5 email newsletters that will teach you more than an MBA

Flickr/John Benson

When you imagine high-powered CEOs starting their morning, you probably picture them kicking back with a copy of The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times to get a handle on the day's news.

But you'd be wrong.

Quartz recently surveyed 940 top-tier executives, and found that 60% of them stay informed by reading email newsletters, compared to just 28% using news apps and 3% reading physical newspapers.

Between conventional news organizations, industry-specific sites, and blogs, there's more content than ever being created every day. Finding the news coverage you need is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The beauty of email newsletters is that they scour the Web, assemble the very best content from all these disparate sources, and deliver it right to your inbox.

But you can't just sign up for every newsletter that looks decent. You need to be selective and find a combination of newsletters that look at the news from different angles that give you a complete view of what's going on. Here are five of the best newsletters in the tech world — each offering a different perspective and a unique recipe of news, analysis, and strategic insight.

1. Hiten Shah's SaaS Weekly

Not many people in SaaS (software as a service) keep busier than Hiten Shah. He's cofounded more than seven companies in the last 12 years. Two of them — Web analytics providers Kissmetrics and Crazy Egg — pull in millions a year.

With that resume, it's no surprise that the biggest names in tech count Hiten's newsletter, SaaS Weekly, as a must-read. For example, a quick look at his post announcing the newsletter shows that Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover was an immediate subscriber.

Every Monday, SaaS Weekly hits subscribers with the deepest analysis and most cutting-edge news from the SaaS industry. SaaS is always changing, and yesterday's news quickly becomes today's trash.

But Hiten is out there in the thick of it every single day, speaking at conferences, working with the experts, and keeping his ear to the ground for the latest trends. Plus, as a founder and CEO, he knows enough to cover it all — product, growth, sales, and everything in between.

2. Jimmy Daly's The Swipe File

Jimmy Daly is an expert when it comes to crafting high-quality content that brings in the traffic. While serving as head of content marketing for email marketing platform Vero, he grew the company's blog to over 100,000 monthly readers.

His newsletter, The Swipe File, is geared mostly toward fellow marketers, but offers creative inspiration and productivity advice that can help anyone work better--there's a huge range of lessons.

One day, Jimmy will link you to one of the Web's most comprehensive list of SEO tools for marketers. Another, he'll let you in on a super useful tactic for signing PDFs electronically. And sometimes, he'll hit you with some general life advice on why you always need to pick up new skills and "be a rookie at something." The newsletter offers an eclectic mix of tips with one common denominator: It's always useful.

3. Ben Thompson's Stratechery

Ben Thompson previously worked in marketing and strategy at blue-chip tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Automattic. But now, his primary gig is running the Stratechery Daily Update. Full disclosure: Some of his site's content is free, but you'll have to pony up $10 a month to subscribe to the newsletter — this is Ben's full-time job — but it's more than worth it.

Stratechery's daily updates are long-form deep dives into the most important news in tech. What really separates Stratechery from the rest of the pack is Thompson's willingness to stake a bold opinion on the topics he writes about, backed up by data, logic, and an understanding of the wider industry.

For example, a post this week discussed Facebook's impressive earnings report. Anyone can tell you that Facebook is killing it, but by analyzing the data — for example, the fact that over 40 million small-to-medium businesses have a mobile-enabled Facebook page — Thompson makes a convincing case that Facebook is set to replace television as a dominant marketing force. He writes with authority, and provides big insights backed up by years of experience.