In this blog post, we will be discussing the acquisition of Milk Road, a cryptocurrency newsletter founded by Shaan Puri and Ben Levy. We will delve into the reasons behind the decision to sell the company, as well as the background and experiences of Kendall Saville and Michael Wittmeyer who bought the newsletter.

What is Milk Road?

Milk Road is a cryptocurrency newsletter that aims to make the often confusing world of crypto more accessible to the average person.

Founded by Shaan Puri and Ben Levy, the company started as a newsletter that explained crypto in plain English and has grown to include over 250,000 readers in its first year.

In an effort to provide even more comprehensive coverage of the crypto world, Milk Road offer a range of tools, calculators, and data-driven content to help readers make sense of the crypto world and capitalize on it in the process.

Why Was Milk Road Sold?

There are several reasons why the decision was made to sell Milk Road. One of the main factors was the opportunity to work with Kendall and Michael, who both have a proven track record in building and selling successful companies.

Shaan Puri, the founder of Milk Road, saw the potential for the company to achieve even greater success under the leadership of Kendall and Michael. He believed that their expertise and experience in the business world would be invaluable in taking Milk Road to the next level.

Shaan has also mentioned a podcast that he identifies as someone who’s good at starting things and building something from scratch. However, he also acknowledges that he doesn’t feel excited about fine-tuning a business day after day to make it better. 

So that’s also another reason. It takes a lot of self-awareness and humility for someone to acknowledge that. He built the newsletter from 0 to point-A. Now, to take it from point A to point B, he’d rather have someone else do that job.

Shaan still owns a minority stake in Milk Road and expects it to be worth significantly more in the future due to Kendall and Michael's involvement in the company.

Who is Shaan Puri?

Shaan Puri is an entrepreneur, investor, and Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming & Emerging Markets at Twitch. He gained recognition as the founder and former CEO of the startup Bebo, an esports tournament platform that got acquired by Twitch at $25M after a bidding war with Discord.

Other than that, he’s built four startups and been the CEO of three. He also does this very interesting podcast called “My First Millions,” in which he converses with some of the biggest founders and entrepreneurs. 

Puri is known for his involvement in the startup ecosystem, as evidenced by his role as the founder of All Access Pass, a startup studio funded by the Birch family. He has also been associated with CapCon, a conference on entrepreneurship and capitalism. 

Shaan is a content genius with his tweets, Milk Road, his esports tournament startup, and his first million podcasts, his Shaan Puri newsletter, and he is inspiring and teaching many of us to be better entrepreneurs. 

Background of Kendall and Michael

Kendall Saville and Michael Wittmeyer have both had successful careers in the business world, with a focus on building and scaling companies.

Kendall is known for his ability to find clever solutions to problems and his approach to working smarter, not harder.

He has a reputation for finding shortcuts and has successfully hacked the Tesla and Uber referral programs, earning multiple Tesla Roadsters and credits for life with both companies.

One of Kendall's most notable achievements was his success in hacking the Tesla referral program. In this program, Tesla offered a referral bonus to customers who referred friends and family to purchase a Tesla vehicle. Kendall was able to find a way to refer himself multiple times, ultimately earning enough credits to purchase multiple Tesla Roadsters.

In addition to his success with the Tesla referral program, Kendall has also had success with the Uber and Lyft referral programs, earning credits for life with both companies.

Michael, on the other hand, is a highly detail-oriented individual with a wealth of experience in various projects. He is known for his determination and ability to bounce back from defeat, having worked on both successful and unsuccessful projects in the past.

One of the key factors in Michael's success has been his ability to persevere through difficult challenges and setbacks. He has a strong work ethic and is not afraid to put in the hard work and long hours necessary to achieve his goals.

Building and Selling Successful Companies

Kendall and Michael have both had significant experience in building and selling successful businesses. They have a shared philosophy on the importance of learning from failure and using it as a stepping stone to success.

One of the key factors in their success has been their ability to identify and solve problems in innovative ways.

They are not afraid to take risks and are always looking for ways to improve and grow their businesses.

