It took these newsletters <18 months to reach 50k subs

I made a graphic of Growth in Reverse's case studies to see how long it took individually, and on average, to reach the subscriber milestone of 50,000 email list subscribers.

The average time was 18 months.

22-24 months was the most frequently cited time it took.

Those which grew fastest all relied on viral social posts and paid ads.

The "slow" growers relied on SEO, referrals, and networking (e.g., getting featured in other newsletters) — but even though it was slow, it often paid dividends in the long run.

You can read the full breakdown here: https://www.contentclass.org/classnotes-008/