Nick Huber
Appearances
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
I just have a... I wouldn't say it's a natural gift to be funny with word or anything. I don't know if it's funny, but it does hook. So yeah, three names you never share. Your babysitter, your house cleaner, and your attorney. I've learned my lesson on all three. And it's just funny.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
This is a funny tweet because you really, you cannot share your babysitter in the group chat or you will not be able to secure your babysitter next Friday when you need your babysitter.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
I think it's a mix, right? Most of my tweets are just trying to get smart people to think. Maybe there's some entertainment. Maybe there's some personal stuff to get people to know me. And then there's trying to get smart people to think more critically about something.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
If you are worried about what people think, if you have thin skin, it's impossible to do well. It really is. Because if you try to make everybody love you, nobody will actually have an opinion on you at all is the truth. So if you're not a little bit different, if you're not afraid to put yourself out there, and if you're afraid to look silly, then it's not for you, right?
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
And if I can get smart people and entrepreneurs to follow me, then when I post a tweet like the one Marshall tweeted about international talent...
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
um i'll be able to get 250 000 worth of business in the door that way so it's just a it's just a constant process of trying to get attention trying to add value trying to make smart people think critically about something and then you ask it's the gary v jab jab jab jab jab right hook and the right hook is the ask hey let's do business pay me money for recruiting services or whatever
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
You'll notice it. If you click at somebody's tweet on Twitter, you're going to see another one of their tweets the next time you open the app and start scrolling. But if you scroll right by one person's tweet four times, you'll see that... the app will realize, Hey, I don't want to see Nick anymore because you just scrolled past five of his ideas. So I'm not going to show you his next couple.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
So it really does prime the algorithm and your next tweet after a really high engagement tweet will get a lot of engagement. So you can use that to your advantage.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Okay. Nikita is a genius copywriter, so I pick him.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
I just talk a lot about how I think football is brutal on the brain and I'm not going to let my kids play it. Um, and then I just see a kid here get laid out and obviously concussed as a five-year-old and it's sickening. So just spreading, just trying to spread. I'm not, I don't have an agenda for engagement with this one.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
I'm literally trying to talk other 35 year olds like me to not let their sons play football.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Yeah, he has the same strategy as me. I think he has a lot of people who totally dislike him because he has what some people would call radical views, just like I do. But he stands behind his actual opinion and he's done the work to build his own opinions. So I think he also gains a lot of respect.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
So I think it's been a massive part of him building his brand is to not being afraid to ruffle some feathers.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
So I make myself look stupid sometimes is the bottom line.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Nikita's work on Twitter has just been unbelievable. I mean, he writes so well. His copy is so good. Like, if you want to study copywriting, forget me. Look at Nikita. Look at the way he structures. Obviously, it's impossible to remake what Nikita does because he's so clever with his jokes. Not everybody has the mind of a comedian. But he's also brilliant when it comes to building consumer apps.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
So he's built this reputation online where he is the guy to go to in the tech community when it comes to virality and consumer apps. So he has just massive, massive respect. Here we have Elon obviously following Nikita. I would not be surprised if those two get dinner soon.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
It's just leveling up his entire career because of the reputation that he's built on Twitter, which is just, it's awesome to see him. So happy for him.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Yeah, he doesn't do any threads or a couple threads, but most of them. And he's the perfect mix of like, hey, I'm going to show you how serious I am and how good I am when it comes to building consumer apps with a really thoughtful thing to say. Like on September 17th, which is yesterday, he tweeted about seeding an app with users.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
He just gave a really good insight for people who are actually building apps and to get a really valuable following of actual entrepreneurs. Yeah. And then right after that, it's a huge joke about how aggressive Europeans are about sexual advances. And if they put an emoji in a tweet, that means they're coming on to you.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
The viral ones?
