- Platform: zoom
- Attendees: Ben Ornstein, Blake Stewart, Marcel Ruettgers, Ben’s iPhone 16
- Source: Read.ai 01JVA53Z1ETH1F38CZH20SG8AR (via Ben Ornstein’s account, imported 2026-08-06)
Transcript
Ben Ornstein: Hey Blake. Blake Stewart: Hey Ben. How are you? Ben Ornstein: Good. I’ve got Marcel on as well. Marcel Ruettgers: Hey, good to be here. Ben Ornstein: So we’re going to start. It’s about the partnership opportunity. Blake, you want to kick us off? Blake Stewart: Yeah, so basically we’ve been thinking about how to grow the newsletter faster and we think there’s a real opportunity in partnerships , like co-marketing, list swaps, that kind of thing. And I wanted to get your take on what that should look like strategically. Ben Ornstein: I think the key question is: what’s the value exchange? Like, what do we actually offer a partner and what do we want back? Blake Stewart: Right. So on our end, we have the newsletter audience, which is pretty engaged, and we have content capabilities. So we could offer co-authored content, dedicated emails to our list, shoutouts, that kind of thing. Marcel Ruettgers: And what do we want back? Primarily audience exposure? Blake Stewart: Yeah, audience exposure and credibility. If we can get the right logos associated with us early, it signals quality. Ben Ornstein: And what categories of partners are you thinking? Like industry peers, tools, publications? Blake Stewart: I think all three, honestly. But probably tools first because there’s a natural alignment , if we’re writing about content and they’re building content tools, there’s a real reason to partner. Ben Ornstein: Makes sense. Marcel, what’s your take on what makes a partnership work versus not work? Marcel Ruettgers: I think the biggest failure mode is mismatched audiences. You can have a great partner on paper but if their list is totally different from yours, the swap doesn’t convert. So audience fit is first. Ben Ornstein: Agreed. And I think the content fit matters too. Like, if the partner’s brand and editorial approach is totally different from ours, it can actually hurt rather than help. Blake Stewart: So we probably want to start with a small test , like one or two partnerships , and see how they perform before scaling. Ben Ornstein: Yeah, I think that’s the right move. And we should define success metrics upfront. Like, what are we measuring? Blake Stewart: New subscribers, probably primarily. And then downstream engagement , do the new subscribers stick around and open? Ben Ornstein: Good. Let’s draft up a simple partnership criteria doc and then identify a shortlist of targets. I can have the team put something together by end of week. Blake Stewart: Perfect. Sounds like a plan. Marcel Ruettgers: Great. Thanks guys.