My Third Year at the Brew (and the path from growth to scale)

Completing my third year at Morning Brew is a surreal experience (and re-reading my posts from Year 1 and Year 2). While I did not necessarily see Morning Brew growing to 300 employees and being on pace for ~$75m in revenue by this point when I started, I’m not surprised in the slightest. This is the most special and unique company and group of employees I’ve ever seen. To that end, I sent the below to my team on the eve of Cannes Lions this past year as a reflection, incorporated with the weekly full-org rollup I send every Monday (I edited slightly for clarity, and am sharing because it encapsulates a feeling and defining moment in time):

I’m sending this from France, attending Cannes Lions, the creativity and advertising festival that hosts tens of thousands of marketers, agencies, publishers, and vendors each year. I’ve been a few times, but this is my first since 2019, and my first as an employee of Morning Brew. And I’ve never been more proud and excited. I think back to all of the companies where I’ve worked and the jobs I’ve held…and nothing comes close. 

The people we have here operate at the intersection of kind, smart, and passionate. 

Our mission inspires me. We make the complicated...uncomplicated. We simplify subjects that matter using levity, insight, and wit. We do that for business and finance…for multiple jobs and industries…and now across every medium, product, and platform. 

Our readers love us. Every time I tell someone I work at Morning Brew, their answer is something along the lines of, “wow, that’s awesome.” I promise you, that is unique.

I found myself reflecting on the above for two reasons:

1. The small 15-person startup I walked into 3 short years ago is now big. A known entity among consumers and the industry. An almost 300-person media and community powerhouse. Every major brand and agency knows us, as do our competitors in the media space. I’m hearing this first-hand already as Cannes event planning has been underway. Morning Brew is a loved and respected household name.
2. It’s an interesting time, not only in our industry, but in our country. There’s a lot going on that affects us all personally, as colleagues, and as a business. But, we’ve also seen a lot of this before, especially over the last 2+ years. We have a team and company that is battle-tested and resilient. Our subscribers come to us in times of uncertainty and we deliver. Our advertising partners also get uncertain…and that’s ok - we have the opportunity to do what we’ve done before…what we do every day, and be great partners and teammates. We will be flexible, creative, and solutions-oriented. We will continue to push one another to win (and win big) because it’s the hard thing to do. What teams and companies accomplish in times like these are what build empires. That is the opportunity we have in front of us. And it is within reach. Given our current success, we are not only in a great position now, but also to keep pushing and take what’s ours moving forward.

The TL;DR - with uncertainty and adversity comes opportunity. We have a career-defining opportunity in front of us, and we have the right team, product, and brand to carpe the sh*t out of it. LFG.

Morning Brew has done what very few other companies have been able to do when you look at our success in terms of revenue, profitability, headcount, product launches, and more. In the past 12 months alone, we’ve launched a ton of new products:

• Franchises: Money Scoop, Imposters, IT Brew, HR Brew, CFO Brew (Healthcare Brew and Incrypto are on deck).
• Content: Tentpoles, edit themes, and series across all franchises, social-first content, and video.
• Creators: Money with Katie, Excel Dictionary, Sign Ojulu, Anish Mitra, Blake Guidry, and Jack Appleby (and s/o Dan Toomey who's now been here a while).
• Events: Virtual events, roundtables, forums and summits in our B2Bs.
• Awards: The Go-Getter Awards.
• Insights: Custom research studies for our brand partners and our proprietary research community, The Breakroom.

In Q4’21, we also wrapped our first Upfront sales period, resulting in a huge amount of 2022 sales heading into the year. The Upfront period for 2023 will be even bigger. 

This past year was a time for incredible growth not only for the company, but also myself. There is a nuance to that growth, in that this was the first year that things no longer really felt linear, but rather, exponential. When your outputs start to significantly outpace your inputs. And that difference is at the core of what it means to truly scale (and it applies to both companies and people). I’m sharing some of these core learnings here to not only continue the “build in public” efforts that Morning Brew has lived and breathed since Day 1, but also as a way to continue to hold myself accountable as we continue to scale. 

