Why I Unsubscribe from Newsletters
By: Alexander Lim
Tags: Founder Stories, Productivity, Founders, Founder Advice, Startup

Why I Unsubscribe from Newsletters

Photo by Torsten Dettlaff from Pexels

In the past I have had a subscription to Inc., Entrepreneur, and other news and newsletters. I would read them on my phone or print them out. Then, I would archive them in something like Evernote.

The problem was that when I would go back to look at them months later, they were a pain to find. Often they would be buried in a long list of notes that were not very helpful when I wanted to recall something specific from a newsletter or article that I read months ago.

Further, it was difficult to find the details on what exactly was useful in each article as opposed to what was not useful.

So, over time, all this information just became less and less useful to me as a business owner.

Nowadays, with so much information available online on any topic, it is easy for me (and all of us) to become overwhelmed with too much information online.

The problem is not necessarily the amount of information coming at us but the quality of it.

With so many new startups that have been created in the past few years alone (many of which are startups by first time entrepreneurs), there is more than enough content online for all of us who are interested in startup or entrepreneur topics.

When we add onto this the fact that most startup founders are bloggers themselves (so they write articles every week), there is even more content available out there than you can read — even if you only spend 5 minutes per day reading an article or blog post!

The Solution:

Begone, Email Newsletters

My solution has been to unsubscribe from all newsletters and blogs except those from people whom I am close friends with — who know me well enough that their articles will be relevant for me given my situation as an entrepreneur and life events.

However, even when unsubscribing from these newsletters meant losing some valuable insights into important trends or events in my industry, there was still enough other good content out there for me to remain informed about trends without being inundated by generic articles about topics that did not relate specifically to me or our company — such as technology trends, marketing tips, etc. This approach also helped me avoid websites whose varied content may contain some gems but also include tons of irrelevant info (i.e., Medium 👀).

So now, instead of relying on newsletters and blogs for my startup insights, I rely on the people who I’m close to. My friends, partners, and mentors are always willing to share with me up-to-date info on what’s happening in our industry — especially if I ask them for it!

By choosing this path, it has opened up a lot of time in my schedule that is now free from having to read through lots of articles and newsletters that don’t directly apply to me or my business. And it has opened up a lot of time for me to focus on the most important thing you have to do as a founder — build your product and your team.

A Pro Tip:

Use Spark Mail App

If you do still want a way to read newsletters/articles easily on your phone or tablet, I recommend the Spark Mail app. You can subscribe to any email newsletter with it and have it sent to you as a daily email digest of the articles that come from that newsletter.

This way, you’ll be able to see an overview of what was in each newsletter without having to read through dozens of articles or newsletters.

For those out there who still want to stay informed about startup and entrepreneur news online, I highly recommend this app!

In conclusion, if you’re a startup founder or CEO, the key is to know what information is relevant to you as a founder so that you can focus on what’s most important for your business — building your product and your team!

What do you think? Do you still have lots of newsletters or articles to read? What tips do you have for startup founders who want to be more efficient and intentional with the time they spend reading online? Let me know in the comments.

About the Author

I am the Founder of Cudy Technologies (www.cudy.co), a full-stack EdTech startup helping teachers and students teach and learn better. I am also a mentor and angel investor in other Startups of my other interests (Proptech, Fintech, HRtech, Ride-hailing, C2C marketplaces and SaaS). You can also find me on Cudy for early-stage Startup Founder mentorship and advice.

You can connect with me on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderlhk) and let me know that you are a reader of my Medium posts in your invitation message.