👋 Hi Reader,

I see all these naysayers dumping on LinkedIn, saying it's full of AI slop. Those who think that LinkedIn's feed isn't great clearly haven't seen Jen Allen-Knuth in action.

Jen is a force of nature. She is a champion at teaching sales, and she has created so much collateral around understanding how to sell effectively and break into executive conversations, you almost regret that you discovered her profile too late. To top that, Jen has an amazing sense of humor, so it always feels like you are hearing a friend talking, when you see her post on the feed.

Recently, Jen shared her a roundup of the top ideas coming from all the SKOs (Sales Kick Off) that she does for her clients.

The first slide that came into Jen's carousel above made me think:

You see, a lot of newsletter folks advocate about talking to your early subscribers 1:1. But why stop on 1:1 calls and surveys? Why not build an advisory board? I would call that your 'braintrust'.

A braintrust is an idea that comes from Ed Catmull's book 'Creativity Inc' where he talks about building an intimate group of creative people during his Pixar journey whom he could willingly draw ideas and feedback from.

If you are able to build a braintrust in your early growth of 1000- 5000 subscribers, you will truly understand the reason why your newsletter is essential to your subscriber's weekly routines. It will also keep you honest and be a voice of reason on what you should write about week-on-week.

Sebastian Lindner, who ran the Web3Daily newsletter before it got acquired by Milk Road, used this approach well. He had created a 'Friends of Web3Daily' Slack channel where he would run every prospective sponsor that he intends to bring on board through this close-knit cohort of subscribers to understand if this feels right or it feels like a sellout.

Here's the video on Youtube where he describes the process of building that advisory board:

​

But it need not just be sponsorship-related conversations. It could be about your overall content strategy, because this passionate group of opinionated subscribers will tell you exactly what they are looking forward to in your newsletter. Like Jen mentioned, it could also be about letting this cohort opine on how to improve your newsletter structure, and experiment with new sections, which makes them feel like they are a part of the creative process.

So consider the braintrust approach, and I would recommend that you definitely give Jen a follow. If you don't, we can't be friends.

Curious how to go about building this advisory board for your newsletter? I would be happy to be a sounding board.

Let me know by hitting ‘Reply’ on this email, or send a note to marketing@letterstack.co.

This newsletter is sponsored by The Alien Design

Looking for a partner to bring your digital product ideas to life? Alien specializes in product design, web design, and Webflow development. Alien helps businesses build visually appealing digital experiences that drive results. From concept to launch, Alien focus on delivering solutions that fit your brand and meet your business goals.

Want to get featured as the next sponsor on LetterStack? Reach out to us on marketing@letterstack.co!

Make Sure You Get Our Emails!

To ensure our emails land in your main inbox, follow these easy steps:

1. Find this email in your Promotions tab.
2. Drag it to the Primary tab.
3. When Gmail asks, click "Yes" to get our future emails in your main inbox.
4. You can also add us to your contacts to stay updated!

We Value Your Feedback

Your feedback means the world to us! Just hit reply and share your thoughts on this edition - we're always looking to improve. You could also reach out to us on marketing@letterstack.co.

Cheers,

Renga from LetterStack

Was this email forwarded to you by a friend? Sign up here to get content like this directly in your inbox!