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Techpresso: How Louis Corneloup Built His Newsletter to 300,000 Subscribers
How Corneloup Leveraged Reddit and beehiiv’s API To Scale His Newsletter
Brandon Storey
May 21, 2025
How do you turn a passion project into a real business?
For Louis Corneloup, a 25-year-old entrepreneur from France, it started with a simple idea: create a newsletter that he would love to read.
Fast-forward two years later, and his artificial intelligence (AI) and tech-focused newsletter, Techpresso, is not only profitable but is also loved by 300,000 people who read it every morning.
Meet Louis Corneloup, the founder of Techpresso.
In this beehiiv case study, we’ll dive into Corneloup’s journey—from launching with zero subscribers in college to scaling a newsletter that’s now his full-time business.
We’ll explore how he persevered through early Reddit bans, built his audience to 300,000, and leveraged beehiiv to simplify his tech stack and fuel growth.
Table of Contents
The Techpresso Backstory: From College Student to Newsletter Master
Louis Corneloup is a 25-year-old newsletter operator from France. His journey started in Germany in 2023, while pursuing his master’s thesis on media and technology.
Two years ago, Corneloup noticed a glaring gap in the French market for engaging, tech-focused content — specifically around AI and emerging technology.
Corneloup shared, “ChatGPT was just released, and I was interested in the topic and in tech in general. So I tried to make a newsletter that I would love reading, and there was really no media and tech company in France that was doing what I do now. I thought, ‘I want to find a job around this in France, and so basically I have to create my own job if I want to do what I like.’”
Since Corneloup’s dream job didn’t exist, he created it himself.
With no established brand or audience, he decided to launch Techpresso, a newsletter that curates and summarizes the latest AI and tech news.
And, what started as a passion project started gaining traction, thanks to Corneloup’s relentless marketing efforts on Reddit… which wasn’t a smooth ride as you’ll learn below.
Initial Growth (And Getting Banned) on Reddit
Louis Corneloup had zero subscribers and no marketing budget (since he was still in university).
At first, he sent his newsletter to his network – friends and family. That’s how he got his first 30 subscribers, but he was still a long way off.
Corneloup turned to Reddit to get the word out. He started sharing AI and tech articles on relevant subreddits, subtly promoting his newsletter at the end of each post.
Corneloup shared, “I started publishing my newsletter at the end of the post, saying “Okay, if you like this article that I shared, you will probably like my newsletter.”
“I remember hitting 100 subscribers in a day, then 500 subscribers in a day. It took some traction. A lot of AI or tech newsletters started at that time like the Rundown AI and Superhuman all at the same time because there was this craze where it was super easy to start a newsletter and get this early traction,” recalled Corneloup.
This strategy worked — until it didn’t.
Corneloup explained, “I got banned like 20 times from Reddit. I had 15 different accounts. I even talked to the mods of subreddits begging them to unban me. At that point, they banned the URL of my newsletter. I even started to use subdomains to use the redirections. It was a mess.”
Pivoting to a New Growth Path
After getting his newsletter URL banned from Reddit, Corneloup faced a turning point. During this period, he was offered a full-time job and almost took it (which meant shutting down the newsletter).
But, instead, he decided to take a chance and go all in on building his newsletter.
“I felt like I had to stop riding the wave and start creating a sustainable business,” Corneloup explained.
That’s when he pivoted to paid ads, leveraging platforms like Sparkloop and Refind to continue driving subscriber growth.
But with higher subscriber numbers came a new challenge: email deliverability.
That’s when Corneloup decided he was going to have to change his growth strategy.
Corneloup Built His Own Tech Stack To Solve Deliverability Issues
As Corneloup scaled Techpresso, he found himself in a technical nightmare, despite being a tech wiz. Initially, he was using MailerLite to send newsletters, but he quickly hit the platform’s email limits, forcing him to consider more robust solutions.
He shared, “I’m a bit of a tech guy, so I decided to create my own email infrastructure. But managing your own server is a nightmare when you’re sending hundreds of thousands of emails in five minutes.”
Corneloup started to host his own email infrastructure, but it was a costly and stressful endeavor.
He recalled, “There were nights I couldn’t sleep. I’d spend hours trying to fix IP addresses and dealing with AWS support. It was a crazy amount of time and stress.”
Despite the challenges, Corneloup was determined to maintain control over his newsletter and focus on scaling, which ultimately led him to discovering beehiiv.
Why Louis Switched to beehiiv: The Game-Changing API
In 2023, Louis Corneloup noticed that beehiiv had launched an Application Programming Interface (API) integration. This was something he’d been hoping for, but he didn’t think it would be ready so soon.
He shared, “I sent a DM to the team as soon as I saw it. It was the missing piece I needed to streamline my operations.”
