How a Northwestern student built and sold one of AI’s fastest growing media companies

A Northwestern senior turned an idea about AI into a thriving startup with seven-figures in revenue. Now, The Neuron, a media startup run by Noah Edelman that keeps over half a million professionals informed on AI developments, has been acquired by software marketing site TechnologyAdvice.

“If you just search AI news in Google, you’ll get a ton of articles about how it’s taking jobs and the AI apocalypse," Edelman, co-founder and CEO of The Neuron, said. “We almost wanted to create the anti-robotic brand, and we did that by writing in a very personable, funny, engaging, entertaining style.”

That distinct voice, combined with a charming logo of a hand-drawn orange cat, helped fuel The Neuron’s rapid growth since its inception in January 2023 and set it apart from competitors. Beyond its 500,000 newsletter subscribers, The Neuron has a website that is visited by millions each quarter and offers an Intro to ChatGPT course and a guide to AI tools organized by use case.

Some of these subscribers included major figures in tech, from a former president’s technology advisor to the co-founder of a multibillion dollar technology company.

“Even today, we have half a million people reading it, but we don’t truly grasp the idea that there are half of a million people that are reading this thing every day. It’s just a number on a screen. A few times where it became more real is when we realized that someone super legit was reading the newsletter,” Edelman said.

A New York City native with a Psychology major and Entrepreneurship minor, Edelman balanced his studies and his startup with the support of The Garage, Northwestern’s student startup incubator. Edelman utilized The Garage’s startup matchmaking service as a freshman to get experience at another student-led startup, Authentic Media Ascension, which was acquired by Jellysmack in 2022.

During his time at Northwestern, he competed in VentureCat 2023, Northwestern’s annual student startup competition, where The Neuron won the Audience Favorite Award and $8,000 of non-dilutive funding. He’s also a Little Joe Ventures Fellow, a program at The Garage that provides an unparalleled experience to a select group of students with a demonstrated interest in and commitment to building new ideas.

“The biggest thing The Garage has given me is that it’s been a place where I can go and feel comfortable and encouraged building something,” Edelman said. “The Garage gave me that validation and assurance that building a startup is cool and I should go and try to do this and see if I can be successful at it.”

Although The Neuron experienced steady growth ever since its launch, one of Edelman’s biggest challenges was mental.

“For me, the biggest emotional challenge was waking up every day and knowing that I had to create something new for the next day in the newsletter,” Edelman said. “My standards were impossible to reach, and I wanted to reach them every day.”

Yet Edelman sustained the demanding pace of releasing a daily newsletter for over a year and a half before deciding to expand his team by recruiting a writer. He called this the “best decision” he ever made.

Reflecting on his founder journey, Edelman maintained that college was the perfect time to try his hand in the startup space.

“One thing I’ve learned is college is just the best time to start a company,” Edelman said. “You never have so much freedom to go and try to start something as you do in college. There’s so much time, and there are a lot of resources.”

The sale capped off a journey that began with Edelman’s simple philosophy: test fast, iterate, and build something people love.

“I love when people pursue ideas that they’re interested in and go and actually do the thing, versus just talking about it and having it ruminate in their minds,” Edelman said. “If you have an idea, go and try to build it and see what’s possible.”

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