From 40 Followers to $1m: Dave & Marsden Kline Built a Creator Business in 3.5 Years

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"Quantity leads to quality, but when you find a winner, you have to double down." — Dave Kline, MGMT Playbook

Dave Kline went from leading teams at Bridgewater to building a million-dollar creator business—with zero prior experience on social media. But the real secret behind the success? His wife, Marsden (Mar). While Dave built a public-facing brand on Twitter and LinkedIn, Mar worked behind the scenes to shape the vision, voice, and strategy of their business.

Then, she stepped into the spotlight.

In just five months, Mar grew her LinkedIn following from 0 to now over 74,000—outpacing Dave’s own growth trajectory. Together, they’ve built a powerhouse content engine, a six-figure cohort-based course, and a 40,000+ subscriber newsletter—all without a big team or flashy tech stack.

In this episode, we dive into how Dave and Mar got started, the pivots they made (including why Mar had to force Dave into launching a newsletter), and the systems they’ve built to keep their creator business lean and profitable.

Join us as we go behind the scenes with the duo behind the MGMT Playbook.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The moment that forced them to pivot from SEO to social—and what happened next
• How a single thread about delegation sparked their entire course business
• A huge lesson learned by not turning "OFF" their double opt-in setting
• Mar’s “quiet MVP” role, and why she finally hard-launched her brand
• The reason they waited a full year to launch their newsletter (and why that was a mistake)
• How they’re using sports metaphors and storytelling to keep content engaging
• The surprising stat that made Mar pick up the pen and start posting
• What they would’ve done differently if starting from scratch
• ...and much more!

DEEP DIVES & LINKS MENTIONED

• Dave Kline GIR Deep Dive
• Dave on LinkedIn | Twitter
• Mar on LinkedIn
• MGMT Playbook (Dave & Mar's newsletter) 
• Their Maven Courses: MGMT Fundamentals || MGMT Accelerator
• Check out ALL the Growth In Reverse Deep Dives →

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL

• Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn | Bluesky
• Dylan: LinkedIn | Bluesky

OUR NEWSLETTERS

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