They Had a Small Agency. A Side Project. And Then a Billion-Dollar Exit.

Tonight’s story is one close to my heart because, well, I love newsletters. But a success story like this? Wow!

When Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius started working together, they weren’t trying to build a billion-dollar company.

They were running a small web design shop in Atlanta but they noticed that their clients all had the same problem - they needed a way to stay in touch with their customers with email newsletters, promotions, updates.

The tools at the time were clunky, expensive, and clearly built for big companies. So Ben and Dan built a simple email/newsletter tool to solve the problem for their clients.

And they gave it a goofy name: Mailchimp.

Nights and Weekends

For years, nothing much came of it. The agency was still the main source of income. Mailchimp was something they worked on when they could. But they kept improving it: A little better, a little easier, a little more useful.

Over time, something started to shift.

The demand for the tool was steady, then growing, then impossible to ignore. The side thing started to become the main thing. Finally, Ben and Dan made a bold decision.

They shut down the agency and focused solely on Mailchimp.

And Then Something Crazy Happened

For years, Mailchimp grew quietly. It slowly but surely it got bigger and more popular. Mailchimp became a very successful, if still somewhat obscure, email business.

And then, out of nowhere, it exploded . . . but in the most unexpected of ways.

Here’s how it went down: Ben and Dan decided to take a flier on a new show on a new medium. Podcasts had just come into being and NPR had decided to produce a new “true crime” show. Mailchimp would be the main advertiser. They really expected little from it, given podcasts were not really a thing a decade ago.  

Except.

Except the show they took a bet on was a then unknown podcast called . . .

Serial.

Yep, Serial. A seemingly little, obscure podcast that became a cultural juggernaut ( becoming the #1 podcast on iTunes that year) that eventually lead to the protagonist, Adnan Syed, being freed from jail for a murder he didn’t commit.

And at the top of every show was a plug for the advertiser, for Mailchimp:

It was awkward, a little funny, only 20-seconds long . . . and it struck a nerve. People started repeating it and talking about it and remembering it.

Mailchimp, this steady, under-the-radar tool, suddenly had a moment in the zeitgeist.

Business grow in all sorts of ways. Good planning, hard work, and timing all play a part. Starting small and thinking big plays a part. And yes, luck also plays a part.

For Ben and Dan, that was all true. Seven years later, in 2021, Intuit bought Mailchimp for $21 billion.

P.S.

I had a very small version of this happen this week.

After recently presenting a free SCORE webinar on How to Launch a Newsletter (see “Steal This Strategy” below), I put together a simple guide on the easier-than-you-think process. Nothing fancy. Just the specific process for starting your own newsletter, step by step, “in under an hour, and for free.”

I priced it to move ($17) because I truly believe newsletters like this one are the best, cheapest, easiest way to launch a profitable business right now.

And I sent it out.

Lots of you bought it (thank you!). Three emails, a couple of hours, and as I am writing this, it has already topped over $1,000 in sales. For a $17 product. (And btw, I would be remiss as an entrepreneur if I didn’t say that tonight is the last night you can get it because I will be taking it down and evaluating the results and next steps. But you can still get it tonight here.)

No, of course that’s is not life-changing money. But it is real and more importantly, it is a signal. Newsletters work. Trying something new works. Indeed, this is how things tend to start.

Little things beget big things.

Just ask Ben and Dan.

The Takeaway

Ben and Dan didn’t start out tryig to create a billion dollar business. They just wanted to solve a problem for their customers. And they sure never thought that taking a flier on Serial would change their lives, but it did.

All of which goes to show you that part of being an entrepreneur is simply throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks.

Steal This Strategy

📬 Mailchimp: Try the tool that made it all work. This is exactly what they built. Simple email. Done well. You don’t need fancy.

📖 Guerrilla Marketing: Learn the original playbook for scrappy growth. Old school, yes. Still one of the smartest books ever written about doing more with less.

💡 Start Your Own Newsletter in Under 60 Minutes, For Free, and Make $$$ Day One: This is the same guide that just crossed $1,000 this week. Nothing theoretical. Just the process. $17. Today only.

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About Steve

Steve Strauss is the best-selling author of The Small Business Bible (and 17 other books), Inc.’s small business columnist, a lawyer (non-practicing), and an entrepreneur. He sold his last venture, TheSelfEmployed.com to Mark Cuban & Zen Business. Need a ghostwriter or a newsletter for your business? Contact Steve!