---
aliases: ["Launch Sponsorship Packages"]
Is A: Project
Belongs to: "[[24q1]]"
Advances: "[[responsibility-sponsorships]]"
Status: Done
Owner: "[[person-luca-rossi]]"
---
# Launch Sponsorship Packages

## Overview

This project formalized Refactoring's monetization through sponsorships by creating structured packages that sponsors could evaluate and purchase. Before this, sponsorship deals were ad-hoc and inconsistent — pricing varied per deal, deliverables were loosely defined, and there was no media kit to send prospects.

The goal was to create three clear tiers (Logo, Spotlight, and Deep Dive) with fixed pricing, well-defined deliverables, and a professional media kit PDF. This would make outreach scalable and give [[person-luca-rossi]] a repeatable process instead of negotiating every deal from scratch. The project directly supported [[2024-double-revenue]] by establishing the revenue engine for the year.

## Goals

- Define three sponsorship tiers with clear deliverables and pricing (Logo: $500, Spotlight: $1,200, Deep Dive: $2,500)
- Create a professional media kit PDF with audience demographics, open rates, and testimonials
- Set up a Stripe billing workflow for recurring sponsors
- Draft email templates for outreach, follow-up, and renewal
- Close the first 3 paying sponsors before end of [[24q1]]

## Key decisions

- **Three tiers, not two or four.** Considered a simpler two-tier model, but having three gives sponsors a clear upgrade path. The Logo tier serves as a low-friction entry point.
- **Monthly pricing, not per-issue.** Charging monthly (4 issues) simplifies invoicing and gives sponsors more predictable budgets. This also aligns with how [[measure-sponsorship-mrr]] is tracked.
- **No exclusivity clauses.** Decided against offering category exclusivity because the newsletter audience is too broad to guarantee meaningful exclusivity, and it would limit revenue potential.

## Notes

- The media kit took longer than expected — gathering accurate audience data required exporting from Substack and ConvertKit, which have inconsistent analytics. Settled on a conservative subscriber count to maintain credibility.
- [[person-matteo-cellini]] provided useful feedback on the pricing deck layout. His experience with B2B sales helped shape the value proposition framing.
- First three sponsors came from warm outreach to developer tool companies who had previously engaged with newsletter content. Cold outreach conversion was near zero at this stage.
- This project established the foundation for [[procedure-sponsor-onboarding]] and [[procedure-quarterly-sponsor-outreach]], which were formalized later in [[24q2]].
