theygotacquired.com
Really Good Emails: 10-Year Side Project to $6.6M Exit
TL;DR: Four co-founders built Really Good Emails as a side project while maintaining full-time jobs at companies like Nike and Lonely Planet. The platform became the Pinterest of emails for marketers, hosting an inspiration and reference library. Revenue came from advertising (primary), premium subscriptions ($9/month launched in 2018), and events (Unspam conference in 2019 with 1000+ attendees). They never went full-time because day jobs paid more than the split profit. At sale: $250K annual revenue, 220K email subscribers, ~100M annual pageviews. Acquired by Beefree for $6.6M ($600K upfront + up to $6M earnout).
Key Insights
- Built entirely as a side project with all 4 founders keeping full-time jobs throughout
- Started as simple WordPress blog, evolved into sophisticated SEO-optimized platform with taxonomy and search
- Revenue came from 3 streams: advertising from martech companies, premium subscriptions, and events
- Users conducted 1M+ searches monthly, indicating strong product-market fit as a reference tool
- Acquisition took 14 months from first meeting to close
Actionable Takeaways
- Content businesses can grow to meaningful scale as side projects through SEO and delegation
- Find a company that loves your thing for the same reasons you do when selling
- Multiple revenue streams (ads, subscriptions, events) create resilience
- Don't assume you need to go full-time - keep day jobs if the split profit doesn't justify it
Read full article on theygotacquired.comAdded Feb 15, 2026