WhereBy.Us

About WhereBy.Us

WhereBy.Us operates as a local media and technology company, founded in 2014 by Christopher Sopher, Rebekah Monson, and Bruce Pinchbeck. The company originated from the idea of addressing a disconnect felt by residents in growing cities like Miami, where despite a lot of activity, people felt uninformed and lacked a sense of community. The initial project, The New Tropic, launched in Miami in 2015 as a daily email newsletter to provide curated local news and connect residents.

The business model centers on creating city-centric email newsletters that are lean and community-focused. Revenue is generated through multiple streams, including advertising within the newsletters, sponsored content, events, and a membership program. The company also established a Creative Studio to design campaigns for clients, helping them with storytelling and customer engagement at a local level. A significant part of its strategy involves a "city-in-a-box" model, which provides the technology and a playbook to launch newsletters in new cities efficiently. This approach enabled expansion into cities like Seattle (The Evergrey), Orlando (Pulptown), and Portland (Bridgeliner). In 2019, the company made its first acquisition, purchasing The Incline in Pittsburgh.

Facing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, WhereBy.Us saw significant growth in its reader-supported membership program. This period also catalyzed the development and launch of Letterhead, a newsletter platform designed for businesses and organizations. Letterhead provides tools for entities to manage and monetize their own newsletters through subscriptions and advertising, positioning itself as a solution for those who outgrow platforms like Substack. This strategic shift indicates a move from solely being a content creator to also providing its underlying technology as a service to other content producers, with a goal of helping them build their own local media brands.