From Solo Newsletter to Media Startup: Growing in Crypto & AI w/ TPan, Milk Road

Most crypto growth content is either too technical or too basic. Few people bridge serious web2 growth expertise with crypto-native insights. Fewer still build audiences from scratch and scale them to real businesses.TPan (Thomas Pan) spent 3.5 years building "web3 with TPan" from zero to 8,000 subscribers - writing 386+ essays dissecting everything from WIF meme coin mechanics to Blast's seven-layer airdrop burrito. Now as Head of Growth at Milk Road, he's scaling a media platform with 30-50x that audience across crypto, macro, and AI investing.In this conversation, we unpack the solopreneur journey, what makes content actually resonate in web3, why growth is about sustainable numbers (not just "number go up"), and how Milk Road is building a freemium media business with multiple revenue streams in a market where most media companies struggle to survive.0:00 Introduction2:13 TPan's Background: From Mobile Gaming to Crypto8:30 The NFT Entry Point & Finding Web313:01 Launching "web3 with TPan" Newsletter16:25 Content Strategy & What Resonated Most22:30 Best Performing Content: WIF, Blast, Stablecoins28:06 Joining Milk Road: The Transition32:14 Milk Road's Business Model & Structure36:05 Growing a Media Platform: Freemium Strategy41:48 Expanding Into AI: The Emerging Tech Thesis45:57 Where to Find TPanABOUT THE OGC PODCAST: The OGC Podcast tackles crypto's biggest unsolved challenge: growth. Host Norman Wiese sits down with founders, growth leaders, and crypto marketers sharing strategies and frameworks driving real results in web3.CONNECT WITH TPAN: TPan on X: https://x.com/TPan____Milk Road: https://milkroad.com/ CONNECT WITH NORMAN: • X: https://x.com/normanwiese• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/normanwiese• Onchain Growth Club: https://x.com/onchaingrowth SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/40h808BdpcWIhgXXQNQR52Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/onchain-growth-club-crypto-web3-marketing-talks/id1833519944 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@onchaingrowth