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Only Nikita can follow up a tweet about seeding an app with users with, hey, here's how Europeans are coming on to you in a tweet, in a message. It's just hilarious.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Absolutely.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
So the structure, you can see it here. I make a statement that people say, oh, wow, that sounds unique. I'm not sure if I'd agree with it or not, but that's not like what I mostly hear. And that's that first line. Okay. Then I spend the rest of the tweet taking a hard line on one side. So there's no nuance. There's no teasing out both sides. My structure is, hey, I'm going to say something. Boom.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Well, you know, obviously there's nuance. Obviously there's two sides of it. Obviously it doesn't apply to everybody, but I'm going to act like it does. And I'm going to take a very strong side towards one of them. That's the structure of a great tweet. So something that not everybody agrees with, said as fact with conviction, and then a bunch of really strongly written copy to back it up.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
That's how almost all of my viral tweets are structured.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
It's a little small for me. Let's see here.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Yeah. So I feel like I just feel super passionate about this in general. Maybe it's because I live in the South. Maybe it's because I see a lot of people making the mistake of waiting too long to have children. And I'll read the tweet. My advice to 25 year olds. get married young and have more kids than you can afford. That's the wow part of the tweet, right?
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Everybody reads that and they're like, whoa, that's the opposite of what I hear. I hear marrying your, picking your spouse is like, you know, the most important decision you'll ever make. Be very careful about it. Be very deliberate in it. Be, you know, super thoughtful on it. And kids are super expensive and I need to be financially secure before I have kids.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Like, so boom, the thing that Nick said at the very top is, um, different than what a lot of people say. Then I go on to take a very hard side towards having more kids younger. I've never met anyone who wishes they'd had fewer kids. That's a super strong, un-nuanced take supporting my first line. But I've met a lot of people who regret waiting so long or having so few.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Every 60 plus year old that I know cares about one thing above all else, their kids and their grandkids. That is just a super powerful, convincing thing that's also super triggering to people who disagree with it.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
I pretty strongly believe... So look, it's geared towards my target person. Obviously, not everybody is in the situation where this applies to them. They're people with mental issues. They're struggling with alcohol. They literally do not have their own life together and they have no business getting married and trying to support a child.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Let's do it, man.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
But I'm talking to the people who are like me because that's the majority of people who follow me on the internet are competent people, 30 to 40 to 50 years old, who are kicking ass at their career. They're making money. They're into entrepreneurship. They're into business. And maybe they've just kind of forgot that, holy cow, kids are super important to live a rewarding life.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Then I make the second tweet. Don't buy into the illusion of choice because you hear the excuse all the time of guys and girls alike being like, I just want to travel. I want to get it out of my system. I And I personally pretty strongly believe that that's bullshit and actually creates a bunch of bad habits that are really hard to break when you actually do want to settle down.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
So my second tweet, I just lean in. Don't buy into the illusion of choice. Don't buy into the lie that is getting out of your system. If you travel and sleep around and do whatever you want for 20 years, it'll be even harder for you. Bad habits die hard. And it just lights people up, right?
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Yep. Yeah. Catchy, catchy little intro. My advice to every 25 year old. Okay. I'm going to read this because I want to know what Nick advises 25 year olds and then boom, a super strong controversial viewpoint. And then me taking one side, even though if I were in a conversation with somebody, you discuss the nuance.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Like we can, we can discuss the nuance of this right now that having kids is not right for everybody, but yeah, I do think a lot of people make this mistake. So my goal with this was to make people think twice about it.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Right. Yeah. Nuance. The lesson here is that nuance does not go viral.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
All you have to do is refuse video games until about the age of 16. Then your kids will be so far behind their friends it won't be fun for them. They'll give up and focus on real life. Virtually no chance they'll grow old to spend 20 hours a week on a computer casting spells. It triggers all the people who sit around and play video games as a hobby because it's true that...
