Podcast Summary: Growth In Reverse

Episode: He spends $1M per month on ads. And makes $50M per year.
Hosts: Chenell Basilio & Dylan Redekop
Guest: Matt Paulson (MarketBeat Founder & CEO)
Air Date: February 4, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode of Growth In Reverse, Chenell and Dylan sit down with Matt Paulson, founder and CEO of MarketBeat, one of the largest investing media companies in the U.S. Matt shares the journey from early personal finance blogging in the 90s to building a stock market newsletter empire with multi-channel monetization and millions of subscribers. The conversation pulls back the curtain on MarketBeat’s playbook for growing, scaling, and profiting from their audience, with a focus on paid acquisition, robust monetization funnels, SMS revenue, and the reality of newsletter operations at scale.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. MarketBeat's Origins and Evolution (01:07–03:56)

• Early Days: Matt started making money online in the 90s (GeoCities, early ad networks) and pivoted to investing content during the 2008–09 recession.
• Business Model Pivot: In 2015, MarketBeat developed its current model—subscription product + advertising.
• COVID Boom: The business exploded during COVID (meme stock era), peaking at 1 million web hits daily. Revenue has continued to grow even as traffic normalized.
• Today: MarketBeat is a diversified media company—email, YouTube, SMS, web push, and even some direct mail.

"I've been making money on the Internet since I was a kid in the 90s ... needed money to pay tuition and job opportunities were McDonald's, gas station or grocery store. I thought, there's gotta be a better way."
—Matt Paulson (01:15)

2. Current Scale & Multi-Channel Strategy (03:56–05:41)

• Email List Size: 17M unique addresses in the database, 6M currently subscribed, 3M opened in last 90 days.
• YouTube & SMS: Over 500k YouTube subscribers, 500k+ SMS subscribers.
• Growth Levers: SMS and leveraging Beehive for new lists due to high deliverability.
• Diversification: Each channel (email, SMS, YouTube, push, direct mail) is used for audience growth and revenue.

3. Monetization and Paid Acquisition (07:04–09:21)

• Profitable Funnels: The goal is to make acquisition funnels so profitable that paid growth becomes easy and scalable.
• Acquisition Flow: Collects 4+ opt-ins per visitor (email, phone, Beehive, push notifications, potentially YouTube).
• Monetization Timeline: Break even in 30–45 days on new users, targeting 3:1 ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) within 12 months.
• Ad Spend Scale: $11M spent on ads last year, aiming for $20M this year. Market is fragmented—Google, Meta, Bing, TikTok, Taboola, and more.
• Challenges: Ad bans are common in finance; diversify channels to mitigate risks.

"We spent 11 million bucks on ads last year. My goal this year is 20. Trying really hard to do that, which is actually not that easy to do."
—Matt Paulson (07:56)

4. The Post-Opt-In Funnel (09:21–10:47)

• Offer Stack: 5-page dynamic funnel with a mix of internal offers, coedge networks (AfterOffers, Investing Media Solutions), and ads.
• Data-Driven: Algorithmically selects highest-performing offers to maximize early revenue.

5. The Power of SMS—Major Revenue Lever (11:27–14:37)

• SMS as Revenue: About one-third of MarketBeat’s total revenue now comes from SMS. Sending the same offers as email—brief text and link.
• Valuable Asset: Matt values an SMS subscriber 5-10x more than an email.
• Costs & Compliance: SMS is expensive ($2K per send; monthly bill $300–400K), but with little legal risk if done right.
• Frequency: Limited by time zone and frequency rules; typically several SMS lists.
• Content Mix: At least 50% of SMS sends must be ads to break even on costs.

"A third of all your revenue is sms?... It’s crazy. When I look at metrics though, I think it really boils down to like two numbers. It’s how much money did we make today? And then..."
—Matt Paulson (00:31; 11:42)
"Oh, absolutely. [Phone numbers] are probably by a factor of 5 or 10 more valuable than an email address."
—Matt Paulson (13:31)

6. Paid vs. Organic Growth & Revenue Split (15:01–15:50)

• Revenue Split: ~80% of revenue is from users acquired via paid channels, not organic, a shift from the early years.
• Why Paid Rules Now: Organic gets you to $5–10M/year; scaling beyond that means paid is essential.

