⚡How Half Baked grew to 100,000+ subs with this dead-simple structure

🔎Zing Breakdown

Your newsletter structure isn’t just about copying Morning Brew’s sections or Milk Road’s brand character.

After coming across 50+ newsletter brands and their formats, here’s what I’ve noticed:

A good newsletter structure is always rooted in three things:

✅ A deep understanding of their audience

✅ One clear theme or content focus

✅ A defined layout + consistent branding

This is how Half Baked nails it…

💡 They understand their audience

At the start, it’s tough to know exactly what your audience wants…you’re basically guessing.

But as you grow, you gather more data, more feedback, more ways to learn.

That’s exactly what the founders of Half Baked did:

✅ They run little polls like “What did you think of today’s edition?” so they’re constantly inside their readers’ heads.

✅ They even have a pre-login questionnaire that asks new readers about their interests.

This helps them figure out:

• What sections to keep or add

• What voice and style resonates

• And what industries or project ideas their audience cares about most

Over time, this also lets them segment their subscribers, so they can send more personalized content that fits each reader’s actual interests.

💡 They have a clear theme

For John & Darragh, the founders, that theme is simple:

STARTUP IDEAS 🚀

But they break this into repeatable, fun formats:

Half Baked Idea

• A specific, well-researched problem + product idea (usually an app, site, or SaaS)

• They explain the business model — how it could actually make money.

• And since most startups want to be acquired, they even outline the possible exit.

  

Trending Idea (Trends with Benefits)

A hot trend or industry shift, paired with data and how you could use that insight to build something (and spot opportunities).

Drunk Business Idea

Completely out-there concepts, with a fun game:

✅ Yes, this actually exists or ❌ Nope, we made this up

They also sprinkle in: founder stories for inspiration (The Money Shot), tool recommendations (10xecution), quick links (Founder Finds), and community (Reader Spotlight)

…which is possible because they know their audience so well.

💡 They have a defined layout + strong branding

This is what makes the newsletter feel easy to navigate and easy to keep reading:

• Always starts with a quick intro and table of contents (teasers for what’s inside).

• Clear sections with headers - like ads, inspiration, tools, or the main idea.

• Uses distinct categories like “Half Baked Idea,” “Reader Spotlight,” etc.

• Keeps a hierarchy: big well-researched ideas first, then quicker trend or pop-up ideas.

• Smart ad placements: idea → ad → idea → ad, so it flows.

• And everything’s wrapped in consistent colors, fonts, even their playful character illustration.