Last month we announced a rebrand of this newsletter and asked for feedback.

A bunch of you wrote in – and we are so grateful for that 🙏🏼.

At Hustle Fund, we are all about transparency. So today we’re sharing the good, the bad, and the most fascinating responses from the feedback form.

At the very end, we’ll talk about ways to solicit feedback in a way that people actually respond to.

(some parts are bolded by us for emphasis)

The Good

“Love the new name for the newsletter. Love the logo (football playbook)! Color scheme is good. Totally fine with the idea of ads. Keep up the great work!”

“It says what it is and doesn’t get too cute in doing so. An obvious thing… that seems uncommon. Nice work! Your newsletters are useful, largely must read. I’m less concerned about the specific changes, but impressed that you’re changing. Evolving and improving in any aspects of a company should be lauded. You’re finding ways to connect with, and help, founders. That’s my primary takeaway.”

“Sounds awesome to me. Explains all it's about. Especially to a new founder like myself who finds Hustle fund interesting.”

“I do not usually actively engage with newsletters - but this email definitely put a stop to what would have been a regular exercise of clearing out my inbox in the morning. Love the branding - no feedback there. But wanted to thank you for the well written, simple and fun email. I have been in the tech startup space for 6 years now with roles across accelerators, incubators & VCs and one of the things I have learnt is that how every interaction is a reflection of the company values. What this email tells me about hustle fund is that you are: transparent, customer centric, striving for excellence, and comfortable with work being ‘fun.’”

“Great choice of name, hits all the right notes of applicable, indicative of, topical! I'll take ads over subscription but if you did that too, I'd still sign up. The content is very useful and authentic. Thank you.”

The Bad(ish)

“Understand why you've branded your newsletter - good idea, especially to link it to your investment business. Name, font, colours are all good. No need to boil the ocean with this - the most important thing is the content of your newsletters. I don't have a problem with the ad either - but I don't see the point. You'd have to have ridiculous scale to make it even worth the effort. And you're an investment fund so it kinda sends a weird signal. Do you need to try to recoup the costs of running the newsletter? You don't need ads. Nobody is going to be upset by them (my opinion) but I just don't see the point. Better to have links which readers will find useful. We don't care if these are affiliate links or not - as long as they are useful.”

“You did not need to send me an email about this.”

The Fascinating

“I would love to see behind the scenes of what you guys do, maybe like weekly vlog, not going outside and taking great pics, but showing if possible whatever you can maybe some conversations you are having with founder.”

“Please share more of the story about Ms. Fields and Hustle Fund. How did you two meet and become connected? Interesting conversations between Ms.Fields’ founder(s) and Hustle Fund GP?”

FYI: Sorry to be a buzzkill, but the Mrs. Field’s ad copy in our sample newsletter was completely made up. Kera is a cookie addict, so her first instinct was to write about her favorite snack. If anyone out there knows the Mrs. Fields team, please let them know we would love to coordinate a cookie eating contest with them.

Ask for feedback without being annoying

It’s not a Founder Playbook newsletter without adding tactical value to your businesses.

A few weeks ago, we sent an email about our new rebrand with our new name, logo, and ad section.

We shared our story on how Kera kicked off the newsletter in 2019 and gave you context on why we made all the changes.

In the end, we asked for your feedback! Here’s a screenshot to refresh your memory.

Did you notice anything special that Kera did? Here’s what I saw.

• Kera legitimately cares about feedback – she wouldn’t write a separate email explaining our thought process behind the rebrand, ask for feedback, read all responses, and contract me to write a follow-up post like this if she didn’t.
  

• We encouraged people to be candid and honest, especially if the feedback is bad. Kera wouldn’t have written “Are you mad at us for ads you haven’t seen yet?” and eat emotional support cookies just for fun (well, maybe the cookie part). By being transparent with you about our process, we give you space to be transparent with us.
  

• We’ve (hopefully) built a relationship with you over the last three years where it feels safe to share your thoughts. All your thoughts. If you’re new here, we hope to continue to send high-quality newsletters with tactical strategies to grow your businesses. And maybe help you develop a cookie addiction like Kera’s.