Introducing the Brainwaves Referral Program 🚀
Help Me Help You Help Me
👋 Hello friends,
I want to say thank you. We just crossed the 240 subscriber mark, and honestly, that’s pretty incredible. When I started Brainwaves, I had no idea if anyone would care about my eclectic deep dives.
But you showed up. You read. You engaged. And many of you have been sharing Brainwaves with friends, colleagues, and family without me even asking.
So I wanted to make it official—and actually reward you for it.
I’ve been writing bi-weekly deep dives for 2 years now, and added the concise weekly wrap-up over a year ago. Throughout this process, I’ve provided an inside look into the platform, current experiments, and progress on goals in the quarterly updates.
Generally, I write about what I’m doing to grow and improve Brainwaves for a few reasons:
I’m learning about all of this myself, and it’s helpful to write it down as I go as a way to keep track and keep myself honest
It’s likely that you could join the Passion Economy like me and can use many of my learnings for your own process
I’m a big proponent of transparent learning. It demystifies the process, is excellent for accountability, and provides some humor when things inevitably fail
Which brings us to today’s experiment! I recently discovered this optionality in Substack, so I’m very excited to share it with you.
Thus far, I’ve been asking you to share Brainwaves out of the kindness of your heart. Today, we’re launching a way for you to receive some benefits for helping Brainwaves grow.
The Brainwaves Referral Program
Here’s the quick version:
Share Brainwaves:
When you use the referral link below, or the “Share” button on any post, you’ll get credit for any new subscribers. Simply send the link in a text, email, Slack channel, or share it on social media with friends.
Alternatively, you can go to the Leaderboard page to find the reward details, leaderboards, and your share link.
Earn Benefits:
For each person who subscribes using your unique link, you’ll receive credit.
Once you get to 3, you’ll receive two (2) exclusive Brainwaves and The Saturday Morning Newsletter stickers to deck out your gear. Plus, we’ll give you a personal shoutout in the next newsletter, including your name and a link to your company or personal site (if you’d like!).
At 10, you’ll get two (2) limited-edition Brainwaves squishy brains. These stress-relief tools are perfect for getting those breakthrough ideas flowing when you need a moment of focus. Additionally, you’ll get access to a curated list of my favorite books, articles, music, and other resources that power differentiated thoughts.
At 25, you’ll earn a guaranteed and verified pre-order/order of my upcoming book, Futures Thinking. This is my most exciting project yet, and you’ll be among the very first to get your hands on it.
Here’s the longer version:
We are launching a Brainwaves Referral Program to acknowledge all of you for sharing the platform with friends, family, and coworkers, and to encourage you to keep sharing it with your network! Brainwaves is growing because you keep spreading the word, and we want to make it easier and more rewarding for you to keep doing so.
Why?
I’ve tried growing the newsletter across almost every channel you can think of, with mixed results. Going forward, here’s the formula I think will work best:
Write fun, thoughtful, and engaging content
Word of mouth
Launch a referral program to reward sharers
Ever since I started building out our marketing engine, I’ve looked forward to launching a referral program because it helps further align incentives and is one of the best ways to grow organically in the early stages. Here are some of the reasons I think this will be valuable for the newsletter long-term:
People trust recommendations from a family, friend, or colleague far more than they trust an ad from a brand they’ve never heard of
I want to recognize and celebrate those of you who put your time and social capital on the line to share what I’m writing
Referral programs help turn passive readers (those who love the content but haven’t shared) into active advocates, making them feel like a valued part of the journey
We have a great community starting here, and this is the first step towards making our community more tangible and real
Ultimately, the goal is to create a feedback loop where you refer someone, and they refer someone, and so on
How can I refer someone?
Substack makes this super simple.
For every person you refer to Brainwaves and who signs up as a subscriber using your unique referral link or post you’ve shared with them, you’ll be closer to reaching exclusive rewards.
There are no limits! The more readers you refer, the more rewards you can collect.
To begin, find your unique referral code in one of the following places:
In the body of this email (any of the “Refer a Friend” buttons)
On the leaderboard page (shown below)
You earn a referral when you share Brainwaves in one of the following ways, and that person successfully subscribes:
“Share” button on a post
“Refer a friend” button on a post
Sharing the unique link found on the leaderboard page
Restacking a post
Long story short, find your unique referral link, share it with people, watch your referrals stack up as people subscribe, and claim your rewards when you hit each tier.
That’s it. No complicated tracking. Substack handles everything.
How do the rewards work?
Starting today, when you share Brainwaves, and someone subscribes using your unique referral link, you’ll unlock exclusive rewards:
We’re going to keep the program simple and streamlined for now and expand it over time. I’m bankrolling this out of my own pocket, so no crazy vacations or care packages just yet. We have three milestones:
The Brainwaves Starter Pack (3 Referrals): You’ll receive two (2) exclusive Brainwaves and The Saturday Morning Newsletter stickers to deck out your gear. Plus, we’ll give you a personal shoutout in the next newsletter, including your name and a link to your company or personal site (if you’d like!).
The Ultimate Thought Producer (10 Referrals): You’ll get two (2) limited-edition Brainwaves squishy brains. These stress-relief tools are perfect for getting those breakthrough ideas flowing when you need a moment of focus. Additionally, you’ll get access to a curated list of my favorite books, articles, music, and other resources that power differentiated thoughts.
The Futures Thinking VIP Pass (25 Referrals): You’ll earn a guaranteed and verified pre-order/order of my upcoming book, Futures Thinking. This is my most exciting project yet, and you’ll be among the very first to get your hands on it.
If the program is working, we’ll keep expanding it, potentially unlocking some community features and special prizes for the top referrers.
From now on, when I ask you to share, I’ll have something tangible to give you in return. If everyone here sends that link to just 1 person, we can double the size of the Brainwaves community overnight!
Why We’re Starting This Program Now
Brainwaves has always been about exploring the ideas shaping our future—from the passion economy to space innovations to reconsidering how we fundamentally think about the future. These topics matter, and they deserve a wider audience.
The best way to grow Brainwaves isn’t through ads or algorithms. It’s through readers like you who genuinely believe this content is worth sharing.
You’re the founding members of this community. This is my way of saying thanks for being here early and for believing in what we’re building together.
Ready to Get Started?
Find your referral link below and start sharing!
And if you know just one person who’d love Brainwaves—someone curious about the future, interested in how technology and economics intersect, or just wants to understand the world better—send them your link.
Let’s see where we can take this!
Thanks for being part of the Brainwaves community.
Drew Jackson
Founder & Writer
P.S. — I’ll be fulfilling rewards monthly, so once you hit a tier, your reward will ship within a few weeks. If you have any questions about the program, just reply to this email!