrain of starting and scaling a business.
The newsletter covers topics like fundraising, product development, marketing, and more, empowering you with the knowledge to make informed decisions and avoid common pitfalls.
Access a Network of Mentors
You’ll also be able to engage with like-minded individuals to share ideas, learn from others, and stay inspired.
Imagine a vast network of mentors and advisors who are eager to help guide you in your startup journey.
Just by subscribing, you immediately gain access to an ample sphere of experienced professionals with invaluable insights and advice to help you make the right decisions for your business.
In the core YC community, mentorship is just a conversation away.
The YC startup newsletter is an excellent way to stay connected to the latest and most exciting news in the world of startups, AI, and tech.
IndieHackers
The Indiehackers newsletter is a rich resource for business owners, especially those running startups.
It’s written by a mix of contributors, including influencers such as Dru Riley, the creator of Trends.vc and Priyanka Vazirani, founder of Volv.
This diversity of voices ensures that you’ll get a wide array of perspectives and insights, not just a single viewpoint. This can help you understand different approaches to common startup challenges.
Practical Advice For Early-Stage Founders
Channing Allen, one of the co-founders of Indie Hackers, says they are striving to make the newsletter the best free resource for early-stage founders. It’s not just about theory or news; it’s about providing advice that you can directly apply to your business.
Indiehackers also has a large community of entrepreneurs and founders. By subscribing to the newsletter, you can stay connected to this community, learn from their experiences, and perhaps even establish valuable networking opportunities.
As a free resource, the newsletter is a cost-effective way for early-stage founders to gain valuable insights and advice. When you’re just starting out and resources are limited, this can be a major advantage.
Daily Dropout
What if you could tap into the brightest university minds and their startup ideas before they go mainstream? Imagine hearing about the next Facebook before anyone else. This is what the Daily Dropout startup newsletter aims to do.
The Daily Dropout is a startup newsletter that provides insights into university startups from around the USA, like MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UIUC.
Discover The Next Big Thing?
By subscribing to the Daily Dropout, startup owners, venture capitalists, and founders can gain early access to the next big companies. This can give them a competitive edge in understanding market trends, new technologies, and innovative business models.
Free or Premium?
The Daily Dropout offers a premium membership that not only gives subscribers access to twice as many startups, but also helps them get in touch with the founders of these startups.
This can be a valuable opportunity for startup owners and founders to network, collaborate, strike venture capital deals, or even find job opportunities.
By reading about various startups, founders can learn from others’ successes and failures, potentially avoiding some common pitfalls and applying successful strategies to their own ventures.
SaaS Weekly
SaaS Weekly is a weekly newsletter compiled by Hiten Shah, a well-known figure in the software as a service (SaaS) industry.
Shah is the co-founder of high-profile SaaS companies like Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and FYI, and he’s been very active in the SaaS industry, co-founding more than seven companies in the last 12 years.
Insights on Product Development
SaaS Weekly covers a range of categories including business, marketing, and sales. The content is focused on product development and it provides insights on creating better products efficiently and effectively.
This startup newsletter is centered around product development, a crucial aspect of any startup. It’s a weekly digest of Shah’s tips and personal guidance on how to create high-growth products that people love more efficiently and effectively.
It also provides valuable insights into SaaS companies and industry.
Shah’s newsletter offers a curated list of useful links and resources every week, saving subscribers time that they might otherwise spend searching for these resources themselves.
Lolita’s Newsletter
“Lolita’s Newsletter” is written by Lolita Taub, a General Partner at Ganas Ventures. The newsletter is a bi-weekly publication that offers actionable content for “underestimated founders, funders, and friends,” she says.
As a venture capitalist, Lolita Taub has a robust track record with 15 years of experience in the Silicon Valley ecosystem. She has sold over $70 million in tech products and services and made over 90 investments as an angel investor and venture capitalist with several organizations, including Backstage Capital, Lightspeed, and The Community Fund.
She has also seen 3 successful exits from her portfolio companies.
When an industry giant like her writes a bi-weekly newsletter, you really have no choice but subscribe.
Connect With Mentors and Investors
In addition to highly curated actionable resources and advice, the newsletter provides a platform for startup founders to showcase their businesses and potentially gain more exposure.
For example, Lolita’s Newsletter has partnered with Target Accelerators, offering free retail accelerator programs to CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) startup entrepreneurs, including those who are underestimated and underrepresented.
These programs are designed to provide full-spectrum support to help startups scale for success, including curated education, personalized resources, and connections to industry leaders, all with no strings attached.
