Hey!

This week, we’re taking a look at Colby Kultgen’s account.

Studying who is winning with can teach you what it takes to win. This is my attempt to do so.

Btw, if you have someone you'd like me to breakdown, just reply to this email and let me know.

Quick highlights:

• Followers: 522,711
• # of posts (last 30 days): 21
• Post types
  • Text: 0
  • Carousel: 4
  • Image: 17
  • Video: 0
  • Giveaway: 0
• Posts with link or comment-to-get CTAs: 3 (the posts with links are sponsored posts)

Best two posts (by likes):

1/ I think there’s a lot of truth to this.

We’ve normalized overconsumption.

2/ We’ve all been guilty of this.

Letting one bad moment convince us the whole day is shot.

Insights & Takeaways

1/ Let's start with a little background.

• He has over 1m readers across platforms. 500k+ on LI, same on IG, 60k on X.
• Runs a newsletter with 60k subscribers, and LI newsletter with 180k subs. He monetizes with sponsors.
• He is partnered with Ben Meer and Jade Bonacolta on Archimedes, a cohort-based LinkedIn course.

We'll get to revenue temporarily.

2/ He's built more of a media business than a "thought leader" business.

First, look at his post types. 100% visual:

• 0 text posts
• 4 carousel
• 17 images

Second, take a look at the two highest-performing topics:

• "We've normalized overconsumption"
• "Don't let bad moments ruin your day"

These ideas don't require unique expertise.

They are universal. He's not operating like a thought leader, he's operating like a curator of good ideas and has a massive distribution system. This is what curation looks like at scale for a personal brand.

3/ Archimedes costs $3,299 and has served 1,300+ people. At current pricing, that represents millions in cumulative sales.

But I also don't know the split between founders and what the equates to in take home. The good news is when you have a ton of traffic, there are plenty of ways to monetize and it's not like he's lacking in options.

4/ He's averaged roughly 100k new followers per year.

Extremely impressive growth.

5/ His sponsorship rates are...interesting.

Normally, you charge more for email sponsorships than social post sponsorships.

He charges $1,000 for ad slots in his newsletter.

But he charges $4,000 for LinkedIn sponsored posts. Fascinating.

6/ He aims for posts with "high hit rates."

He explicitly says he does this. Basically, he wants to start with a proven idea. Why guess, when you already have proof something works?

And because his audience is anyone who wants to improve their life, his TAM is massive.

This works for him because he monetizes the attention itself.

7/ The 3 CTA number is misleading.

Archimedes operates in launches, so it's likely he promotes a lot harder during those windows.

8/ Revenue numbers

These are estimates, no guarantees of accuracy.

His public sponsorship rates are:

• $3,999 for a sponsored LinkedIn post
• $1,000 for a sponsored newsletter

I found 3 sponsored LinkedIn posts in the last 30 days.

At his listed rate, that's ~$12k in sponsorship revenue from LinkedIn alone. Then assuming he fills 3/4 slots in his newsletter, that's another $3k which gets us to ~$15k/mo or $180k/yr in sponsorship revenue.

Then there's Archimedes.

Current price: $3,299.

More than 1,300 people have gone through it.

Even more interesting: they were saying 800+ members less than a year ago.

That means they've added roughly 500 members in the last year, representing somewhere around $1.25m-$1.65m in gross sales at today's pricing.

I don't know Colby's ownership or revenue share, so it's impossible to know what he personally takes home.

But if he had an equal one-third economic interest (which we can't verify), the last year's cohorts would represent roughly $400k-$550k of gross revenue attributable to his share, before expenses and taxes.

There you have it!

Two questions for you:

1. Anything new or interesting you learned from this?
2. Who would you like me to cover next?

Best,

Matthew