I'll never outsource this newsletter - here's why

Hello Predictable Revenue community,

Book update: sales update, we crossed 400 this week! I think we actually crossed it a few weeks back but there was an error in the report that was being shared. Funnily, we’ve shipped 1,626 copies to retailers so the rest are sitting on shelves, in a warehouse, or have been sold but aren’t reported yet.

I get paid on shipped copies minus returns, but retailers can return books for months, so my first royalty check doesn't arrive until June 2026, an 8-month lag. Welcome to the book business. There were some great reviews that came in from long time readers, this week, here’s one and there are more at the bottom.

Onto the newsletter…

A friend asked me recently if I outsource this newsletter to a ghostwriter.

Honest answer: the idea has literally never crossed my mind.

Not because I'm anti-help or anti-marketing. I get tons of help. Hugo handles all my social distribution. Claude helps me edit. Amanda keeps the wheels on the bus. (That’s a Person, AI, Person in case you’re trying to follow along).

But outsourcing the actual writing of this newsletter? That would break the exact thing that makes it work.

This works because it's messy and real

This newsletter works because it's written by a founder, for founders.

It's not polished. It's not optimized. It's not carefully crafted to be "on brand."

It's just real thinking from someone actually in the arena, trying to figure shit out in real-time.

Some weeks the writing is tight and I've got time to let ideas breathe. Some weeks it's messy and I'm clearly rushing to hit send before my Friday 9am PT deadline because I've been on back-to-back calls since 7am and my headphones are dying.

That's fine.

Poor execution from someone who actually understands the problem beats perfect execution from someone who doesn't.

Relevance > polish. Every single time.

The failed experiment

I know this isn't just theory because I've lived what happens when you remove the founder from the content.

Back at Predictable Revenue - the company I built based on Aaron Ross's book - our marketing team took over writing Aaron's newsletter when he stepped back from the day-to-day.

Aaron and I started working together in 2014. He wrote the book and ran the coaching program. I built the software based on his methodology and ran the rest of the company.

When Aaron stepped back, our marketing team took over his newsletter.

And the moment he stopped writing it himself:

• People stopped loving it

• Growth slowed

• Traffic dropped

• Leads dried up

• Revenue followed

We didn't ruin it with bad copy. Our marketing team was talented. The content was still professional, well-formatted, "about" the same topics Aaron had always covered.

But it wasn't Aaron thinking out loud anymore.

It was a marketing team writing about sales development and scaling revenue. Polished content about founder problems, written by people who'd never experienced them.

And readers noticed immediately.

The emails still went out on schedule. The subject lines still followed best practices. But the soul was gone.

Why professional marketers can't fake lived experience

Here's the brutal truth about ghostwriters and marketing teams: they can study your tone, mimic your voice, even nail your sentence structure.

But they can't replicate lived experience.

They don't wake up at 3am wondering if they should take on that questionable client because December revenue looks shaky. They're not feeling the gut-punch of a long-time partner stepping back for personal reasons right when you need them most. They're not doing the mental math of "if these three customers who said they're churning actually stick around, and if this one customer doubles down like they said they might, then maybe we go from a terrible month to a great month."

Marketers write about problems.

Founders write from inside them.

There's a difference. And readers can tell within two sentences.

Just this week, I've been dealing with a partner stepping back from the business. He wasn't an equity partner, but he felt like one. He covered for me when I went on sabbatical last year, now he needs his own, and I get to pick up all his clients.

We lost a couple in the shuffle. October and September were great months. November was mediocre. December was looking possibly really bad.

Then things shifted. Our biggest, longest-standing client wants to double down. Two clients who said they wanted to leave might stick around.

A ghostwriter can't write about that emotional whiplash because they're not living it.

They'd write something generic about "managing client relationships during transitions" or "maintaining revenue stability."

Only the founder can write: "It's been a fucking week."

You can get help - just don't outsource ownership

Look, this doesn't mean doing everything alone like some kind of martyred solopreneur.

I get help with tons of stuff from distribution, to editing, to the general operations of the company. 

But the ideas are mine. The words are mine. The experiences are mine.

I still hit "send" myself, every Friday morning.

Well, not quite. I prefer to hit “schedule” Thursday afternoon before I get my workout in. But there are definitely times where I’m scrambling at the last minute to make sure I hit that 9am PT deadline.

Because the moment I hand that off, this stops being my newsletter and becomes a newsletter.

It becomes content marketing instead of founder-to-founder journaling.

And honestly? The internet has enough content marketing.

Why this matters beyond newsletters

This principle applies to any channel where you're trying to build trust with your customers:

• LinkedIn posts

• Podcasts

• YouTube videos

• Twitter threads

• Any thought leadership

If you're founder-led in sales mode - which you should be when you're finding your first customers - you need to use your own voice.

You can't outsource trust.

The founders I work with don't hire me because I have perfect marketing. They hire me because I've been in the trenches. I've built companies, failed at scaling, and learned the hard way that you can't outsource something until you've done it yourself.

That authenticity comes through because I'm writing from experience, not from a content calendar.

The brutal closing thought

If you're going to do content - and I think you should - pick a channel you own and say things only you can say.

Accept that it won't be perfect. Accept that some weeks will be better than others. Accept that you'll sometimes hit send and immediately notice a typo or realize you could have made a point better.

Ship it anyway.

Founder-written content doesn't beat "good marketing" because it's smarter or more cleverly crafted.

It wins because it's real.

And in a world drowning in AI-generated everything and polished corporate speak, real is the only moat left.

If you're a founder thinking about outsourcing your voice - don't. 

Do the work yourself first. Figure out what you actually want to say. Build the muscle of writing consistently. Find your voice by using it.

Then - maybe - get help with distribution, formatting, operations.

But never hand off the thinking.

That's the only part that matters.

Collin

PS - I’m looking for 2 or 3 founders that can give me some one on one feedback on vclist.co, if you are raising and have a few mins this afternoon, drop me a note. I’ll trade you some of your time for premium access to the tool.

PPS - as promised, here are a few more reviews, of The Terrifying Art of Finding Customers.

Thank you Shervin (on Rosa’s account) - you know it’s honest because he roasts my reading performance 😂. Not unfairly I might add. This is what happens when you only give yourself two days to record a 5 hour audiobook.

Thanks to David Manner for the shoutout in his newsletter!

Thank you Jernej!