Formerly Orbit Marketing

Distribution
is the moat.

We write, send, and grow the weekly newsletter that turns your audience CRM social followers subscribers audience into a defensible business asset. While paid ads decay and SEO bleeds to AI, your list compounds.

     
Trusted by 12+ operators in finance, AI, and B2B
M
Trusted by
The reality

Every week without a newsletter is a week your audience forgets you exist.

You already know you should be sending one. Here is why you are not.

1

You ran out of weeks.

Writing a great newsletter takes 8 to 10 hours. You do not have 8 to 10 hours a week. So it never ships, and every Tuesday you feel a little behind.

2

Your competitors are in the inbox.

They are showing up weekly with sharp takes. You are not. Mindshare compounds toward the operator who keeps sending.

3

Paid channels keep getting worse.

CPMs are up 67 percent since 2022. Click-through is down. Each new dollar buys less reach than the last. Owned distribution is the only line going the other way.

4

AI is eating your search traffic.

Google AI Overviews are cannibalizing publisher clicks at scale. The list in your ESP is the only channel an AI cannot disintermediate.

The thesis

Why operators are building moats, not running ads.

Every other channel is rented. The list is yours forever.

+67%

Paid ads decay.

Meta and Google CPMs are up 67 percent since 2022. Audiences fatigue. Pixels reset. The channel costs more every year for the same outcome.

−40%

SEO is dying to AI.

Publisher click-through on Google has dropped 40 percent as AI Overviews answer searches without the click. The traffic you optimized for is gone.

0%

Social platforms own your audience.

One algorithm change can zero your reach overnight. You do not have followers on a platform. The platform has followers, and it lets you borrow them.

Distribution is the moat. We write the newsletter that builds it.

The category

The smart money is already here.

Venture capital does not give Substack and Beehiiv this kind of money for a fad.

Substack
$1.1B
Valuation
5M paid subscriptions, up 67% year over year. Brands like The New Yorker, NY Magazine, and WSJ Opinion now publish direct.
Beehiiv
$30M
ARR
$225M valuation, $82.7M raised, revenue up from $19.8M end of 2024. Now acquiring competitors (Typedream, Swapstack).

Owned distribution is not a thesis anymore. It is the consensus.

Operators we have written for

Three years. Twelve operators. One playbook.

Newsletters that drove revenue, list growth, and the kind of inbox presence that compounds.

"Worked with the team for a couple months now and it's such a weight off my hands any time I send them a project. Need a newsletter sent out weekly? No problem. A slack message away. Couldn't recommend them more."

L
Liam Lawson CEO, The AI Report

"They have literally changed the way we do business at Alts. Honest, sincere, and hard-working. Have confidence in these guys."

S
Stefan von Imhof Co-Founder & CEO, Alts.co

"They drastically helped kickstart our blog and SEO efforts at Superset. It's been multiple months in a row of 20+% MoM growth. They do great work, and are very communicative. 10/10 recommend."

N
Noah Cracknell Head of Growth, Superset

"Instrumental in transforming our content strategy. Their expertise in crafting compelling, audience-tailored content has helped us grow a loyal and engaged following. Measurable growth in both engagement and conversions."

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Neal Sharma CMO, Z Tech Consulting

"The whole team is top notch and delivers very high quality content for our B2B SaaS company at an exceedingly fair price. They helped us tailor a voice and format that matches our brand, then hit every timeline and publish date. We have won multiple new deals from prospects and customers referencing our content. HIRE THEM."

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Jesse Clemmens HiTide

"An incredible addition to our research team, helping us deliver high-quality industry reports for executives and investors. If you're looking to take your research capabilities to the next level, I highly recommend reaching out."

S
Steve Taylor Founder, EV Power Pulse
What to expect

From kickoff to compounding in 30 days.

No long onboarding. No 12-week strategy phase. You are sending by week three.

1Week

Voice clone + strategy lock

You spend 90 minutes with us. We come back with your voice DNA, an 8-week topic queue, the design template, and a strategy packet you actually want to read.

  • Voice DNA doc
  • 8-week topic queue
  • Newsletter template
  • Brand guidelines
2-3Weeks

First newsletters ship

We draft. You edit. We tighten. We send. You do not write a single word unless you want to.

  • First 2 issues shipped
  • Iteration on voice
  • ESP setup & deliverability check
4+Ongoing

Weekly delivery + monthly review

Every week, your newsletter ships. Every month, you get a one-page review with the numbers that matter: list growth, engagement, revenue attribution.

  • Weekly newsletter
  • Monthly performance review
  • Slack channel, no Zooms
  • Topic queue always 8 weeks ahead
Pricing

Three tiers. No surprises. No "talk to sales" wall.

Pick what matches your stage. Move up or down at any renewal.

Starter

$500/mo
Best for: testing the channel without committing weekly.
  • 1 newsletter per month
  • Voice clone & brand guide
  • Monthly list review
  • Slack channel
  • 4-week topic queue
Start with Starter

Custom

Talk to sales
Best for: multi-newsletter ops, revenue attribution, dedicated team.
  • Multiple newsletters per week
  • Dedicated writer + editor
  • Revenue ops & attribution setup
  • Quarterly strategy sessions
  • Custom reporting & integrations
  • SLA on response time
Talk to sales

Currently accepting 2 new clients per quarter. Next intake window: July 2026.

Questions

The honest answers.

Why "Moat"?+
Every operator already knows what a moat is: the only competitive advantage that compounds. In 2026, owned distribution (your list) is the last moat that paid ads, SEO, and social platforms cannot take from you. We named the studio after what we are actually building for our clients.
Who actually writes my newsletter?+
A dedicated writer from our studio, matched to your voice. Moat is a studio, not a solo show. Louis Shulman founded it after three years running newsletter ops at Orbit Marketing, but he is not on every account. We match the right writer to your voice in week one. If the match is wrong, we re-match. No charge.
How is this different from a freelance copywriter?+
Three years of process, not three years of freelancing. Freelancers ghost. Freelancers vacation. Freelancers raise rates. The studio is institutional: shared editors, shared QA, shared standards. Your newsletter does not depend on one human's mood.
What if I do not have a list yet?+
We start the build alongside the newsletter. The first issue ships to whoever you have today. By month three, we will have a list-growth playbook running in parallel: lead magnets, referral mechanics, distribution partnerships. You are not waiting for an audience to exist before we send.
What if I already have a list?+
Even better. We accelerate. The hardest part of newsletter ROI is the first 5,000 subscribers. If you have those, we are optimizing engagement and revenue from day one instead of cold-starting.
Can I cancel?+
Yes. 30 days written notice, no refunds on paid months. You can pause for a month if you go on parental leave or take a long trip. Your topic queue and voice DNA stay yours forever, whether you stay or not.
What about revenue? Do you guarantee results?+
We do not guarantee revenue and you should be suspicious of anyone who does. What we do guarantee: the newsletter ships every week, on time, in your voice, at the quality we agreed in week one. The Pro tier includes revenue attribution so you can see exactly which issues drove what.
Who is behind Moat?+
Moat Newsletters is a studio under Clear Not Clever LLC. Founded by Louis Shulman, who spent three years writing and overseeing newsletters at Orbit Marketing for operators across finance, AI, B2B SaaS, and coaching. The studio also includes dedicated writers, an editor, and a small ops team.

Start building the moat.

15 minutes on a call. No deck, no pitch. We figure out together if it is a fit.

Book a 15-min intro