Their Database Generated $100,000+ Within a Year

Ryan Sager is the co-founder of Who Sponsors Stuff, a database that tracks sponsorship data for newsletters 👀

Ryan used to work at a company called Ladders, where he helped build a newsletter that generated millions in ad revenue 💰

That’s also where he met his co-founder Jesse.

In a recent interview, Ryan shared how it came to be…

After Ladders, Jesse and I set up a company doing third-party sales for newsletters that needed help filling ad inventory.

We had big clients in numerous content verticals, so we needed a way to track what companies were sponsoring which newsletters. We’d done this casually at Ladders, but this time around we systematized it more and more.

Before long, it was clear that what we were building wasn’t just of use to us—it was something we should package and sell to publishers.

Who Sponsors Stuff now tracks 350+ newsletters and records details like ad screenshots, sponsor landing pages, and the best contacts to reach out to 👋

We record who is sponsoring each newsletter and package that data up for use by publishers’ sales teams or for solopreneurs.

They built the whole thing with Airtable and Softr (turns Airtable data into a working app), and hired virtual assistants to collect the data.

After starting in late 2021, Who Sponsors Stuff was already generating six-figure revenue within a year 🚀

Most of our interest has come inbound and through referrals from other customers.

Ryan says the product now has over 50+ paying publishers using it to power their newsletter and podcast ad sales. So I’m guessing they charge $2k-$3k per year for this data.

The success of Who Sponsors Stuff in the newsletter industry has me wondering if it could work  for other industries 🤔

Maybe…

• Podcast Sponsor Tracker
• Niche YouTube Sponsor Tracker (tech, gaming, productivity, etc.)

Might be an opportunity to package who’s sponsoring what in those industries, and sell the data to creators.

Ryan’s advice for new founders….

Make sure you’re solving a problem. If you’re solving a pain point that can unlock revenue for others, you’re off to a better start than 99% of projects.

With that in mind, a good starting point here would be to speak to a bunch of people you think would pay for such a service 💬

If you’re addressing a real pain point – and they believe you can actually deliver a solution – they’d likely be willing to pay in advance.

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