How Half Baked Grew to 100K Subscribers in Just Over a Year with beehiiv

Situation:

Half Baked began as a creator-led experiment from John O’Keeffe and Darragh Lucey- two founders with no media background, no list, and zero momentum.

Their first newsletter went out to six people (friends and family).
Their goal: share actionable business ideas for indie builders.

That niche hit a nerve. By focusing on ideas worth building, the duo started attracting a passionate audience of founders hungry for clarity, inspiration, and execution.

Within 13 months, Half Baked grew from 6 inboxes to 100,000+ subscribers, becoming one of the fastest-growing creator-led business newsletters on beehiiv.

Challenge:

Early momentum was encouraging, but Half Baked ran into classic growth roadblocks:

1. Organic reach plateaued at ~3,000 subscribers.
   Sending emails to friends-of-friends was no longer enough.
2. Both founders were still working full-time.
   They needed leverage, not more hours.
3. They lacked funding for paid acquisition.
   Growth required cash and they didn’t have it.
4. They needed a publishing system that didn’t slow them down.
   Shipping consistently was core to their strategy.

The question became:
How do you scale a newsletter like a startup without burning out?

Solution:

1. Use YouTube to validate early content

Lucey’s existing YouTube channel drove the first 1,000 subscribers, combined with:

• Headline testing
• Consistent feedback loops
• Iterations to sharpen clarity and storytelling

This created the foundation for a high-retention audience.

2. Unlock paid growth with Meta ads + Omnis

At 3,000 subscribers, growth stalled.
So they made a strategic shift:

• Meta ads became the #1 growth lever
• Omnis helped optimize paid acquisition
• 99% of their top 1,000 paid subscribers came from Meta

But ads required funding, which came in the form of a prepaid, yearlong sponsorship.
That upfront capital allowed them to scale acquisition aggressively.

This loop fueled the jump from 10,000 → 100,000 subscribers.

3. Build deep reader engagement through consistency

Half Baked published 83 consecutive weekly issues without missing a beat.
That consistency compounded:

• Reader trust
• Reply volume
• Churn reduction
• Word-of-mouth

They also introduced a new site using beehiiv’s website builder, which:

• Boosted open rates (35% → 50%)
• Increased CTR by 4x
• Improved long-term retention

Their site redesign became a growth lever, not a cosmetic upgrade.

4. Create loyalty through “Daily Office Hours”

Every weekday, O’Keeffe hosts 15-minute live calls with readers.

These sessions:

• Give personalized feedback
• Help readers validate startup ideas
• Build emotional connection
• Turn readers into evangelists

This community-centric approach drives retention and LTV more than any tactic.

5. Build the business entirely on beehiiv

Half Baked runs every layer of its operation through beehiiv:

Favorite Features:

• The Editor: “Fast, clean, never breaks.”
• 3D Analytics: Track LTV, conversions, and reader behavior
• Website Builder: “A complete game changer… now a growth lever.”

They even hired a designer from the beehiiv Slack community to redesign their entire site in weeks and now run weekly A/B tests inside beehiiv.

“Everything about our business lives inside beehiiv.”

Results:

Half Baked scaled to 100,000 subscribers in 13 months by treating their newsletter like a startup:

• Paid acquisition → Meta ads + Omnis
• Retention → consistency + live reader calls
• Tooling → beehiiv’s full publishing stack
• Feedback → content built with readers, not for them
• Focus → actionable ideas, not news recaps

Key outcomes:

• Open rate: 35% → 50%
• CTR: 4× increase
• 50% long-term retention
• Churn below industry benchmarks
• Weekly replies increasing month over month

From six inboxes to a six-figure audience, Half Baked proved that newsletters can become high-performance businesses when creators:

• Pick a high-leverage niche
• Commit long-term
• Stay consistent
• Double down on what works
• Use the right tools

According to O’Keeffe and Lucey: This is still just the beginning.