Sitemap
Every page and article on Austin Rief in one place, organized by topic.
Pages
- An operator turned investor. : Austin Rief, co-founder and CEO of Morning Brew, from Baltimore to Michigan's Ross School to building a business media company with Alex Lieberman.
- Contact : Connect with Austin Rief on X, Instagram, and LinkedIn, or see what he is up to now.
- What I'm Up To Now : Austin Rief's now page, updated February 2026. He invests via Austin Rief Ventures, trains for a half-Ironman, and writes about life after Morning Brew.
Best Posts
The posts that got the most traction. These are the ones people keep sharing and coming back to. "My Story on the My First Million Podcast" sets the scene: you are 25 years old, sitting in your childhood bedroom while your mom thinks about dinner in the next room. That opening hooked people, and the rest of the episode did too.
- Hampton Founders: How This $75M CEO Would Build a Business From Scratch Today (4 Rules) : Austin Rief joined Hampton's founder series to share lessons from building Morning Brew to 5 million subscribers and how he would build an audience today.
- Moving On from CEO of Morning Brew : After a decade building Morning Brew to 5 million subscribers, Austin Rief shares the message he sent his team when he stepped down as CEO.
- My Story on the My First Million Podcast : Austin Rief joined My First Million to tell the Morning Brew story: from printing spreadsheets in college lectures to selling the company for millions.
Business
What I think about business, investing, and building companies. I spent a decade at Morning Brew, so I have opinions. "The Best Quotes from Warren Buffett's Last Shareholder Letter" pulls out the lines that hit hardest from Buffett's final letter as CEO. I wrote it the same day it came out because I could not stop thinking about it.
- Bending Spoons Gives ZIRP-Era Founders a Dignified Exit : Bending Spoons buys former unicorns like Evernote and Airtable at steep discounts, giving founders stuck in valuation purgatory a way out.
- Bending Spoons Acquires Airtable for $1.285 Billion : Bending Spoons bought Airtable for $1.285 billion, adding it to Evernote, Vimeo, Meetup, and AOL. The playbook: acquire former unicorns at a discount.
- Business Media Is Wide Open : Austin Rief argues business media is one of the least saturated markets. If you can't name five business properties, it isn't as crowded as people claim.
- The Best Quotes from Warren Buffett's Last Shareholder Letter : Warren Buffett's final letter as CEO covered aging, succession, and learning from mistakes. Austin Rief shares the quotes that stood out to him most.
- Five Years Ago This Week, Everything Changed : Five years after Morning Brew's deal with Business Insider's parent company, Austin Rief reflects on that pivotal moment and what the team built since.
- An Interesting M&A Deal : Joby Aviation is buying Blade's passenger division for up to $125M. Blade will rebrand as Strata and focus on organ transportation, which did $36M in Q1.
- What The Best Businesses Do : Nike made everyone an athlete. Apple made everyone a creator. Shopify made everyone an entrepreneur. Champion your customers and they will reward you.
Career
Career reflections and professional lessons from someone who went from college newsletter to running a media company. "Moving On from CEO of Morning Brew" is about my decision to transition from CEO to Executive Chairman after a decade of building Morning Brew from a college project into a media company. That was one of the hardest decisions I have made, and I wanted to explain my thinking.
- Why Hampton Is the Best Thing I've Done for My Career : Austin Rief on why joining Hampton, Sam Parr's founder community for CEOs doing $1M+, was one of the best career moves he made after Morning Brew.
- The Most Surprising Thing About Leaving the Company You Started : The most surprising thing about leaving the company you built is how fast you become irrelevant. Austin Rief reflects on stepping down from Morning Brew.
- Moving On from CEO of Morning Brew : After a decade building Morning Brew to 5 million subscribers, Austin Rief shares the message he sent his team when he stepped down as CEO.
- Best Job Pitch Email : A college grad offered Austin Rief a deal: write tomorrow's Morning Brew newsletter and if it matched quality, earn an interview. If not, Venmo $20.
General
Posts that do not fit neatly into one lane. "2026 Big Tech Projected CapEx Spend" is a quick look at the infrastructure numbers Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta are projected to spend next year, and what that says about the race to build.
- 2026 Big Tech Projected CapEx Spend : Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta project over half a trillion in CapEx for 2026. Austin Rief breaks down the numbers and what they mean for AI infrastructure.
Lifestyle
Travel, food, fitness, and the stuff I do when I am not working. I try to be honest about it instead of performative. "Week 3 of Retirement Check-in" is a snapshot of what I was up to: training for a half-ironman, reading an hour a day (mostly history), playing with AI tools, meeting new people in NYC, and growing Oceans. Retirement looks different than I expected.
- I Completed My 2026 Misogi: Sub 6 Hour Ironman 70.3 : I finished my first Ironman 70.3 in under six hours. A misogi should scare you, with real failure possible. Next year I'm targeting sub 5:30.
- 2 Hacks That Cut My Screen Time by 50% : Two changes cut Austin Rief's screen time by more than half: no phone in the bedroom, and using Brick to block social media whenever he leaves home.
- Week 3 of Retirement Check-in : Three weeks post-CEO, Austin Rief is training for a half-Ironman, reading an hour a day, experimenting with AI tools, and meeting new people in NYC.
- Some Thoughts on Traveling : Austin Rief on travel: hotels beat Airbnbs, skip luxury city hotels, splurge on beach resorts, aim for 12-day trips, and trust Reddit over review sites.
- No, You Didn't Magically Lose Weight Eating Pasta in Italy : Walking a mile burns 100 calories. A bowl of carbonara has 500. Austin Rief explains why claims about losing weight on an Italian vacation do not add up.
Media
Interviews and appearances where I talk through what I learned building Morning Brew. "Hampton Founders: How This $75M CEO Would Build a Business From Scratch Today" recaps a conversation I had at Hampton's NYC office about building a loyal audience and what it actually takes to monetize one, with a link to the full video and transcript.
- Hampton Founders: How This $75M CEO Would Build a Business From Scratch Today (4 Rules) : Austin Rief joined Hampton's founder series to share lessons from building Morning Brew to 5 million subscribers and how he would build an audience today.
Tools
The tools and services I actually use to run my business. No sponsorships here, just what I rely on.
- My Favorite Business Tools & Services : Austin Rief's business tool stack: Granola for meeting notes, Lindy AI for automations, Perplexity for research, Oceans for offshore talent, and more.