The Universal Laws of Virality (Pt. 2)

The playbook behind 10m+ views in 30 days (part two).

👋 Hey, it’s Andrew.

Two weeks ago, I wrote an article called The Universal Laws of Virality. I asked if anyone wanted to see part two, and over 40 of you replied, so here it is.

Beyond that, I’m really excited for Austin. I rented a private mansion with a pool and a barbecue pit. We’ll be hosting folks over a few nights. If you are a founder or CEO and want to meet others in a curated setting, please apply below. We do this every year, and it’s one of my favorite event series. There is no cost to attend.

📅 Upcoming Events

• Mar 23 | 🎙️The Shortlist: March Founder Showcase (NYC) – an invite-only evening connecting six CEOs with exceptional engineers, designers, and business leaders looking to work at a breakout tech company.

• Mar 24 | 🍽️ Junto Founder Dinner (NYC)

• Mar 26 | ☕ Founder Breakfast Club (NYC)

• Mar 31 | 🍽️ Junto Founder Dinner (NYC)

• April 6–9 | 🌉 HumanX (SF) – join me at HumanX, the most important AI conference of the year in SF. Use HX26P_FIBE for a discount!

• Apr 17 | ☕ Founder Breakfast Club (NYC)

• Apr 22 | 🍽️ Junto Founder Dinner (NYC)

🤠 South by Southwest (Austin)

• Mar 12 | 🥂 ceo dinner at a private mansion “off menu” (Austin) – hosted at a private mansion 5 minutes away from downtown Austin.We only have 12 spots!

• Mar 13 | 🥂 ceo dinner at a private mansion “off menu” (Austin)

• Mar 14 | 🤫 secret austin garden party (Austin) – our iconic secret party that we throw every year. Thousands of people come from all over the world!

• Mar 15 | 🥂 series A+ ceo dinner at a private mansion “off menu” (Austin)

🤝 Get Involved (Austin)

• 🙋 Apply to volunteer – join the A-team and help with our secret garden party on March 14.

  📌 Unofficial Events List for SXSW 2026 – my curated list of events and parties happening, updated daily; Submit your event to our events list here

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How to Engineer Virality (Pt. 2)

I’ve doubled my follower count (now at 47k) since publishing part one of The Universal Laws of Virality two weeks ago.

That covered the foundation: hooks, structure, platform incentives, but these are the principles I used to break through the first ceiling.

1. Invoke strong emotions

You are competing for the attention of over a billion people

If your content doesn’t feel urgent or emotionally charged, it won’t matter how clever it is. Unfortunately, algorithms do not reward intelligence - it rewards emotional reaction.

Before you post, ask yourself: What emotion do I want my audience to feel? Inspired? Scared? Entertained? Angry? Hopeful? If you don’t know the answer before you hit publish, go back and rewrite it.

Anger, awe, fear, inspiration, and belonging are the most highly arousing, emotionally charged reactions. The most viral content makes people feel something so strongly that they have to share it.

2. Optimize for memorability (not views)

A mistake most new creators make is optimizing for “virality.”

Unfortunately, the gurus who tell you to optimize for virality are not helpful. Virality is a byproduct, driven by memorability. When your content is memorable, people share it. And the more people share it, the more viral it gets

Ask yourself: How do I say this in a way they will never forget? What’s the line they’ll repeat to a friend tomorrow?

A clear leading indicator to look for is the number of saves and bookmarks. The only reason someone would bookmark something is that they find it valuable.

3. Create a system for high-frequency publishing

The truth of playing the internet lottery is that you need to maximize the number of rolls you get.

Across all platforms, you need to post at a minimum once a day. I post once to twice daily on LinkedIn. Three to four times on TikTok. Four to six times on X. Total time: one to two hours a day.

The good news: this should take six hours, but it doesn’t. I built a system that takes me less than ten minutes per video: ideation, scripting, shooting, and post-production. When I started TikTok, I knew instantly I didn’t have the capacity to produce highly edited videos, so I created a system that worked for me.

