Trends from a Gen Z lens

Meagan Loyst has become one of the primary voices of Generation Z.

Loyst built her reputation while she was an investor at an early-stage venture capital firm in New York, but she's now focused full-time on her work as a thought leader and creator. In November of 2020, she founded Gen Z VCs, a global Slack community for Gen Z innovators, composed of more than 20,000 founders, VCs, students, and operators from 80 countries. Business Insider has called her the "Queen of Gen Z VC," and she's on the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 List in the Venture Capital category.

She's also the founder of Meagan's Newsletter: The Gen Z POV, a newsletter that covers "trends through a Gen Z lens."

Some of today's key takeaways:

• The importance of an "owned" channel, where your content (and reach), are not swayed by changes in algorithms.

• How to use social platforms (and their algorithms), to extend the reach of your newsletter (aka a home base).

• Meagan's advice for new creators (keep in mind, she went from 0 to 100k+ across different platforms in less than 2 years).

Creating an Owned Content Channel

Before starting the newsletter, Loyst had a strong background in content creation. She's one of the top 10 Gen Z creators on LinkedIn and has successfully written for publications like Mirror (a crypto blogging platform).

But Loyst knew she wanted a content pipeline that would allow her to have more direct contact with readers. "I'd never had an owned channel where I created content in longer form. So there was no way to have a direct line to the people who were reading my content.”

Loyst realized how important an owned channel might be when a piece of her content went viral. “My Metaverse 101 Manifesto last year had millions of readers, and I got tons of great feedback, which was amazing. But that didn't translate into subscribers — something that I could follow up with individual users."

"Once I left my full-time job and transitioned to the founder of Gen Z VCs and making money as a creator, having this owned channel where I could build a relationship with my subscribers and bring in partners and other brands in different ways became really important to me."

Creating Opportunities Through Content

Like many thought leaders, Loyst creates content across a variety of channels, and she's very thoughtful about how all the channels interact.

Social media like Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok give her a place to connect with the public, promote her content, and get a read on which topics are ripe for viral interest. The newsletter, on the other hand, gives her the space to develop her ideas and do deep dives into her subject matter.

"So, for example, I'm writing about generative AI this month because that's the content that's doing well on my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. And it's also where people are asking questions and spending time. So there's a natural opportunity for me to dive deeper from my lens in my newsletter,” she explains.

Loyst integrates her social media with her newsletter, in both directions. “I think socials can be a great place to get feedback on topics before you dedicate time to them. [Social media is] also a great place to add distribution and grow your subscriber list. I had hundreds of subscribers before I even launched the newsletter because of the great distribution I have as a creator already, and people who are excited to hear about my unique lens."

"I do think that helps, to have a unique perspective on something," Loyst observes. "People know to come to me for [a Gen Z perspective], and my newsletter is going to become the place where I centralize so many of those thoughts."

Aside from being a centralized home for her ideas, Loyst has a clear concept of how her newsletter will fit into her career as a creator and thought leader.

"I run the largest Gen Z innovator community in the world, so I'm trying to scale that up, but also monetize as a creator, because Gen Z VCs is not my primary source of income. I don't really make money doing that. I make money doing Gen Z consulting, working as a creator, using my thought leadership for speaking engagements, and stuff like that. So the focus of my newsletter, at least near term, is not really monetization. It's purely a place where I can create opportunities through my content."

Investing in the Future

Loyst learned about beehiiv from her dear friend Eli Weiss, when he posted about a holiday offer on his Twitter account. She decided to invest in her future by subscribing at the highest tier, because she knew she wanted to focus on her newsletter in the new year.

"My native advantage and skillset comes from pure content creation, and not so much content optimization. That's why I chose Beehiiv over Substack — specifically because there were a lot more tools to help you grow."

After her first two editions, Loyst has a subscriber base of around 750 readers. She's not really worried about numbers right now. She's decided to focus on writing good content first and start optimizing her audience after that's in place. She knows she's on the right track as a creator because she's getting feedback from readers, which shows a high level of engagement.

