Newsletter platform beehiiv recently celebrated its four-year anniversary by launching a suite of new features, including an AI website builder, as well as support for podcasts and selling digital products.
In other words, beehiiv is about more than newsletters now. Co-founder and CEO Tyler Denk (who writes a popular startup newsletter of his own) spoke to TechCrunch about why the company has been expanding, explaining that it was largely in response to customer demand, particularly since beehiiv offered very basic blog templates from the start.
“All of our users were like, ‘Hey, this is great, I like using your email stuff, [but] my blog looks like everyone else’s. It’s terrible. It’s not customizable. I want to sell courses. I want to collect leads. I want more flexibility on my website,’” Denk recalled. “So that led us to acquiring TypeDream — they were a YC company to address that need, as people wanted better websites. Then, you know, you give an inch, they ask for a mile.”
This does mean beehiiv is becoming more competitive with other creator platforms, even the ones that weren’t necessarily focused on newsletters. Indeed, Denk predicted that we’ll see more of “this feature creep of consolidation across the creator stack and content stack.”
That doesn’t, however, mean that Denk thinks the opportunities for new newsletters have dried up.
“Quality content will always rise to the top,” he said, and there might be even more opportunity as the social media landscape becomes more fragmented.
Read a transcript of our conversation, edited for length and clarity, below.
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