Operating by John Brewton

Operating by John Brewton

We Are All Becoming Companies

The Five Founder Problems I Discovered Coaching +100 Substack Founders in 2026

The Five Problems That Surfaced While Building a $200K Newsletter Business and How to Solve Them

John Brewton's avatar
John Brewton
Jul 10, 2026
∙ Paid

TL → DR

  • 400 hours of coaching Substack founders in 2026 surfaced 5 recurring problems: positioning, packaging, pricing, distribution, and AI.

  • Underneath all 5 sits 1 cause. A decision the founder will not make. The writing is never the constraint.

  • Positioning: pick the 1 problem you own. Companies that define a category capture roughly 76 percent of its va…

User's avatar

Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of John Brewton.

Or purchase a paid subscription.
© 2026 John Brewton · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture