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Many thought leadership newsletters fail because they chase topics.
The great ones build around perspective.
Topics change every week.
Perspective compounds.
Once readers understand how you see the world, they’ll read almost anything you write.
Because they’re there for your lens... not just the topic.
The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
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A founder’s newsletter shouldn’t compete with journalists.
Journalists report what happened.
Founders can reveal something much rarer: what it felt like while it was happening.
The uncertainty before the decision.
The bet no one agreed with.
The mistake that looked correct at the time.
That perspective is impossible to manufacture later. Which is why it’s so valuable.
The biggest mistake executives make with newsletters is trying to sound “professional.”
Professional writing is optimized to avoid risk.
But the ideas that attract attention usually involve taking intellectual risk... a sharp observation, a contrarian view, a lesson from a mistake.
Readers remember perspective.
They forget corporate tone immediately.
At illotv, we just launched a new newsletter → dillo — say it! 🔷🟩🟡🔺 It’s where we put all the things that never make it into the work we share:
→ thoughts
→ methods
→ half-finished ideas
Less polished and slightly unfiltered.
I worked on this one end-to-end → idea, motion, design (so yes, I’ve been living inside it for a while)
It’s out ✷ subscribe on https://illo.tv/newsletter
This animation is so hypnotic that it has made me want to subscribe to the newsletter! 🌀 Love the color palette and everything ❤️🔥
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