How Chris Koerner Built a 7-Figure Newsletter Using AI with beehiiv
Step-by-Step Content Engine Driving a 55% Open Rate and Massive ROI
Table of contents
Situation:
Chris Koerner is a serial entrepreneur with over 80 businesses launched, including 10 seven–eight-figure companies. When he started his newsletter, he applied the same systems-first mindset that built his previous ventures.
He discovered one wild insight:
95–97% of his newsletter readers weren’t listening to his podcast.
Meaning… he had an enormous library of content his audience had never seen.
So Koerner built a system to repurpose it.
Today, his newsletter:
- Maintains a 55% open rate
- Adds 10,000–20,000+ new subscribers per month
- Generates $3,000–$7,000 per send
- Operates like a 7-figure business powered by AI and beehiiv
Challenge:
Koerner’s early newsletter days were chaotic:
“Every week I’d be like, ‘Crap, what do I send this week?’”
Like most creators, he was:
- Running out of ideas
- Fighting writer’s block
- Spending hours reinventing content
- Struggling to systematize and scale
He needed a way to:
- Create content consistently without starting from scratch
- Turn his podcast library into a repeatable newsletter engine
- Monetize attention instead of chasing algorithms
So he built a workflow that eliminated guesswork entirely.
Solution:
1. Building a custom AI content engine
A newsletter reader once built a “KoernerGPT” for him. That sparked the idea for a more advanced model:
- A custom Claude GPT (Opus 4.0)
- Trained on Koerner’s podcast transcripts, voice, tone, and writing
- Designed to convert episodes into new, high-engagement newsletter issues
This system now produces:
- Drafts
- Hooks
- Frameworks
- Story breakdowns
- Actionable summaries
…all in Koerner’s voice.
“It’s not generic AI content. It’s still me — just in a different format.”
These emails now earn the highest engagement across his entire funnel.
2. Monetizing with a multi-stream revenue system
Koerner treats his newsletter like a profit center, not a vanity project.
Revenue streams include:
- beehiiv Ad Network
- Direct brand deals
- Custom sponsorships ($3K–$7K per send)
Sponsors stick because:
- His list is highly engaged
- His content converts
- His audience trusts him
3. Scaling growth using beehiiv
beehiiv powers every part of Koerner’s system:
- Automated campaigns
- Referral rewards
- Built-in polls and feedback
- Segmentation by behavior
- A workflow that requires almost no manual effort
Koerner summarizes it simply:
“beehiiv is the best money I spend in my business.”
4. Radical transparency = community trust
Koerner treats his newsletter like a private group chat:
- Behind-the-scenes screenshots
- Revenue breakdowns
- Failed business stories
- Weekly wins + losses
That rawness drives loyalty — and conversions — more than polished social posts ever could.
5. A feedback loop that improves the product
Every issue includes polls and open-ended responses.
Readers leave long, thoughtful comments like:
- “This helped me launch my business.”
- “I needed this today.”
This turns each email into a data engine, telling Koerner exactly what to publish next.
Results:
With his AI engine + beehiiv infrastructure, Koerner has:
- Built a 7-figure newsletter business
- Earned $3K–$7K per issue
- Maintained a 55% open rate
- Achieved 10K–20K+ monthly subscriber growth
- Created a repeatable system that compounds
He now plans to launch a daily newsletter, citing the “insane monetization potential.”
Koerner’s playbook proves:
Newsletters aren’t just content — they’re businesses.
And with the right mix of AI, repurposing, and beehiiv, any creator can scale the same way.
