👋 Hi friends -
Welcome to The Newsletter Growth Memo. Twice a month, I share short reflections with my newsletter clients + other operators.
Zero formality, ads, or affiliate links - just a guy sharing learnings from working with media operators doing $25k-$2M+ / month with newsletters.
New reader highlights: Harry, Founder @High Yield Harry | Sam, Director of Partnerships @Moby | Prerit, Co-founder @TheTechBuzz
I want to tell you about a friend of mine.
Sam Parr says he’s one of the most fascinating people he’s ever met.
Joe Gebbia (Airbnb co-founder) calls Isaac to pick his brain on creating amazing products.
He’s one of the most unreasonably kind people I know.
And he’s obsessed. In the best way possible.
Isaac builds art in nature:
I designed and built a personal office / art studio in the forest behind my home. Calling it "the nook"
Took 4 months to build.
Let's have a look👇
— #Isaac French (#@isaacfrench_)
4:03 PM • Jun 7, 2024
My dad bought this 120-yr-old train car for $3k.
It was a rotting, cat-infested wreck. But after $148k and 5 months of work, we redeemed it.
Today, it’s one of the most profitable and exclusive airbnbs in the country.
Here’s how it all came together…
— #Isaac French (#@isaacfrench_)
12:58 PM • Apr 5, 2025
In his early 20s, Isaac:
Maxed out 8 credit cards for a 5-acre plot in Texas
Built 7 rentals that were supposed to be Airbnbs (got delisted and was forced to build a direct audience quickly)
Grew Live Oak Lake’s Instagram to 200k+
Did $1M in revenue with 2.5x the profit of a typical Airbnb
Sold for $7M before at 27 years old
He had no plan B - this was a ‘burn the lifeboats’ scenario.
The Airbnb gaffe had a 90% chance of a lifetime debt sentence.
But it ended up being a blessing - Instagram and email became a direct channel for his business.
He’d have guests who stay 3-4x in a single year - one of the few short-term rental businesses to actually build meaningful LTV.
I’m proud to call Isaac a friend, one of the folks we partner with on growth here at The Feed, and our 3rd guest on Personal IPO.
We talk:
Going from living in a ‘modern Amish’ community to doing 150M+ social impressions in 12 months
Building out a newsletter (read here) and his 2nd business, which has quickly hit a 7-figure run-rate
Creating a life of unreasonable hospitality and the ‘little things’ that build A+ customer experience
A quick story about Isaac.
He and I met in person at our buddy Andrew Warner's place for dinner back in March.
(I’d invited him to this newsletter a few months prior).
Me and a few of my favorite newsletter nerds at Andrew Warner’s place in Austin.
When he visited NYC in April, I took him to a TabeTomo, one of my favorite ramen spots in the East Village.
Isaac walks in.
Big canvas tucked under his arm, travel bags everywhere, barely squeezing through the door of this cramped little restaurant.
Looked like Nicolas Cage came in carrying the Declaration of Independence.
Ha!
I asked what he was carrying.
“Oh! This? Yeah, it’s uh, a hand-drawn portrait of Sam's daughter.”
His thank-you gift for letting him stay the weekend.
The way Isaac said it, I could just tell it was no big deal.
Stay with someone → spend 10 hours creating an amazing, meaningful, custom gift.
That's Isaac in a nutshell.
Isaac and I at TabeTomo - the famous canvas on the bottom right!
He became obsessed after reading Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara, who studied under Danny Meyer (Shake Shack/Eleven Madison Park).
The guy just operates at a different level of thoughtfulness.
Fresh-baked cookies for every property guest.
A handwritten note welcoming them to the property.
There's something to learn from founders who don't just build businesses - they build experiences that make you feel something.
That’s the letter.
- Nathan May
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