Giving & receiving feedback. This past year, I entered a new phase of my career -- one where I’m getting better faster than at any other point. Why? Feedback. I’m giving, taking, & implementing feedback better and faster than ever. It took me ~14 years in the workforce to figure this out. It’s hard, but so important because it compounds growth. Find people who give you honest and constructive feedback - both the good and bad. Reinforce that behavior by receiving it well and graciously, actioning it, and not repeating mistakes. Build the trust and relationship to have it be reciprocal. Get better together. Repeat. This also means you have to find new ways to get uncomfortable. For me specifically, it's about embracing constructive tension, and pursuing what is best for the business in an uncompromising way. 

Hygiene. It’s easy to forget to do the little things when everything is going well. But, that’s when the little things matter the most because they build good habits and best practices for the long haul. You can’t improve what you aren’t tracking and measuring. This means putting an increased focus on identifying and tracking leading indicators of success (current revenue and quota numbers are lagging indicators), and making sure those are reflected in your CRM, and in your daily and weekly reporting. 

• Strategy: Properly preparing by setting a concrete approach, and tracking updates based on Quarterly “Rocks” and Goals. After all, chance favors the prepared mind. 
• Outreach: Reaching out to key and prospective contacts regularly, and ensuring all are tracked and tagged appropriately.
• Meetings: Aiming for a quantity of quality meetings or calls/week, and reporting attendees, key takeaways, and next steps on each.
• Pipeline health: Building deals and opportunities for the next few months and quarters, and ensuring they make progress. 

Operating with ownership. Everyone has agency to make decisions and effect change. This effectively means never believing that something isn’t your problem. Even if others missed the window to give feedback or take action, it’s not too late until it’s too late to speak up. It’s the work equivalent of “if you see something, say something.” You may step on some toes, but it’s a great way to showcase a bias for action and responsibility.  

Knowing your business inside-and-out and asking the right questions. You have to be aware of what the variables are that affect your work and success, and the other inputs/outputs you need to know on a daily basis to operate at your best. What questions should you be asking on a regular basis? What can you start to measure more carefully, quantitatively, and regularly? How can you better understand what success means in your role, and anticipate the questions that your bosses and leadership will ask you?

Identify new focus areas to combat scaling pains (vs growing pains). When you start really scaling, it’s important to level-set (or, reset) expectations across the board to prepare for that change. We did this early in the year to clearly state and identify the values we needed and wanted to focus on (outside of Morning Brew’s company values). These continue to hold true every day:

• Teammates. Really care about and support one another, and take the time to get to know one another outside of the transactional. Everyone is human. When you know your colleagues on a deeper level, the work, communication and results are better, every time. This speaks to personal and professional empathy, and it is paramount to success. 
• Accountability. Messing up is OK! Own it. Doing that, and then saying "Here’s what happened + here’s the way forward + here’s what I’m doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again” is one of the best, most powerful frameworks for any team in business and for your individual careers, hands down. Whenever I mess up, I love owning it. There’s a freedom in vulnerability, but the biggest component to this being OK is following the accountability framework that comes right after, and setting an example for others. 
• Communication. Be as proactive & crystal clear in verbal & written communication as possible. Always err on the side of over-communicating, and speak up if you are unsure about anything (all better than assuming). A simple example of this comes down to saying 5pm vs. EOD. “EOD” can mean different things to different people – shifting to this type of clarity and expectation-setting has increased our productivity significantly. 
• Use Critical Thinking. Don't just go through the motions, as things aren't always as clean as they can be. Take a step back, and approach every day and action with common sense. It is helpful if you think about things outcome-first. Results matter. Processes are guidelines/route options…you are the driver and you have options, but it’s up to you to steer the car and get to where you need to be. 
• No Ego. Good ideas and POVs can come from anywhere and from anyone, irrespective of team, role, and experience. Listen to and support contributions from everyone. Facial expressions, nonverbal cues, and other audible microexpressions can all signal negativity when someone is trying their best or hardest, and may have an idea you haven’t thought of. 
• No saying "can't.” There's no such thing as impossible. Be solutions oriented, and find ways to make amazing things happen. Always figure out what's best for the team, our clients, and our company. "Can't" is often indicative of a lack of understanding or knowledge. There is always an answer or compromise that gets you closer to your goal. 

Huge shoutout to Morning Brew, my team, company leadership, and my boss. We succeed because of how well we operate together. I know I say this every year, but it’s true: the future is incredibly bright, and we’re just getting started (and we’re hiring).