The Start:

Growing up in Boise, Idaho, Nathan Barry initially pursued freelance web design and then moved into selling iPhone apps.

Nathan wrote and self-published several books on design, generating a substantial income from these ventures.

His success with these books and courses led him to realize the potential of email marketing as a reliable way to connect with audiences and generate income.

The problem:

Nathan realized he relied on emails to connect with audiences & generate money.

ConvertKit was born out of Nathan's frustration with existing email marketing tools like Mailchimp, which he found insufficient for bloggers and digital creators.

So he started ConvertKit as part of a "Web App Challenge" he was documenting on social media. He had a strong social media presence and a newsletter. By sharing his journey, he gained his first 50 customers.

Getting the first $$$:

Nathan focused on direct sales by cold emailing food bloggers.

He positioned ConvertKit as an email marketing software specifically for food bloggers. He repeated this strategy for other niches as well (Convertkit for Travel bloggers, tech bloggers etc).

Once he extinguished his niche, he moved to the next one. Direct sales and word of mouth helped him gain his next 500 users. He manually switched users to ConvertKit, doing things that didn't scale initially.

ConvertKit initially struggled, reaching just $2,000 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) after its first year.

Faced with stagnation, Nathan considered shutting down the business but decided to double down instead, investing $50,000 of his savings into the company.

His hands-on approach, including personally handling customer migrations from other email platforms, began to pay off.

How they scaled:

The affiliate program significantly boosted growth.

Affiliate links were a natural fit for his niche audience: bloggers. Bloggers could use and promote a product they loved and earn money from it.

The affiliate program offered a forever ongoing 30% revenue share for each month a referred user remained on ConvertKit.

ConvertKit also everaged content marketing to build an audience and drive organic traffic.

They also formed strategic partnerships with influencers and industry leaders who were already trusted by their target audience.

Nathan from the very start focused on building a strong community around their product. They organized events, webinars, and meetups, fostering a sense of belonging among their users.

Today, ConvertKit boasts millions in annual recurring revenue, serving over 30,000 creators. Looking forward, Nathan aims to continue scaling ConvertKit while maintaining its core mission of helping creators earn a living​.

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