Swapstack
👤 Jake Singer & Jake Schonberger (Both ran newsletters themselves and felt the sponsor-hunt pain; ex-Amazon PM + ex-Facebook VC scout, met via On Deck.)🌐 sitetheflywheel.substack.com𝕏
Two writers who couldn't find sponsors for their own newsletters built the matchmaker — and sold it to beehiiv.
Will it work? · our read
Absorbable niche. The pricing flip pulled writers in fast; $2M reached publishers. But a thin cut on small ads and platforms going native made it absorbable — beehiiv bought the function.
01How the money moves
Writer lists newsletter free
→
Brand books a sponsor slot
→
Swapstack bills brand +10% fee
02The numbers
$25K
monthly rev at sale
founder
$2M+
paid to writers · GMV
founder
2,500+
newsletters onboard
TGA
The $2M+ is lifetime payouts to writers (GMV) — not Swapstack's own revenue. TheyGotAcquired
about $300K/yr run-rate when beehiiv bought it (2023).
03Weight class — CENTStap an axis
Control Mid
Set the 10% brand fee and owned the matching layer, but leaned on writers staying and brands paying.
04The key move
Zero fee for writers
Most marketplaces tax both sides. Swapstack took 0% from writers and billed brands a 10% fee instead. Writers kept every dollar, so the hard side — supply — flooded in, and brands with budget barely felt it.
fact
The counter-intuitive move
The same generosity capped them: a 10% cut on small deals never threw off enough cash to outrun bigger platforms.
our read
05Where the moat is
What held — until a platform absorbed it:
0% pricing pulled in writer supply2,500+ newsletters, 60M readers100+ brands: Morning Brew, BettermentFounder-writers with community trust
06How it diesstrong confidence
It dies when the platforms writers already use — Substack, beehiiv — build ad matching natively and delete the middle layer. That is exactly what happened: beehiiv bought it and absorbed the function. our read
Show evidence · counter
Evidence: beehiiv acquired Swapstack in September 2023 and merged it into its native ad network.
Counter: The brand ties and 2,500-newsletter liquidity had real value — beehiiv paid a 6-figure sum instead of rebuilding.
07Against rivals
Swapstack won the writer-friendly niche but sat below platform-native and larger networks. our read
08Who uses it
Indie newsletter writersSubstack/beehiiv creatorsDTC & fintech brandsSponsorship media buyers
★Would it work for you?
Do you belong to a community whose members can't easily transact with each other yet?
Swapstack won by being writers first. What community are you already inside? We don't score you — you answer.
🚀Use it as a launchpada prompt for your own AI
Copy → paste into your AI → then develop it freely in the conversation.
You are a sharp, honest startup strategist. Use the proven case below as a launchpad for MY idea — help me find my own angle, not copy it.
<my_profile>
Domain I know: [your domain]
My unfair advantage (access/audience): [your edge]
Interests: [your interests]
Resources & goal: [your resources] · [your goal]
</my_profile>
<case name="Swapstack" model="marketplace">
What it does: A no-code marketplace matching newsletter writers with brand sponsors, free for writers and 10% to brands.
Why it won (moat): Two-sided liquidity plus founder-writers' trust inside the newsletter community.
Weakest axis (CENTS): A thin 10% cut on small ads and a low barrier that platforms could replicate natively.
How it could die: The host platforms (Substack, beehiiv) build ad matching in-house and absorb the layer — which beehiiv did.
</case>
<task>
Be a skeptical operator, not a cheerleader. No generic startup platitudes. If my angle is weak, say so plainly.
First, a reality check: markets like this mostly fail. State the honest base rate (how crowded/hard is this?) and the ONE specific thing that would have to be true for ME to be the exception — grounded in my profile above.
Then a compact table:
- Fit — does this pattern suit my edge, or fight my gap?
- Angle — my sharpest differentiation vs Swapstack (concrete, not "better UX")
- Distribution — exactly where my first 100 users come from (this is the hardest part — be specific, not "content marketing")
- Risk — its "how it dies" (above) in MY situation
Finish with one line: "The single thing to do next."
Use only the facts above; if data is thin, say so — never invent numbers.
Then stay with me and go deeper on whatever I ask — tech stack, rough cost & time, the smallest MVP to test, pricing, or timing.
</task>
✓ Copied — paste into your AI
👤Placeholders like [your domain] auto-fill from your profile — example values for now.Set up profile →
Sourcesupdated · daily
TheyGotAcquired: Swapstack acquired by beehiiv ($25K/mo, 2023)OpenSourceCEO: beehiiv + Swapstack acquisition mechanics ($2M = publisher earnings, not revenue)No Code MBA: Swapstack MVP-to-acquisition ($20K/mo, $2M paid to writers)Newsletter Crew: interview with co-founder Jake SingerThe Flywheel: Jake Singer on building Swapstack
Revenue ($25K/mo, about $300K/yr) is founder-stated across interviews (Newsletter Crew, TheyGotAcquired, No Code MBA), not audited. The $2M+ is lifetime payouts to writers (GMV), NOT Swapstack's own revenue — OpenSourceCEO states this explicitly. Acquisition price undisclosed (reported 6-figure). Founder-count and pricing model (0% writers / 10% brands) confirmed across multiple first-party sources. We never score you.