Getting viral marketing right often separates the companies that win from the ones that don't.
I’m sharing the real marketing playbook we used to turn a profit. I’ll be honest about the mistakes that cost us a lot and the lessons that helped us make millions.
The Counterintuitive Truth
In viral marketing, the best practitioners often do less, not more.
Trying to do everything at once is one of the most common ways to fail: even a team with strong technology and talent can spread itself too thin.
The lesson: most founders overthink this and underspend on execution. It sounds simple. It's incredibly hard to execute.
What I've Learned From 149 Companies
A few patterns in viral marketing come up again and again.
The founders who handle viral marketing well understand that you need to move fast and break things.
Real Talk: What Actually Matters
Here is what actually matters in viral marketing.
First, execution speed beats perfection. Every time. Companies rarely fail because they moved too fast on viral marketing. Many fail because they moved too slowly.
Second, measure everything. If you can't measure it, you can't improve it. Set up tracking from day one, even if it's basic.
Third, talk to your users. It sounds obvious, but many founders make decisions about viral marketing in a vacuum. Get out of the building. Talk to real people.
This connects to broader themes around growth hacking, referral programs, viral loops that I've been thinking about a lot lately.
What's Next
Best practice in viral marketing is changing fast. What worked last year might not work next year. That's both the challenge and the opportunity.
My advice: stay curious, stay humble, and stay close to the people who are actually doing the work. Read less thought leadership and do more experiments. Talk to fewer consultants and more practitioners.
If you're building in this space, the best time to get viral marketing right is before you need to. Don't wait for a crisis to force your hand.
I'll keep sharing what I learn. This stuff matters too much to keep to myself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:What experience informs this perspective?
This perspective comes from over a decade of building companies in Silicon Valley, two successful exits (RemoteTeam to Gusto, MovieLaLa to Gfycat), and investing in 234 startups including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Scale AI. I write about what I've lived.
Q:Do all experts agree with this view?
No, and that's fine. The best ideas in business are often contrarian. I share my perspective based on my experience and data, but I encourage you to seek out opposing viewpoints and form your own conclusions.
Q:What's the most common pushback you get on this?
People often push back by citing exceptions or edge cases. And they're usually right that exceptions exist. But building a strategy around exceptions rather than patterns is a losing game for most founders.
Q:How has this view evolved over time?
My thinking on most topics has changed significantly over the years. Early in my career, I held many conventional views that experience proved wrong. I try to update my beliefs when the evidence changes.