52 Weeks

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I’ve been generating a little bit of extra income with Big Desk Energy (like from this ad you’re reading right now), so Carry came in clutch. This past weekend I did the following:

• Created an account on Carry.

• Started a Solo 401k Plan.

• Funded my account and optimized my taxes.

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See full disclosures here.

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. Today marks my 52nd consecutive week of publishing Big Desk Energy; which is where the streak will end for now. I’m taking off next week to lay on a beach somewhere and recharge for 2025.

It’s been a hell of a sprint this past year.

After having wanted to launch a newsletter since the very inception of beehiiv, last November I decided it was time to take the plunge. Instead of stuffing my face and enjoying Thanksgiving break like a normal person, I spent the long weekend preparing to launch.

I’ve always enjoyed writing, but it doesn’t come naturally to me. Each newsletter takes me between 5 and 10 hours to write, edit, and design. Some like Death by a Thousand Substacks and From Remote to Riches each took me well over 20 hours to write.

It’s honestly required a ton of sacrifice and discipline. Most of my weekends these days revolve around carving out time to write the newsletter and ship something that I’m truly proud of each week. This is, of course, on top of running an 80 person high-growth startup and living under a mountain of expectations and stress each and every day.

All that said — launching Big Desk Energy has become one of the best investments I’ve ever made. It’s made me a better communicator and founder, it has helped transform beehiiv into a better product, and it’s been a vehicle to meet and connect with some of the best founders in the world.

Content Rules Everything Around Me

I began the year by sending my first ever newsletter to just a few hundred people, and am closing out the year today by sending this to nearly 75,000 readers.

The numbers aren’t really all that important to me honestly; they’re just a byproduct of creating something that has resonated with others. Big Desk Energy gives me a creative outlet to share my thoughts and experiences with the world.

I’ve shared dozens of startup strategies and tactics like our operating framework and the weekly success list.

I’ve documented company milestones like raising our Series B and our 2024 company offsite in Montreal.

And when I have a thesis to share, like how Substack’s incentives are entirely misaligned with their writers and rely on a myriad of dark patterns to exploit their readers, I’m able to distribute those thoughts directly to over 70,000 people.

What’s unique about Big Desk Energy is that you get to see a no bullshit behind-the-scenes look as we build beehiiv. You may not agree with all my philosophies and tactics, and some of these decisions could totally backfire… but that’s part of the fun of being able to follow the story in real-time.

Who’s got the power?

Speaking of beehiiv; it’s gotten SO much better in just the past year. I only deserve a fraction of the credit, but I do genuinely believe that becoming a power user of your product is a massive competitive advantage for founders. It’s one thing to say you understand your users, it’s an entirely different thing to become one.

I have become a beehiiv power user. I spend hours each week in the editor crafting my newsletter. I’ve built dozens of lead magnets, automations, surveys, and polls. I’ve also spent thousands of dollars investing in growing my newsletter via our Boosts network.

Much to the chagrin of some of the engineers, I regularly drop bugs and product feedback into our Slack channels at all hours of the night. Building Big Desk Energy has allowed me to really push the limits of the platform and continue to elevate the product.

Introducing: Masterminds

The Big Desk Energy community might be the thing I am most proud of; both online and in-person.

Over half of my readers are founders, and another 20% are early startup employees. I wanted to use this newsletter as a vehicle to connect with these people (i.e. you) and decided to try something different.

Rather than organizing some boring online webinar, I created something that I genuinely would jump at the opportunity to participate in; I launched a mastermind series.

It’s hosted a bit off the grid and made up of a small group of ambitious founders. It’s more or less a long weekend of business strategy sessions, surfing, yoga, deep dives, product demos, intros, and just genuine connection with other founders who have the same hustler mentality.

And it worked. Over 50 people applied to join the first mastermind in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. It was one of the most transformative weekends of the year for me (and the others confirmed as well).

In October I ran it back with a different group of founders and got the same (potentially even better) result. Half of the founders had built businesses valued well over $100M in just the past few years, and the others were well on their way. Everyone shared tactics on user acquisition, hiring, operations, scaling, fundraising, optimizing personal finances, and so much more.

It’s hard to overstate how energizing it is to surround yourself with A+ founders who are open to sharing their insights and experiences. Both times I learned a ton and came back to work on a warpath looking to implement a handful of new initiatives.

Fortunately for you, I’m doing it again.

I’ll be hosting 7 founders who are looking to learn, share, collaborate, and disconnect in the jungle along the beaches of Costa Rica. In an absolutely stunning oceanfront villa no less…

• Dates: Wednesday February 19th to Sunday February 23rd

• Location: Tamarindo, Costa Rica

• Cost: $10,000

I’m not an accountant, but I have been told this can be written off as a business expense 😉.

Other details…

• Everyone will have their own private room and bathroom

• Private chef and food are all included

• All activities are optional but included (surfing, yoga, private boat, spa, etc.)

• Transportation will be provided while in Tamarindo

• Cleaning services provided daily

The only thing not included are your flights to and from Tamarindo, but I will coordinate group transportation to and from the airport.

Pura vida, happy New Year, and see you all in 2025 ✌️.

If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/52-weeks

Confirming that this is a pretty chill setup. It needs a second monitor and perhaps a more comfortable chair, but we can keep the view.

Shoutout Francesco for the reader submission 🫡.

Think you can generate a better office? Reply with your submissions 📨.

Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full Big Desk Energy playlist.

Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…

• Micky Malka, the founder of Ribbit Capital, joined Patrick O’Shaughnessy in what was one of the better podcasts I’ve listened to in a while (Colossus)

• Doubling down on Invest Like The Best podcasts, Jared Kushner joined Patrick O’Shaughnessy and it was also fantastic (Colossus)

• Ed Elson stepped in for Scott Galloway and shared why people are the new brands (No Mercy No Malice)

• 25 fastest-growing startups in 2024 (Exploding Topics)

• The best inventions of 2024 (TIME)

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Until next Tuesday 🕺🏽

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