Hacker News Digest
The Hacker News Digest startup newsletter delivers the top stories from Hacker News to your inbox daily.
HN was originally intended to be a more carefully curated, tech-focused version of Reddit. Since its inception in 2007, it has become a source for all news that intersects with technology. The amount of content has skyrocketed and keeping up with relevant news has become a futile challenge.
Enter Hacker News Digest, a way to keep stay up to date with the latest HN stories without being swamped by a deluge of data.
Learn From Tech Professionals
As with most tech focused newsletters, the target audience includes tech professionals in addition to startup founders and entrepreneurs. This allows you to gain perspectives from multiple levels of the business hierarchy, an effective method to recognize market hype in an industry world prone to exaggeration.
By subscribing, you also benefit from HN’s customizable features that allow you to control the volume and frequency of content.
The Growth Letter
It’s not just a newsletter – it’s a roadmap for growth. “The Growth Letter” is written as a catalyst for business expansion and an entrepreneurial companion in the challenging journey of building and growing a business.
This weekly newsletter curated by Tim Cakir, CEO of TaskDrive and a passionate advocate for business growth.
He’s also an amateur DJ, weekend-sailor, with a variety of business-related certifications. So expect to find stories of business growth colored with a wealth of life experience.
Grow and Scale Your Business
Drawing on his expertise in business operations, management, marketing, and business technology trends, Tim provides his subscribers with actionable growth tips, insightful recommendations and knowledge gained from helping businesses scale at TaskDrive.
The newsletter offers a diverse range of content, from reading suggestions to weekly tool highlights, making it a useful resource for entrepreneurs, founders, and business owners.
First 1000
The First 1000 is a newsletter written by Ali Abouelatta, sharing the journeys of tech firms going from zero to their first 1000 customers.
Delving into the history of successful companies like Notion, Twitter, and Lyft, this newsletter is an inspirational guide for aspiring entrepreneurs. By using early stage companies and revealing their strategies and seized opportunities, First 1000 can act as a wayfinder for those facing the same hurdles.
Ali has successfully expanded the newsletter to over 20,000 subscribers in just over a year.
He envisions First 1000 as a leading platform for early-stage founders. Based in depth on his extensive research into successful founders, he has this to say: set achievable goals for customer acquisition and work relentlessly towards them.
Your First 1000 Customers
Overall, the First 1000 newsletter is an inspiring and insightful resource for startups navigating their early journey of customer acquisition.
The ‘First 1000’ shares the stories of how successful tech companies got their first 1000 customers.
The newsletter features stories from successful companies like Notion, Twitter, and Lyft.
In just over a year, Ali Abouelatta expanded the subscriber base of ‘First 1000’ to over 20,000, mainly through platforms like Hackernews and Product Hunt, as well as organic search and word of mouth.
Why Subscribe to a Startup Newsletter?
In the constantly evolving startup landscape, the need for quick adaptation and informed decision-making cannot be overstated. From emerging technologies to investment strategies, success often hinges on having the right information at the right time.
But with the sheer volume of news and analysis published daily, it can be challenging to sift through the noise and focus on what truly matters.
It’s all just noise.
Unless you have someone to curate and present the content for you.
That’s what a startup newsletter is for.
It’s like having a personal advisor who brings you the latest industry news, innovations, and market trends exactly when you need it – saving you from wading through countless articles, blogs, and reports to find the relevant insights.
What to Expect From the Best Startup Newsletters?
While the content may vary based on the specific focus of the newsletter, there are several key elements you can generally expect from high quality newsletters.
Industry News and Trends
These newsletters often provide a pulse check on the latest happenings in the startup ecosystem. Whether it’s emerging trends, new legislation impacting startups, or latest technological advancements, you can stay updated on the critical developments within your sector.
Actionable Insights and Advice
Many newsletters are full of fluff and marketing bs. The best ones focus on practical advice and actionable insights that can directly contribute to the growth of your startup. This can range from marketing strategies and fundraising tips to product development guidance and team management advice.
Founder Stories and Interviews
Personal experiences and success stories of other founders can provide a real-world perspective and unique insights. These stories can inspire and teach valuable lessons to those navigating their own startup journey.
Curated Content
Startup newsletters often include a mix of original content and curated articles, blog posts, and resources from around the web. This saves you the time and effort of sifting through countless sources to find relevant, high-quality content.
Networking Opportunities
Many newsletters also provide information about events, webinars, and meetups that can be beneficial for networking and learning from peers in the startup community.
