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Taking on Harvard Business Review

The Story

In June 2024, Alex Garcia appeared on the Blueprint podcast (Episode 25) where he laid out his vision for Marketing Examined: building a 9-figure media company that competes with Harvard Business Review (Source 1).

At that point, Marketing Examined had over 200,000 subscribers across 5 newsletters and was generating 7 figures annually (Source 3). Garcia charges $750 per hour for consulting through MentorPass and has completed 5 sessions with a 5.0/5 rating (Source 2).

The podcast covered brand strategy, creator playbooks, the vision for Marketing Examined, the playbook behind the company, and challenges facing the business (Source 1).

Garcia co-hosts the Sweat Equity podcast with Brian Blum, where they discuss the biggest marketing moves of the week covering influencer marketing, growth marketing, and content marketing (Source 3).

Lesson for Creators

The 9-figure aspiration is notable because it reframes what a newsletter can become. Garcia isn’t positioning Marketing Examined as a newsletter business. He’s positioning it as a media company that happens to include newsletters. The HBR comparison sets the competitive frame: not other newsletters, but legacy business media. Whether or not he reaches 9 figures, the framing itself shapes every hiring, product, and content decision.

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