# 🎯 Project Spec: Tech News Digest

## Overview
Weekly email digest of tech news curated for students. Not "all the news" — just what's relevant and understandable for aspiring CS students.

**Target Users**: Aspiring CS students
**Impact Goal**: 200+ subscribers
**Build Time**: 1 hour/week maintenance

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## Impact First

### Problem
- Tech news is overwhelming (Hacker News, TechCrunch, etc.)
- Students don't know what's important
- Most content is not beginner-friendly

### Impact
- **Subscribers**: 200+ weekly readers
- **Curation Skill**: You're curating, which is a skill
- **Content Creation**: Newsletter = content creation

### Leadership
- Content creation and curation
- Building an audience
- Email marketing (real skill)

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## Process

### Curation (1 hour/week)
1. Scan: Hacker News Top, TechCrunch, The Verge
2. Select: 5-10 articles relevant to beginners
3. Summarize: 2-3 sentence summary each
4. Format: Clean HTML email
5. Send: Mailchimp/ConvertKit free tier

### Content Categories
- **Jobs**: Intern and entry-level positions
- **Learning**: Tutorials, courses, resources
- **Trends**: What's happening in tech
- **Projects**: Cool things built by students
- **Career**: Industry insights

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## Technical Stack

| Component | Technology | Cost |
|-----------|------------|------|
| Email | Mailchimp free tier | $0 |
| Hosting | Simple landing page | $0 |
| Analytics | Mailchimp built-in | $0 |

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## Implementation

### Week 1: Setup
- [ ] Create landing page (Linktree-style or simple site)
- [ ] Set up Mailchimp account
- [ ] Create signup form
- [ ] Send first issue to 10 friends

### Week 2-4: Growth
- [ ] Share on Reddit (r/cscareerquestions, r/learnprogramming)
- [ ] Share on Discord servers
- [ ] Ask CS teachers to share
- [ ] Track subscriber growth

### Ongoing: Content
- [ ] 1 hour/week curation
-  <a href="specs/10-tech-news-digest.html">View Spec</a> | [ ] Send weekly
- [ ] Collect feedback

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## Metrics

| Metric | Target |
|--------|--------|
| Subscribers | 200+ |
| Open Rate | 40%+ |
| Click Rate | 10%+ |

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## How to Demo

### Video
1. Show the problem (overwhelming tech news)
2. Show your solution (curated digest)
3. Show growth (10→200 subscribers)
4. Show examples

### Essay Angle
- "I was drown

ing in tech news and wanted something simple"
- "I started curating for myself, then friends wanted in"
- "Now 200+ students read my newsletter every week"
- "Content curation is a skill — I have 200+ proof"

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## Extension Ideas

1. **Podcast**: Audio version of the digest
2. **Daily**: Move from weekly to daily
3. **Topic-Specific**: Separate newsletters for different topics
4. **Sponsor**: Relevant tech education tools

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*Spec completed: 2026-04-28*

*Generated by Hermes Babu*