How a VC Marketer Turned an AI Newsletter Into Career Leverage

Situation:

In 2022, Cliff Worley was already creating content to help founders and operators. He was publishing short-form content about marketing tools across social platforms. When AI adoption accelerated in late 2022, he shifted his focus to AI tools and news and started building Cliff Notes, a weekly newsletter aimed specifically at venture capitalists and VC funds.

Instead of launching a broad “AI newsletter for everyone,” Worley narrowed the audience. Cliff Notes became a weekly digest of AI news, trends, and hand-picked tools, written for how VCs evaluate and talk about technology.

Challenge:

Worley ran into the typical platform risks early.

• He started on Substack and says his publication was banned without a clear explanation, leaving him needing a new home quickly.
• He needed a newsletter platform built for newsletters, not a general email marketing tool.
• He wanted a setup that would support consistent publishing on the side, with reliable deliverability and multiple monetization paths.

Most importantly, he wanted the newsletter to build real-world outcomes, not just online engagement.

Solution:

Worley migrated Cliff Notes to beehiiv using beehiiv’s import tools and then built a simple weekly workflow he could maintain alongside a full-time job.

How he used beehiiv to make the newsletter sustainable:

• Fast migration and setup: He moved his content and subscribers over quickly so he could keep publishing without interruption.
• Weekly cadence with scheduling: He blocked time on Sundays to write and schedule Monday sends.
• Deliverability and engagement focus: He prioritized a platform where his emails consistently reached inboxes and drove opens and clicks.
• Monetization options inside the platform: He leaned on beehiiv’s built-in options like Boosts and advertising opportunities, rather than building custom systems.
• Writing support in the editor: He used beehiiv AI to help draft and refine copy when he got stuck, which helped him stay consistent even though he does not consider writing a strength.

He also promoted Cliff Notes in a place most newsletters ignore: offline. Speaking gigs became both a growth channel and an outcome the newsletter helped unlock.

Results:

Worley describes three clear outcomes from running Cliff Notes on beehiiv:

• Organic growth to about 1,000 subscribers over roughly a year, without paid marketing, and with limited Boost usage.
• Consistent publishing output, with more than 60 weekly editions referenced in the story you shared.
• Direct career ROI through speaking opportunities. He says the newsletter helped him stay top of mind in venture capital, contributing to more frequent speaking invitations.

In short, the newsletter became more than content. It became a reputation system. Every Monday was a reminder to a niche audience that he was paying attention to AI tools and could explain them clearly in a VC context.

What other operators can copy

• Niche down harder than feels comfortable. Cliff Notes worked because it was “AI for VCs,” not “AI for everyone.”
• Use the newsletter as proof of work. A consistent weekly send can function like a living portfolio.
• Treat offline distribution as a first-class channel. Conferences and talks can drive subscribers faster than another social post.
• Choose tooling that supports consistency. If the platform removes friction, you publish more, and publishing more is the real growth hack.

Start using beehiiv if you want a newsletter that builds authority, drives real opportunities, and stays easy enough to run alongside your day job.