Hello Friends 👋,

In this post, I look into 6 iconic pieces of content startups created that made for good stories and helped them break through. Stories travel far on the internet.

A good story, like any other piece of content, should be:

1. Unique: offers a fresh piece of information or a novel perspective.

2. Surprising: disrupts expectations or norms or contains unexpected twists.

3. Correct: is truthful and factually accurate. It's grounded in a reality, even when it's a work of fiction.
   —

#1 The one about the weird mattress guys on Youtube:

Purple turned sleepless nights into comic relief with 'Purple Boys,' a YouTube series where the absence of Purple mattresses is the punchline. (Youtube link)

#2 The one about this “genius” ad I saw on Twitter:

Beehiiv’s recent remote Office Manager is a great example of creating content others can use to tell a good story.

People talking about the “genius” behind the job brought them more eyeballs than the post.

#3 The one about swiping right on every guy on Bumble:

I wrote about Clara’s story using Bumble to seed her social startup on First 1000.

More people read the story and learned about Wegosh than the number of guys she swiped right on.

Growth Hack: Wegosh

Ali Abouelatta · Feb 21

Hey Frens 👋 One of you sent me this tweet after my last issue on Canva, and I can’t get it out of my mind. Clara Gold, from Wegosh, replied to 9000+ likes on Bumble with the link to download her app. 1000 people did! Crazy! Remember: Growth hacks are like Tinder dates - they might be fun for a night, but don't expect a long-term growth without some s…

Read full story

#4 The one about tipping your investors $1:

Chatterbox's CEO used Venmo to sprinkle $1 tips on potential investors and get an initial meeting.

But that did not help him close the round. What did was this story making its way into the tech media cycle.

#5 The one about creating a broadway show:

Skittles used their super bowl budget to create "Broadway the Rainbow," a witty theatrical satire on the ad industry.

This $200 Broadway Skittles show made for a good story!

#6 The one about the seagull drone:

Nivea Kids Sunscreen squirting sunscreen onto children on public beaches from a weird-looking seagull drone will continue to make an iconic case study on guerrilla marketing. (Source)

—
If there is one takeaway to take from this post is that as we saw from all these examples, what makes a good story is very different from what makes a good product…

Good stories don’t need a good product to stand on.

So help people tell good stories!

Until next week,
Ali Abouelatta