Taypedia’s Playbook with beehiiv: Community-Building To Company-Building

Situation:

For seven years, Krista Doyle co-hosted the Holy Swift podcast, spending countless hours dissecting Taylor Swift’s music, marketing, and fandom.

When the podcast ended in 2022—right before the Eras Tour boom—she realized there was a gap: lots of Swiftie podcasts, but almost no dedicated newsletter for fans.

So she launched Taypedia, a beehiiv-powered newsletter for Swifties: weekly news, stories, merch updates, and deep-dive fan content.

Within two years, that newsletter didn’t just grow an audience, it became the launchpad for Chalant, a social network for pop culture fans.

Challenge:

Krista’s journey had a few big hurdles:

1. She wasn’t a “newsletter person” (yet).
   She had to learn everything from scratch: open rates, benchmarks, and subscriber growth without SEO.
2. She needed to stand out in a crowded Taylor Swift content universe.
   Podcasts and social accounts were everywhere — but owned, written, high-trust fan media? Not so much.
3. She wanted to build beyond content.
   Taypedia wasn’t just a fan project; Krista wanted it to become a community and eventually a business foundation.

She needed a platform that could handle audience growth, monetization, and eventually, startup operations, without forcing her into a complex tech stack.

Solution:

1. Launching Taypedia on beehiiv

Krista chose beehiiv for three core reasons:

• Supportive, creator-focused team
• Economics that worked from day one (start free, then tap into the Ad Network and other features)
• Built-for-business infrastructure, unlike legacy tools that felt dated and limiting

She launched Taypedia on beehiiv and leaned into:

• Weekly Swiftie content
• A strong, personal voice
• Clear value for superfans

One of her biggest growth levers? Giveaways.
By running high-intent promos like Eras Tour floor seat and Taylor Swift merch giveaways, Krista was able to 10x her newsletter audience in months.

2. From fan newsletter → startup launchpad

As Taypedia’s community grew, so did the ambition.

Future co-founder Bekah June reached out on LinkedIn after following Krista’s work. Bekah had been thinking about a social product for pop culture fans; Krista had already built a distribution engine and engaged community.

They combined forces and created Chalant — a social media network for music and pop culture communities.

beehiiv became the operating system for the launch:

• A separate Chalant publication to collect waitlist signups
• Taypedia as the primary acquisition channel and alpha tester pool
• Launch emails inviting loyal readers to be the first to try the product

The result:

• 300+ people on the early waitlist
• A pool of beta testers and early adopters
• Even potential investors sourced from that email list

Taypedia became “a steady source of user acquisition” as Chalant moved from concept to product.

3. Two newsletters, two jobs — one platform

Krista and Bekah now run two distinct newsletters on beehiiv, each with its own role:

• Taypedia → Editorial hub & community engine
• Swiftie content
• Minimal product promotion
• Builds loyalty, trust, and long-term affinity
• Chalant Newsletter → Product & growth engine
• User onboarding
• Feature announcements
• Engagement loops to drive app usage

Both live on beehiiv, but they function as separate growth machines — one for fandom, one for startup operations.

Results:

• Taypedia grew from a niche fan newsletter into a scaled, high-trust Swiftie community, powered by giveaways and consistent content.
• Chalant used that community as:
• A user acquisition channel
• An alpha/beta tester base
• A validation engine for the product vision
• beehiiv enabled Krista to:
• Start for free and scale without switching platforms
• Run both a media brand and a startup funnel from the same ecosystem
• Turn a personal obsession into a venture-backed product roadmap

Lessons from Krista’s Playbook

• Be a person, not a faceless brand.
  Readers followed Krista from newsletter to startup because they trusted her, not just the content.
• Consistency beats everything.
  Showing up regularly with thoughtful content built the foundation that made Chalant possible.
• Communities want a home.
  In a fractured social landscape, tightly focused newsletters on beehiiv are becoming the new “home base” — and, increasingly, the launchpads for companies.

If you’re sitting on a niche you can’t stop talking about, the playbook is clear:
Start the newsletter. Build the community. Then see how big it can get.

Try beehiiv’s free trial today and start turning your fandom into a business.