Episode
How I built a 1M+ subscriber newsletter and top 10 tech podcast | Lenny Rachitsky
- Published
- Mar 12, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4013
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Summary
People have been asking me to sit on the other side of the mic for a long time. With my wife’s debut children’s book, Charts for Babies , coming out next month, we figured: why not do it together? What followed was one of the most honest conversations I’ve had on this podcast. Michelle asked things no one else would think to ask—and many things I’ve never shared publicly. You’ll hear about the specific moments that pushed me to start the newsletter, how I think about quality and iteration, what most stresses me out, and the scariest moment of my life. This was so fun, and so special, and I hope you like it. We discuss: 1. The collection of moments that led me to what I do now 2. When I added a paywall, and how I knew it was working 3. The hidden treadmill behind shipping a newsletter post and podcast episode every week 4. The most stressful moments I’ve had in business and in life 5. How I think about stress, consistency, and keeping the business small — Pre-order Charts for Babies : https://www.amazon.com/Charts-Babies-Picture-Book/dp/1419785184 — Brought to you by: WorkOS —Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs: https://workos.com/lenny Metaview —The AI platform for recruiting: https://metaview.ai/lenny DX —The developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchers: https://getdx.com/lenny — Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-i-built-a-1m-subscriber-newsletter — Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0 — Where to find Michelle Rial: • X: https://x.com/TheRialMichelle • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellerial • Website: https://www.michellerial.com — Where to find…