After a call with the beehiiv team, Corneloup was convinced. The pricing was competitive, the API integration was robust, and beehiiv provided advanced email infrastructure. This would solve his tech and scaling bottlenecks.
For Corneloup, the switch to beehiiv wasn’t just about saving headspace and money. It was also about getting his time back.
Corneloup recalled, “I was spending hours every week troubleshooting with my hands in the machine. Some days, I would spend eight to ten hours just trying to find a solution to my problem. I thought it was the end of the journey at one point. Now, I don’t worry about deliverability or IP issues. The time that I spent because of not being on the right platform is priceless.”
He continued, “I was really glad that you [beehiiv] had everything I needed to grow my newsletter and scale. Scaling’s really important because I always had in mind to create new newsletters, and I knew I could do that easily with beehiiv.”
Enjoying this beehiiv case study? Learn how Dan Koe makes $2 million per year by writing 2 hours per day.
Corneloup’s Favorite beehiiv Features
We asked Corneloupe to share his favorite beehiiv features since switching over. And unlike some newsletter operators who use every feature available, he likes to keep it simple.
He shared, “My favorite beehiiv feature is the beehiiv API because that's the main thing that made me switch to beehiiv.
Beyond the beehiiv API, Corneloup’s focus is on deliverability, email automations, and list segmentation.
Here are some other key features he leverages:
API Integrations: Streamlined content distribution without relying on complex server setups
Boosts: Acquiring new subscribers through beehiiv’s paid recommendations
Automations: Triggered email sequences for specific segments of his audience
Corneloup shared, “The time you save with beehiiv compared to managing your own tech stack is way better. Plus, you have your dedicated IP address, and great pricing is really cool. I think it's a game changer and no brainer, knowing that you have all these features.”
“How quickly you ship new features is huge,” Corneloup shared. “You feel like your money is being reinvested in the platform, so it's really cool. I'm using the marketing automations, and I'm using a bit of the Boosts feature where I'm acquiring subscribers.”
He continued, “Customer support is also really nice. When you're working with a startup, it's really nice to have a great customer experience and support. Especially for bigger accounts like me or bigger newsletters, it's really nice when you feel like there's a human that is going to listen to you.”
Goals for 2025: Growth and Launching New Publications
Corneloup’s first goal with his newsletter is to keep leaning into what’s working with growth and monetization.
“When I look at big newsletters like The Rundown, TL;DR, and The Neuron, I think I can reach their level of subscribers. I mean, that's my dream in a way, so my plan is to do what they've done and, if possible, better – so better monetized, distributed, better everything.”
And now that he’s established his core newsletter, Techpresso, Corneloup is eyeing expansion. With beehiiv, he plans to launch additional newsletters targeting sub-niches within tech, like cybersecurity and other emerging trends.
“I still have nine newsletters that I can launch with my beehiiv plan, so I plan to use them.
My plan is also to operate better, find more long-term partners, and create relationships I’ll be able to leverage for other newsletters.”
But he’s not just focused on scaling content, Louis is also keen to strengthen relationships with long-term partners and sponsors, using his growing platform to drive revenue beyond traditional ad placements.
Tips for Someone Looking To Start Their Own Newsletter
We asked Corneloup to share some advice for anyone looking to start their first newsletter.
He shared, “Try to write about something that you love because that's the only way you will be able to know if you're writing something that’s good or not. Start doing it now.”
Corneloup recalled, “I loved it when I got my first 100 subscribers and my first 1,000 subscribers. I was so happy. It was a dream for me. I really loved what I was doing. If you don't enjoy the process, if you don't like writing a newsletter every day, maybe don't do it. But if you’re interested in it, then just go for it.”
Corneloup’s Advice for Anyone on the Fence About beehiiv
And, for those on the fence about launching their newsletter on beehiiv, Corneloup has some advice.
He shared, “Use beehiiv because you will have way more features than something like Substack. It will be way more scalable. You will own the thing. These guys respect your newsletter, and it's a real newsletter platform, not a social network that is branded as a newsletter platform.”
Corneloup closed by stating, “Every time I talk to a newsletter operator I just tell them, you should think about switching to beehiiv.”
Why Listen to Me? I’ve generated over $1 million with email and written over 1,000 blog posts. In my daily newsletter, Storey Time, I teach 3,500+ readers how to escape their 9 to 5 with freelance copywriting. Feel free to reach out to me on X (Formerly Twitter) anytime!
Louis Corneloup started his newsletter with zero subscribers, no media experience, all while in university. Now, two years later, he’s running a profitable newsletter business with over 300,000 subscribers and has big plans for the future.
Want to start a newsletter and scale it like Corneloup?
With beehiiv, you get access to an advanced API, customizable automations, and a robust deliverability infrastructure.
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