How EVWire Achieved 238% Growth Using beehiiv Website Builder

Situation:

Four and a half years ago, Jaan Juurikas noticed a gap:

There was no single place to get all the important electric vehicle (EV) news in a way that was catch-up friendly and actually usable.

So he launched EVWire, a curation-heavy weekly newsletter:

• Started with ~100 subscribers
• Each issue featured ~30 links, each with a clear explainer
• Over time it evolved into an “EV news ecosystem”:
• Charging Wire & Battery Wire
• Regional feeds (Europe, U.S., China, country-specific)
• An EV events calendar

Today EVWire has 13,500+ subscribers and functions more like an industry platform than “just a newsletter.”

beehiiv is the infrastructure that enabled that leap.

Challenge:

Before beehiiv, EVWire was stitched together with:

• ConvertKit (Kit) for email
• Webflow for the site

The problems:

1. Publishing friction
2. “The CMS for Webflow is just terrible… posting my articles was a terrible experience.”
3. Limited platform vision
   Jaan wanted more than a newsletter, he envisioned a hybrid of Bloomberg Terminal + Crunchbase for EVs.
4. No dev team, no code skills, no funding
   He was preparing to raise money and hire engineers just to build what he had in mind.

He needed a platform that:

• Combined newsletter + website + light app behavior
• Let him build fast without developers
• Could scale with his ambitions

Solution:

1. Migrate everything to beehiiv

Once Jaan saw beehiiv’s native website + CMS, he made the switch:

“I immediately scrapped my ConvertKit and Webflow page and just went with the native beehiiv system.”

beehiiv gave him:

• A clean, integrated publishing experience
• Auto-publishing of newsletters to the web
• A single system for content, audience, and analytics

After migrating, EVWire saw:

• Subscriber growth from 3–4K → 13.5K+ (238% increase)
• Open rates climb from 52% → 58% (consistently 50%+)
• 1,000+ replies to the welcome email alone

2. Build an industry platform — with no code and no funding

Jaan was ready to raise capital and hire devs. Then beehiiv’s website editor shipped.

Instead of assembling a tech team, he built the entire platform solo in 2–3 months:

What he built on beehiiv:

• A live stock tracker with 100+ EV stocks across 7–8 categories
• A planned database of 500+ company profile pages with auto-updating data
• Multi-vertical news feeds (charging, battery, regional segments)
• A fully-integrated newsletter + content distribution system

“I don’t code… but if you combine beehiiv as a no-code platform with AI tools, you can create whatever you can dream up.”

This avoided:

• ~$200K+ in potential engineering costs
• 12+ months of typical dev time
• Equity dilution from fundraising

And kept 100% ownership in Jaan’s hands.

3. Lean into community, brand, and simplicity

EVWire’s differentiation isn’t just infrastructure — it’s feel:

• Heavy curation, clear value
• Authentic, no-nonsense tone (with a bit of humor)
• Perks for paid members:
• Early access & deep dives
• A tree-planting initiative: 1,300+ trees planted so far

On the ops side, beehiiv keeps things lean:

• Exports analytics directly to Google Sheets
• Tagging content once and surfacing it across multiple feeds/sites
• Automations that make it look like Jaan is shipping new features every week (even when it’s beehiiv behind the scenes)

“I don’t need any other tool… I don’t have to jump between tools almost at all.”

4. A growth playbook built for niches

Jaan’s advice runs counter to the “start with your mom and uncle” approach:

“If it’s a niche thing, you should go for niche people. You shouldn’t add your mom.”

His 3-phase playbook:

• Phase 1 – Smart Launch (21 days):
• Launch a countdown page
• Talk to niche communities (e.g., EV Facebook groups)
• Ask what they want in an EV newsletter → start with 100 true fans
• Phase 2 – Consistent Growth (4.5 years):
• Ship weekly, high-signal issues
• Stay opinion-light, curation-heavy
• Let trust, shares, and reputation compound
• Phase 3 – Platform Expansion:
• Use beehiiv’s editor to build a full web platform
• Add features that deepen utility (trackers, databases, verticals)

He’s since:

• Brought three other EV writers onto beehiiv
• Acquired another EV publication and migrated it easily onto the platform

“Anyone thinking of writing and not writing on beehiiv is missing out.”

Results:

With beehiiv, EVWire has:

• Grown 238% from 3–4K → 13.5K+ subscribers
• Locked in 50%+ open rates, peaking at 58%
• Driven 1,000+ welcome email replies
• Built a 100+ stock EV tracker and industry platform with no devs
• Planted 1,300+ trees tied to paid memberships
• Created a profitable, B2B + subscription-backed business with full ownership

Most importantly, Jaan:

• Avoided raising money
• Avoided hiring an engineering team
• Built exactly what he envisioned, faster, cheaper, and on his own terms

EVWire proves that with beehiiv + niche expertise + consistency, you’re not just launching a newsletter, you’re building an industry platform.