Proven Track Records
You want to follow newsletters that have a history of predicting trends, highlighting promising new companies, and offering advice that leads to real success. These publications will often share testimonials or case studies from readers who have benefited from their insights.
Transparent Subscriptions
What sets the top startup newsletters apart is their transparent subscription process. No hidden fees, no surprise costs – just straightforward, valuable content. They’ll lay out exactly what you’re signing up for from the get-go, so you know what kind of content you’ll be receiving and how often.
Your Turn
There you have it – our roundup of the top 10 best startup newsletters to stay up to date with the startup world in 2023.
Remember, staying informed isn’t just about staying competitive – it’s about fueling your passion, sparking new ideas, and shaping the future of your startup journey.
So why wait? Go ahead, hit that subscribe button, and let these newsletters be your guide in the exciting world of entrepreneurship. Your inbox (and your startup) will thank you!
100% free.
Best Startup Newsletters for Entrepreneurs
For entrepreneurs hoping to shape their next moves in growing markets, startup newsletters are among the most convenient tools. The best newsletters are also ideal for established startup founders and venture capital firms hoping to keep current.
In this post, we will cover the best startup newsletters to gain access to the kinds of influencer insights, case studies, growth hacks, curated lists, investing advice, and other must-read content that helps you leverage financial markets to your benefit. Whether you’re established in Silicon Valley or just looking to break into the startup community, there’s something here for you.
The Best Startup Newsletters You Should Subscribe TO:
This is our list of the best startup newsletters, and includes:
- Investing.io
- Benedict Evans
- YCombinator
- Mattermark
Best Overall: Investing.io
Until Investing.io, there was no dedicated space for entrepreneurial investment online. Here you’ll find an investing community talking about everything from starter stocks to the best brokerage firms and hedge funds for entrepreneurs. The investingio newsletter—and Discord chat, which is as close to free, real-time advice as exists in this kind of app ecosystem—offer way more than “hot tips” or gossip.
This is about real opportunity, access, and know-how that develops over time. But where many startup newsletters make you pay for deal-flow, news on tech startups SaaS tools for entrepreneurs and other resources you can use, investingio lets you in for free if you meet their criteria. Why? They know more high-quality members makes for a better community for all—and it shows.
What beats a money-back guarantee? Free pricing.
CB Insights
The CB Insights newsletter covers the best content: high-quality research and business intelligence that highlights what drives innovation, technology, entrepreneurship, and business generally. This newsletter is packed with insights, yet it’s not bogged down with overly complex, analyst-style jargon, unlike most tech-focused newsletters and stays entertaining, with curated articles, infographics, report summaries, videos, and more.
Benedict Evans
Benedict Evans distinguishes itself as a newsletter by parsing meaningful developments in tech from the noise by providing analysis and context. This approach to “What matters in tech?” does in fact deliver distilled looks at technology trends and helps investors at top VCs to strategically approach even the most consequential tech problems in smarter ways.
YCombinator
YCombinator, has been a backer of influential startups like Airbnb, Dropbox, Reddit, and Stripe–an impressive list of investments! Its newsletter offers an interesting mix of multimedia content from video to podcasts from influential entrepreneurs. You’ll find including critical insights into business technology, fundraising for projects, upcoming events, and staying solvent.
Mattermark
Mattermark is an evidence-driven, data-based machine learning platform that also curates an email newsletter for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. It’s an ideal source of guidance on finance options, HR, hiring tips, marketing, operational strategies, and more. It can also help investors understand change metrics, become better board members, improve their fund management skills, and select better upcoming projects.
How Do Startup Newsletters Work?
To some extent, preference plays a role here. Some people want a daily newsletter, while others prefer to keep their tech news to weekdays. Others will settle for a weekly email as long as it’s truly in-depth, with the right insights. That part really does depend on what you’re looking for.
But the rest of it is more constant. The best startup newsletters offer advice and strategies from mentors, tech news, startup news, and things like roundups from influencers—but no fluff. Startup newsletters also sometimes offer market news and advice, and specifics on industries like cryptocurrency, technology, or healthcare.
What Makes the Best Startup Newsletters?
Here are some features to consider when choosing a startup newsletter.
- First-round reviews
- Proven, reliable track records
- Transparent subscriptions without hidden fees
- Real, actionable advice
Ready to see the list? Let’s get started.
Final Thoughts on Best Startup Newsletters
We hope this list of the best weekly newsletters for startups has been useful to you. With the right advice and a great idea, you might just be the next unicorn. These startup newsletters can help.
Disclaimer: This is not investment advice.