Nearly 5,000 subscribers, zero ad spend, and one Reddit alert app

Michelle Rueda has the growth story a lot of newsletter owners want. What's Weird ATX is close to 5,000 subscribers, and she has not spent a dime on ads. The way she got there is not glamorous: she answers questions on Reddit, one at a time.

What makes it work is that she is an engineer. Instead of searching Reddit for hours, she built an app to find the right conversations for her. We sat down with her to talk about how she does it, what she'd tell you to avoid, and where she thinks local media is going.

A year and a half of weird Austin events

Michelle came to Austin from New York a little over 12 years ago. New York was too stressful for her, and she fell for Austin and how friendly everyone was. She wanted to help people meet each other.

Austin has a reputation for being weird, so she started a newsletter around the most unique and interesting events in the city. That was a year and a half ago. She calls it a little experiment that became probably the most meaningful thing in her life right now.

Why she built her own Reddit tool

Her first idea was to promote on Reddit. The problem was moderators: in most subreddits they won't let you post, even when you add real value. But she knew people were asking what there is to do in Austin, how to make friends and what dating is like.

Comments were still allowed. So she built Social Radar, which notifies her whenever someone is asking something that might be relevant to the newsletter. She jumps in and answers.

Michelle says it is not a keyword tool. It reads for meaning, so she gets anything relevant to what she cares about. She even uses it to spot new topics people are asking about.

Answer the question, then mention the newsletter

TJ asked the obvious question: how do you promote in a comment without the mods getting mad? Michelle's answer is that you have to answer the specific question. That is why a human has to judge each thread.

If someone wants antique shops, saying "go to my newsletter" is too dangerous, so she skips it. But if someone says dating in Austin is hard, she can say that going to events is the best way to meet people who share your interests, and that she makes a newsletter highlighting the most interesting ones. She has never had a problem doing it that way. She gets upvotes and thank-yous.

She also won't let AI write the replies. Some people do, she says, but for local newsletters it is all about an authentic voice. That has built a real brand voice, and commenters now tell her they love the newsletter. That is free social proof.

Karma comes before the pitch

If you're new to this, Michelle's warning is simple. Don't start with a brand new account. Spend some time on Reddit, engage naturally and build up karma before you start doing this kind of thing. Then keep it super authentic.

She says she has never had a problem, and she attributes that to staying genuine in every comment.

Big cities help, suburbs are thinner

TJ pointed out a catch from where he lives, north of Austin. Reddit pages for smaller suburbs are not very active, so the strategy works best in big cities. Austin's subreddits are super active.

His workaround was to monitor the Austin subreddit and watch for people who mention the suburbs. Michelle confirmed that Social Radar can watch up to five subreddits right now.

Facebook groups, TikTok and slideshows

Michelle has not done much on Facebook manually. She is investigating it as an automated play now and thinks it will be huge. TJ added that this kind of alert tool is not just for newsletters. A roofer who sees someone asking for a roofer in a group would pay for that lead. Michelle agrees Social Radar could work for pretty much any business, but she is focused on local newsletters because that is her use case.

One of her customers saw people asking about Christmas lights, built a map to answer it, and got tens of thousands of visitors to his site.

On video, she is not keen on being on camera every day. She built a tool that makes an "Austin tomorrow" post in about five minutes, with video in the back and text on top. It picks something for tomorrow based on things like the weather. She also makes slideshows from the newsletter, which get a lot of views, and she is moving into TikTok.

Profitable on Beehiiv ads, nervous about Meta ads

Michelle says she is already profitable with just Beehiiv ads, and she has not done much sponsor outreach. Eventually she wants local business sponsors. She is interested in Meta ads, but is scared to get it wrong because there are so many variables.

TJ's advice was to just try it. Don't spend much: five or ten dollars a day for a week, then iterate. Hiring someone is the other route, but he said Meta ads for local newsletters are specific enough that general newsletter agencies struggle to match the numbers he sees.

Dating, events and getting people off the couch

Michelle's most-clicked events are speed dating, even though readers complain about dating. Speed dating events get the most clicks, she said. She doesn't want to focus on dating. She wants to know how to get readers to go to an event, and how to get young men out to something that isn't just business.

TJ suggested making it co-ed and activity based, like a hike, pickleball or a cooking class, so nobody is trapped next to a stranger. He also described how Nick Gray runs a two-hour cocktail party. There are name tags, a whistle every 15 minutes to make people switch, and a hard stop at two hours.

Agencies as sponsors

When TJ asked how she finds sponsors, Michelle said she is not very good at it. TJ's tip was to get in front of marketing agencies, because one contact can bring several brands. Right after that call, an agency emailed Michelle asking her to promote an event. She wrote back to say yes, and asked for a call so they'd know her audience.

Both agreed follow-up matters, and Michelle is thinking about packaging that kind of follow-up into a managed version of Social Radar. She also wants an assistant to help her do the Reddit work more often.

Staying human in an AI world

Michelle uses tools heavily, but for growing a brand voice she says it needs a person. That goes for following up with sponsors too, and it doesn't have to be her.

TJ's view was that the future is AI-assisted creator brands: use AI where it doesn't matter, and be fully human where it does. As he put it, people will trust a person they can meet at an event.

Michelle's goal is to be a community leader. She helps customers grow their newsletters and wants more of that. She also believes the future of business is local, because people want human connection.