"I know that people are really invested in me when they subscribe to my newsletter, and they're responding to my writing. They're like, 'Oh yeah, I loved this,' or 'I'm thinking about the same thing,' or 'I have a connection for you.' And it feels like a one-on-one because it's right in my email inbox."

Loyst appreciates her readers having that direct line to her inbox because she finds it necessary to be selective about the channels she reads and responds to. "I'm a micro-influencer. I have 40,000 followers on Twitter. Roughly 20,000 on LinkedIn, so that's 60,000 collectively on my two biggest platforms. I'm verified on Instagram, and I have a TikTok — I'm kind of everywhere. But it's still hard to get in touch with me."

Advice for New Creators

Loyst has several pieces of advice for people who are new to content creation.

First, she says, "focus on your niche. Become the expert on said thing. I think that's one thing that's really important."

Secondly, she recommends highlighting other voices in your content. "Two years ago, when I started creating content broadly, I had 50 followers on Twitter. The first article that I wrote, which went viral, I interviewed 70 of my peers on a topic that I thought no one was writing about from our perspective.”

The roundtable approach turned out to hold some keys to building Loyst’s brand. “That article ended up being Gen Z VCs — now the name of my community, my entire brand, everything. I kind of hit it on the first try, and I got very lucky in that regard. But I think what helped it go viral so quickly was that it wasn't just me sharing my thoughts. There's 70 of us that are doing this — this is a trend you should pay attention to."

It was a very smart move for a new creator. "When I shared that article, 70 people were sharing that article, not just me. So even though I wasn't a creator at the time and I didn't have a following, I created a following. I leveraged my peers and numbers. It wasn't really my intention, but it happened that way. And so I think when you're starting a new platform, it can be really helpful to leverage your peer set and go beyond your own perspective to think about distribution. Focusing on the distribution, especially if you don't have a following already, is very important."

Loyst's third piece of advice is to be open to learning and allow time for experimentation. "I know that having an owned distribution is so important, so I spent several hundred dollars on scale with beehive, even though I'd only written two articles [that only] did okay. It wasn't a massive success [at first], but sometimes it takes time and experimentation. So I'm investing in myself, and I'm extremely open to see what happens with it. Like, how can I do the titles differently? How can I share them differently on social platforms? Being open to learning and experimentation is my whole motto for this year, given I'm in so many new settings and roles."

Goals — or Not

When asked about goals, Loyst talks instead about a near-death experience that changed how she views the future and the present.

"Yeah, you know what? I should make goals. That would be smart business sense. But I got into a car accident last year, and I almost died a week before my 24th birthday. [As a result,] I hate thinking about anything beyond the next six months.”

“You can't control what happens to you, you can only control what you're doing. And so for me, I'm just so happy to be able to create content every day and experiment with things. And I think if I continue to invest in it, it will grow. I will learn, and it's not going to be time wasted. So I'm not as concerned about the long-term goals of where it's going — I'm just enjoying what I'm doing right now."

Loyst has designated 2023 as a year of experimentation. "It's the first time that I don't have a full-time job. I'm doing a bunch of crazy unscalable things across every part of my life, not just my newsletter. Some things are going to work, and some things are not going to work, but I'm excited to be trying a bunch of different things.”

Loyst is looking forward to the newsletter in particular as part of her experimental approach. “I think the newsletter will be one of those things that I'm going to really enjoy, taking the dedicated time and space to put my creativity to work. And hopefully it'll help me create new opportunities, like my Metaverse article [did] last year. It led to a bunch of amazing speaking opportunities all over the world, and even leading workshops for massive Fortune 500 brands. That's crazy. That started from a piece of content. I hope this year the type of content that I'm putting out there will lead to similar results."

"Great content will lead to great opportunities."

If you're interested in the Gen Z perspective, check out Meagan's Newsletter: The Gen Z POV, or read her deep dives into the music industry and the social media habits behaviors of Gen Alpha.