Viral mechanics — operating playbook
The content engine reads this on every generation pass. Each rule is grounded in 2024-2026 platform data or a documented comparable brand. No folklore.
The 12 rules (must-hold for every cut)
| # | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Founder demonstrates, doesn't narrate. Build, walk the factory, open orders, side-by-side tomatoes. Klingman / Lume template. | comparables §7 |
| 2 | Father story is a retention beat, not an acquisition hook. Lead cuts with receipts / contrarian / confession; the Father moment is the switch inside the video, not the cold open. | comparables §1, §11 |
| 3 | Burn captions in. 88% scroll silent. 3.4× lift over no-captions, 2.5× over auto-captions. Top/center, never bottom. | viral_mech §3 |
| 4 | Re-cut 2 of 5 to 25–30s; keep 3 at 45–60s. 7–15s = 74% completion; 30–60s = 49%. | viral_mech §2 |
| 5 | The 3:30 hero is NOT for Reels. Hero lives on YouTube + Telegram native + X attached. Reels / Shorts / TikTok = cuts only. | viral_mech §6 |
| 6 | Re-edit each cut per platform. Originality Score punishes crossposts / watermarks. | viral_mech §3 |
| 7 | Soft CTA wins viral; hard CTA wins direct. Cuts 1–4 = soft TG ("more daily on Telegram, link in bio"). Cut 5 = hard rep SMS. | comparables §3, §11 |
| 8 | Real Shopify screenshots > narrated numbers. Hold each receipt 1.2–1.5s, lime accent on headline number, PII blurred. | viral_mech §7 |
| 9 | First 3 seconds is the whole game. Hard-cut motion + on-screen hook text + voice. Talking-head is fine if the hook is also burned-in. | viral_mech §3 |
| 10 | Lo-fi beats polished 8:10. £40k studio prods die in <1 week; iPhone-shot founder content scales for months. | comparables §B |
| 11 | Distribution ≠ founder content alone. Plunge / Boxabl playbook: creator gifting is the carrier; founder content is the calling card. | comparables §10, §2 |
| 12 | Wrong-audience reach = brand death. Solo Stove × Snoop = 19.5B impressions, $0 sales lift, CEO fired. Match cuts to 40-50+ homeowner audience, not just founder-X. | comparables §5 |
Retention math we're playing against
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| TikTok videos with 70-85% first-3s retention | 2.2× more total views | TTS Vibes 2025 |
| Viral TikToks using psychological hook trigger in first 3s | 84.3% | TTS Vibes 2025 |
| Avg YouTube Shorts retention | ~73% | virvid 2025 |
| Viral Shorts (1M+) retention | ~76% | virvid 2025 |
| Shorts at ≥75% retention | 3× higher algo push | virvid 2025 |
| Facebook 3-s-passers who watch 10s | 65% | FB study |
| Facebook 3-s-passers who watch 30s | 45% | FB study |
| Reels viewers with sound OFF | 88% | Opus 2026 |
| Burned-in captions vs no captions | 3.4× | Fliki 2025 |
| Burned-in captions vs auto-captions | 2.5× | Opus 2026 |
| Top-spending ads using lo-fi UGC | 42% | Zero Gravity 2025 |
| Videos <15s avg completion | 92% | Loomly 2025 |
| Videos 7–15s avg completion | 74% | Loomly 2025 |
| Videos 30–60s avg completion | 49% | Loomly 2025 |
| Platform retention (TikTok / Shorts / Reels) | 78% / 73% / 65% | shortimize 2025 |
Hook archetype × audience map (validated)
| Audience | Top archetype | Backup | YGH cut mapping |
|---|---|---|---|
| General consumer (Reels, FB, IG) | Pain-point question | Bold stat | Cut 4 (Father), "Tired of growing nothing?" angle |
| Business curious (founder X, YouTube) | Numbers-first / receipt-flash | Contrarian | Cut 1 (Receipts) |
| Sales pros / closers | "You/your" direct address | Confession | Cut 5 ("50 people") |
| Anti-trend builders | Contrarian | Confession | Cut 2 (Contrarian) |
| Resilience / underdog | Confession | Numbers-first | Cut 3 (Failure) — structurally safest viral bet |
All five archetypes covered by the existing 5-cut pack at repo root. Voice + length + visuals need overhaul, not archetype change.
Captions & visual conventions (lock these)
- Burn captions in. Not auto. Top or center, never bottom.
- 3-word phrases beat full sentences.
- Lime accent (
#B7EE2F) outline/underline on headline numbers ONLY — over-use kills the asset. - Receipt pacing: real Shopify screenshot on screen 1.2–1.5s, hard cut to next.
- PII blur mandatory on customer names / emails / cards. Show only order count + dollar totals.
- Triple-redundancy on hero numbers: spoken + caption + screenshot simultaneously.
- First-frame motion: hard cut, not slow zoom. Pattern interrupt for cold scroll.
- No music swell. Stoic-builder voice; over-scoring kills gravitas.
Distribution plan (the part most founder-ad specs miss)
| Track | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Paid amplification | Cuts → Meta (FB + IG Reels) + TikTok ads → 40-50+ US homeowner targeting | Target CPA ~$0.30–$0.80 per TG sub (viral_mech §4). Signal: 1,000 net-new TG subs × $0.50 = ~$500 per cut/ad-set |
| 2. Creator gifting (Plunge play) | Send free $4–8K greenhouse to 10 US gardening/homestead creators | Each gifting yields 5–15 derivative pieces of creator content; founder content positions Gustavs as the credibility behind the gift |
| 3. Existing distribution | TG channel, 1.7M-emails/30d list (Klaviyo flow QUh6cP), existing FB ad audiences | Lever the assets we already paid for |
| 4. Founder X / TG cross-post | Hero piece attached to X long-post hook; native TG embed; skip TikTok unless creator-led | Gustavs's stoic voice underperforms TT energy bias |
Creator gifting list (target 10)
Epic Gardening (Kevin Espiritu), MIgardener, Roots & Refuge, Roman Sandwich Co, Acre Homestead, Self Sufficient Me US-adjacent (+ 4 more TBD).
Length recut decisions
| Length | Completion | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| <15s | 92% | Too short for receipts — skip |
| 25–30s | ~75% | Cuts 1 + 5 (highest cold-reach: numbers + rep math) |
| 45–60s | 49% | Cuts 2 + 3 + 4 (need narrative space) |
| 3:00–3:30 hero | N/A | YT + TG + X only |
Hormozi shorts run 30–45s. Ratio: 3s hook / 10–15s setup / 12–20s receipt-payoff / 5s hard close.
Solo Stove warning (the most important rule)
A viral hit on the wrong audience kills the brand. Solo Stove × Snoop = 19.5B impressions, $0 sales lift, CEO fired. Match every cut to the 40-50+ homeowner audience, not just founder-X.
How the content engine should use this
- Before generating a hook batch, read rule #2 — never lead with the father story; reserve it as a retention beat.
- Before approving a draft, check it against rule #12 — does it speak to a 40-50+ homeowner OR is it founder-X bait?
- Length rule #4 — when expanding to PPTX/video script, score against the completion math.
- Caption rule #3 — every visual export must have caption text burned in.
See also
wiki/founder/founding-story.md— the canonical father arc (use as retention beat)wiki/founder/anecdotes.md— 20 reusable story atoms with cut-mappingwiki/content/visual-references.md— R1–R4 cover treatment referenceswiki/content/archetypes.md— the 5 post archetypes the content engine generates against- Repo-root
YGH_FounderAd_Viral_*.md— current 5-cut pack the rules above were built for
CEO Agent
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