I use AI heavily in my process, but mostly in the administrative parts of content creation. If you want me to share more about my AI workflow, hit reply

4. Borrow distribution by collaborating up

You should be well-networked with the creator community. Not just because you learn from others, but because you can collaborate with other creators who are 1-2 tiers above you. This allows you to reach new audiences who already trust the person vouching for you.

Borrowed distribution allows you to grow faster than organic growth alone.

5. Speak each platform's native language

Each platform has its own subculture, its own language, its own expectations.

LinkedIn favors achievement and status signaling. TikTok rewards raw energy and fast pacing. Reels prefers high-production videos. X rewards banter and hot takes. What works on LinkedIn will flop on TikTok if you don’t adapt it.

One could argue that the packaging of the content is almost more important than the content alone. You can package the same idea across multiple channels by speaking to the platform’s native language

Study the top creators on each platform and notice how they speak. What do you notice?

6. Study outliers obsessively

When you see content that does exceptionally well (1m+ views), stop scrolling and try to identify the root causes of that virality.

Study it obsessively and break down the formula behind it. Why did this work? What was the hook? What emotion did it trigger? Why did people share it?

A helpful framework is the principles from Jonah Berger’s Contagious to understand why: social currency, triggers, emotion, public visibility, practical value, stories.

Outliers are your curriculum. The algorithm already told you what works. Your job is to understand why.

7. Earn the right to reach your audience

My contrarian opinion on social media: your follower count doesn’t matter anymore.

I have over 300,000 followers across my platforms. Yet every time I post, I believe I need to earn the right to reach my audience. Every single time. Because the truth is, since our platforms moved from a follower-first to a discovery-first mechanic, the algorithm doesn’t care how many followers you have. It cares whether this specific piece of content is good enough to show to more people.

Treat every post like you have zero followers. Would this piece of content stand on its own? Would it get engagement even if nobody knew who you were? If not, make it better before you post.

The other side of this is true as well. Even with just a single follower, you can reach a million people. The capacity to create viral content has been democratized

8. Pick a game you can win (be the top 1%)

People consume content for two reasons: education or entertainment. Pick one.

I avoided entertainment. Why: I knew I could never compete with the charisma of comedians or the post-production skills of filmmakers. That’s not my game. So I optimized for knowledge. My goal is to give people information in the clearest, most concise way possible.

Ask yourself: What am I genuinely better at than most people? What could I talk about for hours without getting bored? That’s your game - double down on it.

Don’t straddle both. If you try to be a bit educational and a bit entertaining, you’ll likely do both poorly.

9. Stay plugged into the cultural zeitgeist

A big part of playing the social media game is staying on top of trending narratives.

What’s trending? What’s hot? What’s discussable right now? This ties into understanding cultural memes and sharing things that are timely. The same content posted during a trending moment will outperform content posted a week later by a wide margin.

I use Claude Code to send me trending headlines every morning. It takes five minutes and keeps me plugged in.

I’ve mentioned AI a few times as part of my workflow. It’s a big part of it, so if you want to learn more, hit reply.

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📌 Andrew’s Bookmarks

My favorite links to help you be wiser and more creative.

Time by Maximilian Kiener – A stunning website that visualizes how fast time flies.

THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS by Citrini Research – This popular article has been floating around the internet and has been read by millions. It’s a framework for you to think about where opportunity might land next in the AI era.

You are no longer the smartest type of thing on Earth by Noah Smith – The people who built the world we live in aren’t the same people who’ll build the world coming next. Applied adaptability matters more in a world where tools can execute exponentially faster than humans. A great read on our future.

Claude Code Clearly Explained (and how to use it) by Greg Isenberg – If you haven’t tried Claude Code yet, you’re missing out on an entirely new way of working. I’ve gone down a rabbit hole over the past few weeks, completely automating most of my work.

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💃 Tech Community Plugs

Resources for entrepreneurs, investors, and tech professionals.

• 💸 Fundraising – Are you raising capital? Get your startup in front of my network of 2,000+ top-tier VC investors, angel investors, and family offices. Sign up here.

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