How Generalist World Turned a Simple Quiz Into a 30K+ Subscriber Engine with beehiiv

Situation:

Milly Tamati is the founder of Generalist World, a community and learning platform for people with nonlinear, “squiggly” careers.

In just two years, she has:

• Built an email list of 30,000+ subscribers
• Grown a 600+ member paid community
• Done it all without paid ads — using a simple quiz, TikTok, and beehiiv as the backbone of her funnel

At the center of it all is a five-minute “generalist scorecard” quiz that helps people discover their archetype (Connector, Innovator, Systems Thinker, or Translator) and feel seen in careers that don’t fit neatly into traditional boxes.

Challenge:

Generalist World needed a way to:

• Reach the right people globally without a big ad budget
• Help generalists put language to their broad, nonlinear skill sets
• Turn casual interest into high-intent, engaged subscribers
• Build a system that could scale from first touch → email list → paid community

Milly wasn’t just trying to grow a list; she wanted a repeatable, low-friction engine that brought in aligned readers who were likely to become contributors, collaborators, and eventually members.

Solution:

1. A personality-style quiz as the front door

Milly built a five-minute quiz on ScoreApp that asks one core question:
“Who are you as a generalist?”

• Users answer a short series of questions
• They receive a personalized archetype report (Connector, Innovator, Systems Thinker, or Translator)
• The report explains strengths, ideal roles, industries, and language to describe their skills

To see results, users enter their email — turning curiosity into a high-intent subscription that feels like a favor, not a funnel.

This single quiz has driven 22,000+ of the 30,000+ total subscribers.

2. TikTok as the discovery engine

Instead of ads, Milly uses TikTok to drive traffic to the quiz:

• Short, personal videos about being a generalist and redefining career success
• Viral clips like “Why it’s a great time to be a generalist” that rack up thousands of likes and comments
• A simple CTA in most videos:
  👉 “Take the quiz and find your generalist archetype.”

TikTok becomes:

• A discovery layer that finds generalists who feel “seen”
• A lead driver, sending consistent traffic into the quiz without ad spend
• A social proof loop, as comments and shares reinforce the quiz’s value

Some campaigns have captured 7,000+ new subscribers in a month purely from organic reach.

3. beehiiv as the engine for onboarding, content, and conversion

Using Zapier, every quiz taker is automatically added to beehiiv with their archetype attached. From there, the system runs on rails:

Welcome sequence

• A warm, personal intro email from Milly
• Clear expectations about what readers will receive
• Links to top resources and community pathways

Ongoing content

• Thoughtful newsletters that feel like an extension of the quiz
• Essays, job opportunities, interviews, and mental models for generalists
• Segmented content and offers based on archetype and interests

Community & monetization

• Email becomes the bridge into the 600+ member Generalist World community
• Members host meetups, build tools (like the AI Fluency Quiz), co-create content, and lead initiatives
• beehiiv powers the consistent communication that keeps this ecosystem active

4. Using beehiiv features to deepen insight and growth

Two beehiiv features stand out:

1. Surveys
2. 3,000+ responses collected
3. Used to pitch sponsors, shape content, improve offers
4. Key questions like “What’s the biggest pain point in your workflow right now?” feed back into product and copy
5. Collaborative editor
6. Supports a smooth team workflow for weekly sends
7. Makes it easy to ship polished, on-brand newsletters without extra design tools

Results:

• 30,000+ email subscribers, with 22,000+ from the quiz funnel alone
• 600+ paying community members worldwide
• Multiple viral TikTok campaigns driving thousands of signups without ads
• A quiz that’s become a shared language and social object (“This explains everything!”)
• A fully integrated, low-lift growth system:
  TikTok → Quiz → beehiiv → Community & Revenue

Generalist World shows how a simple, well-crafted quiz — paired with the right platform — can become a powerful entry point into a thriving, profitable ecosystem.

Try beehiiv for free and start turning your own quiz or entry point into a growth engine.