Our Story
In the fall of 2017, a little upstart newsletter, The Water Coolest, launched to 300 friends and family members with the hopes of bringing financial news bites to its loyal readers. Fast forward four years and we grew to 150k subscribers and built a $1M advertising business for our newsletter.
Our success did not go unnoticed, as the company was acquired by Barstool Media in the fall of 2021. Unfortunately, thanks to #corporatesynergy, our team wasn’t brought over in the acquisition.
Alas, we have learned how to build and monetize a newsletter to the point of getting acquired by a major media company. And we want to help you. Our team has multiple years of experience and has developed longstanding relationships with brand partners that are looking to advertise with newsletters read: spend money with you!
Who are we?
Ian Barto.
For the last 5 years I have grown a newsletter from scratch and was an integral part of the team that built it into a viable business, ultimately being acquired by a large media company. As with most startups, I was able to develop skills in all facets of the business, including subscriber growth, engagement (deliverability, open, and click rate) optimization, financial planning, ad sales, and copywriting effectiveness.
My experience within the industry has given me the confidence to launch Ad Astra media, which provides advertising services to newsletters and brand partners, as well as newsletter consulting.
Nate Heintz.
I spent the previous 2 years building the sales process and monetizing a startup newsletter, helping validate the business, and ultimately leading to our acquisition by Barstool. With this valuable experience, I developed critical skills and exposure across the business spanning from ad sales and partner relationships to newsletter growth and engagement. Furthermore, I created sustainable long term relationships with hundreds of ad partners who are engaged in newsletter advertising.
Many newsletter publishers lack the time, resources, or experience to effectively monetize their audiences. From first hand experience, I understand the specific problems newsletter publishers face, which is why I co-founded Ad Astra media.