"It's a huge lift to try to change someone's worldview or their passions. It's a light lift to take the thing you want to talk about and shape it to fit into their worldview or their passions."
Don't try to change what people care about
Find what already lights them up intellectually
Build a bridge from their passion to your message
Not everyone is your natural audience—and that's okay
The Mechanics
How Ideas Spread: The Formula
Make it memorable: People share things that bring joy, make them laugh, or let them project identity
Turn it into a joke: Short, repeatable lines people will actually say
Use an analogy: "Move fast and break things" sticks because of unusual word order
Create a mental image: "Put the pill in cheese"—visual, specific, memorable
Tell a story: Specific anecdotes beat vague adjectives every time
The Simplicity RuleA second-grader should understand it immediately. Zero cognitive burden on the recipient. Cleanse it of all clichés and common parlance. If you can't explain it simply, it won't spread.
Real Example: Kamala Harris"To enlist in the army you need a 10th-grade reading level. If you care about national defense, you should care about K-12 reading standards." Bridges national security (what they care about) to education (what you need them to care about).
Underdogs Playbook
How Startups Beat Incumbents in Comms
Acknowledge you're the underdog: You can't outspend incumbents so don't try
Build your own distribution: Start day one, before the company even exists
Work in concentric circles: Start with yourself, then co-founders, employees, power users, then outward
Focus on what lights each circle up: What are their intellectual erogenous zones?
Find centers of gravity: Influencers who speak to your audience naturally
The Substack ExampleBuilt distribution on Twitter by targeting writers and media people—where they naturally congregate. Created a tiny monopoly in that corner of the internet, then expanded outward through passionate diehards.
Why Risk-Taking MattersMistakes of commission you can learn from. Mistakes of omission let status quo win. Being a startup means fighting the status quo—so move fast, take risks, observe, adapt.
Physics of Reach
Pressure = Force ÷ Surface Area
Decrease surface area = same effort, more impact
Hyper-target one persona over appealing to everyone
Create "tiny monopolies" in niche corners first
Build deep, meaningful relationships with diehards
They become your messengers organically
Scale the Right WayStart: 10 diehards with intense focus. Grow: As you scale, slowly expand surface area. Goal: Turn niche believers into amplifiers who reach the next concentric circle.
Contrarian Takes
What Most Comms Leaders Get Wrong
✗Broader reach = more impactINSTEAD →✓ Hyper-focus on your smallest viable audience. Deep impact in one corner beats weak signal everywhere.
✗Build it and they will comeINSTEAD →✓ You must bridge your message to what they already care about. No amount of brilliance changes core passions.
✗Safe, conservative comms minimizes riskINSTEAD →✓ Playing it safe IS the biggest risk. Mistakes of omission let competitors win by default.
✗Comms is about buzz and viralityINSTEAD →✓ Comms is a business discipline. Measure it to business goals: revenue growth, user penetration, not impressions.