7. Data, Metrics, and Optimization (16:04–17:54)

• Cohort Tracking: Every acquisition channel is broken into monthly cohorts tracked for ROAS over time.
• Cost vs. Value: Focus is on long-term revenue per user, not just cheap leads.

“Cost per lead is not a metric at all. It’s really what did I spend on that cohort versus what did I make?”
—Matt Paulson (17:27)

8. Audience & Content Approach (18:52–20:01)

• Audience: Primarily retail investors, skewing older, interested in fundamental analysis, not just meme stocks.
• Content: Automated stock news, ideas, and analysis. Early growth (first 100k subscribers) was mostly organic via SEO and targeted popups.

9. Building for Scale & Multi-Brand Strategy (33:16–35:11)

• Deliverability Challenge: Lists “melt” beyond 1M; MarketBeat now runs 10+ distinct lists, each branded and (often) cross-promoted.
• Benefit: Multiple brands capture more “mindshare” in the space—being in multiple spots in a user’s inbox increases influence.

10. YouTube Expansion (28:23–30:14)

• Channel Growth: 575k+ subscribers; anchored by a former TV news anchor.
• Monetization Mix: YouTube ads, sponsored content, offers in-video, and as a source of email leads.
• Still Experimenting: Early phases of optimizing for both reach and revenue.

11. Social Media and Diversification (31:07–32:11)

• Mixed Results: Twitter is mainly for Matt’s personal musings and (unexpectedly) consulting leads. Other social media hasn’t produced significant business impact.

12. Operating Philosophy & Burnout Avoidance (37:16–38:35)

• No Burnout: Matt built MarketBeat with constraints to avoid burnout—no customer call center, no “guru” premium newsletters.
• Family and Flexibility: Prioritizes family time, keeps business close to home in Sioux Falls, SD.

13. Relationship-Based Sponsorships & Industry Insight (41:01–45:32)

• All Inbound: No outbound sales for advertisers; relationships built over years; industry is tight-knit.
• Performance Focus: Most deals are performance-based (per sale or CPC); the lowest friction is with trusted, vetted partners.
• Quality Control: Matt will “fire” sponsors that don’t perform; not desperate for any advertiser.

"Our first question [to advertisers] is like, OK, what do you want to advertise versus yeah, we’ll take your money... it’s got to be on par with the other stuff."
—Matt Paulson (43:41)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Anybody can go start a Beehive list and get some subscribers. It's going to be tough to just be an email list. Are you willing to do stuff that other people aren't willing to do?" —Matt Paulson (00:17, 45:41)
• "If you're going to do, if you want to, like, make a big change, don't kill the goose that's laying golden eggs. Just go make a new goose." —Matt Paulson (05:09)
• "If you want to scale beyond [$10 million/year], you’re looking at just doing a whole bunch of paid [acquisition]." —Matt Paulson (15:25)
• "Email lists tend to melt after about a million people... so my thought is just go make another one. And that tends... that’s worked pretty well for us." —Matt Paulson (33:35)
• "No, I will run this business until the day that I’m dead. I don’t want to do anything else." —Matt Paulson (36:47)
• "It is my baby and will be until ..." —Matt Paulson (37:06)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Early Internet Hustle & MarketBeat Beginnings: 01:07–03:56
• Scale, Email, YouTube, SMS Metrics: 03:56–05:41
• Monetization Funnels & Paid User Acquisition: 07:04–09:21
• SMS as a Revenue Channel: 11:27–14:37
• Paid vs. Organic—Revenue Breakdown: 15:01–15:50
• Subscriber Value & Channel Cohort Analysis: 16:04–17:54
• Content Approach & Early Growth: 18:52–20:01
• YouTube Growth & Monetization: 28:23–30:14
• Deliverability, Multi-List Strategy: 33:16–35:11
• Burnout Prevention & Company Philosophy: 37:16–38:35
• Advertiser/Sponsor Relationships: 41:01–45:32

Conclusion

Matt Paulson delivers an unfiltered, deeply tactical look at scaling a newsletter business beyond most operators' dreams—sharing hard-won wisdom on acquisition, profile-multiplying channels, and why old school relationships still matter in a digital world. If you want to operate at scale, multi-channel, performance-driven, and with deep industry roots, Matt’s blueprint is one to analyze, adapt, and emulate.

Find Matt online:

• Twitter: @ediaking
• Quarterly email: mattpaulson.com

Next event: New Media Summit (as mentioned in-episode)