In addition to their problem-solving skills, Kendall and Michael also place a strong emphasis on the importance of strong relationships and effective communication in the business world.

They believe that building strong relationships with clients and partners is crucial to the success of any business.

One example of their ability to build and scale a successful business is their work with a company called Thrive Market.

Thrive Market is an online grocery store that offers organic and non-GMO products at discounted prices. Kendall and Michael were instrumental in growing the company from a small startup to a multimillion dollar business with over 500,000 members.

Milk Road's Journey to Success

The journey to success for Milk Road was not without its challenges and setbacks. Shaan Puri and his team had to overcome a number of obstacles in order to build the company into the successful enterprise it is today.

But let’s start from scratch. 

Step 1: “Put your money where your mouth is”

That basically means you invest in your strength and bet on yourself. And for Shaan and Ben, that was writing. Look at the following tweet by Shaan Puri.

Step 2: Build On A Proven Concept

One advantage that Shaan Puri had was he had a proof of concept that he had seen someone close to him build on. The Hustle is one of the biggest newsletters with the most premium readers, that got acquired for a valuation of $27M and gave birth to some really sharp newsletter entrepreneurs like Matt McGarry, the "Newsletter Guy."

Being a firsthand witness of The Hustle built and adapting that blueprint to his own business, Shaan made a smart move.

Step 3: Sharp and Friendly Branding

Milk Road is, perhaps, an unconventional name for a newsletter blog that covers crypto-related news. Its overall branding and logo are even more interesting. However, it’s undeniably “inviting” and “cool,” and it just…intrigues you. 

Source

‍Step 4: Start Immediately

Starting early, as Shaan mentions, in the above Tweet gives you an opportunity to receive feedback and infuse that feedback into your product. You can start with an imperfect product and make it better along the way, but it’s important to start. 

Step 5: Setting Up a Strong Hook

One of the main challenges they faced was the need to stand out in a crowded and noisy market. In order to break through the noise, Milk Road decided to create a strong hook by publicly trading $1,000,000 in a crypto wallet as a stunt to grow their subscriber list. While the stunt was successful in attracting attention and growing the list, it also resulted in a 70% loss as the cryptocurrency market crashed.

One of the main challenges they faced was the need to stand out in a crowded and noisy market. In order to break through the noise, Milk Road decided to create a strong hook by publicly trading $1,000,000 in a crypto wallet as a stunt to grow their subscriber list.

While the stunt was successful in attracting attention and growing the list, it also resulted in a 70% loss as the cryptocurrency market crashed.

Despite this setback, Milk Road was able to turn the situation into an opportunity by using the experience as a chance to make a humorous video about losing money on Luna, which resonated with their audience and helped to grow the company even further.

Another key factor in Milk Road's success was the team's ability to embrace their disadvantages and turn them into advantages. This included their decision to start simple, with a basic Google Doc that they sent to friends for feedback, and their willingness to embrace their mistakes and use them as learning opportunities.

In addition to their strong focus on writing and content creation, Milk Road also assembled a talented and scrappy team of individuals who were able to help grow the company.

This included Diego, their top writer who had never even written anything before, Billy the Kid who ran their social media channels, and Wouter, a young man from the Netherlands who was able to sell over $250,000 worth of ads in just 60 days.

Step 6: Wait For The Right Moment To Sell

When you build something from scratch, that thing is your "baby." You want to pass it on to someone who can nurture and take care of your company like you did. Shaan mentions that the newsletter got plenty of acquisition offers but they decided to sell it to someone who could take their legacy forward.

In conclusion, Milk Road's acquisition by Kendall Saville and Michael Wittmeyer is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Milk Road team, as well as the experience and expertise of Kendall and Michael in building and scaling successful businesses. With the combination of Milk Road's strong content and brand, and Kendall and Michael's problem-solving skills and business acumen, it is clear that the company has a bright future ahead.

Want to know more about how Shaan sold Milk road, and the fascinating people who bought it? Then watch the interview between Shaan, Kendall and Michael on the "My first Million" Youtube channel.

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To see details on the specifics of creating the newsletter read this blog article from the platform Shaan used Beehiiv.

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