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Video games, while they do add a lot of critical thinking skills and maybe people argue hand-eye coordination, I disagree with that. But they argue the benefits of it. I don't think they're very beneficial. So I took that hard line and it frustrated and made angry a lot of gamers.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
I get a lot of messages. I get a lot of messages from people who support me and follow me and want to use my businesses. And the first thing a lot of them say to me is, Nick, I love your stuff and I don't agree with all of it. Right. I spark good conversations. I make smart people think critically about things. And obviously, what I think doesn't apply to everybody.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
So throw out the stuff that doesn't apply to you. But I guarantee you, some of the stuff might strike home with you.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Yeah, I think I have this one tweet about a white Escalade. Like if you want to... If you can get really specific and it adds just a layer of humor, like 20 hours a week on a computer casting spells just adds a layer of humor to the thought of somebody playing World of Warcraft.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
It's that picture of that guy on South Park who's got his hand up on the desk and he's really obese and he's eating chips while he's beating Cartman and all the friends at war. World of Warcraft, right? That's what you picture when you think of 20 hours a week casting spells. So I like to add a little bit of complexity. I have this one tweet about salespeople and driving a white Escalade.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
I love to hire salespeople who are paycheck to paycheck, but drive $120,000 white Escalade. Because they're super motivated to sell and they are highly determined to make it rain and they'll work super hard because they're cash strapped. And it's just funny because we all know a lot of salespeople like that.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
I actually workshopped that with Marshall. So we worked on that one together because it's a promotion for somewhere.com. But I think that it's the same structure that we are talking about at the beginning. We have a line at the top is just the wow factor, right? I'm like, I should read this. It's catchy. It's the hook. I sold my company for $52 million earlier this year.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
That's the first line that says, hey, drop what you're doing and read the rest of this tweet. Because in reality, somebody scrolling Twitter, you get an eighth of a second of their attention. You have to realize that like they are selfishly scrolling Twitter being like, what can you do for me? What can you do for me? What can you do for me? Are you going to make me laugh?
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Are you going to make are you going to strike my emotion or are you going to teach me something? Those are the three things are going to make me laugh or be entertaining in some way. Or are you going to are going to teach me something? So you're trying to stop them in their tracks with that very first line. Just like my advice to every 25 year old.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Oh, I might want advice because I might be, I might have a kid who turns 25 or I just might be interested in this. Boom, Marshalls. I sold my company for $52 million. Not very many people have done that. I'm going to read. I'm going to give it more than an eighth of a second. I'm going to give it four seconds. So now you have four seconds. And it's the controversial part, right? My secret weapon.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
I had two Americans on my team and 150 plus international folks at a time of the sale. Wow. Not only was this a remote company... But 1% of his employees were U.S. based and 99% of his employees were overseas. Finance, ops, sales, and then the rest of it we're selling, right? We're telling people what somewhere offers. Finance people, operations people, sales people, developers, even executives.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
And then bang, this is the catchy one, all for 80% less than U.S. talent. You can do this too. Here are seven people ready to hire today. That tweet got 1.4 million impressions and it drove a hundred plus leads to somewhere.com and it was worth a quarter million dollars of marketing for us.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Yeah, we made it so that these people can see and hear the voice of who they could potentially hire. Because a business owner thinks, oh, I might hire somebody abroad. And they think of what they get on the phone when they talk to a Filipino who works for Bank of America. And they're like, damn, I really hope this person can actually help me. But it's unlikely.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
jump up with happiness or pain or do something you think that works let's do it man i think we can cover a lot quickly because my strategy is pretty simple i mean we all know the framework of great twitter copy but the mindset is a little bit different and the mindset is that if you try to make every single person like you on the internet
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
They're going to forward me around a call tree. And it's going to be kind of tough. Because corporate America has trained us to think a certain type of person who works overseas. But if you play Keegan's video... He sounds like us. He sounds like an American. So, yeah, it's really pretty cool. So when they see that and they feel it, it hits different and it sells much more effectively.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
You mentioned something that's so important. This is really hard because Twitter is changing so fast. And I think Elon knows what he's doing and he's chasing engagement, chasing daily active users. And it's going to point him towards a TikTok, Instagram type model. So I'm worried that we're going all video over time on Twitter. So it's kind of scary for guys like me. What do you think?
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Yeah, so I recorded a 52-second video. Can you scroll just the very beginning of it so I can read that? Yeah. I can't remember exactly what I said in this video. Oh, yeah, I'm saying repeat after me. I will keep it simple. I will copy what works. And we're going to talk about this in the second half of our episode, which is maybe a pretty cool transition.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
But yeah, my videos, the exact same thing. It's catchy because I have, when somebody's scrolling Instagram or Twitter, I have one second of their attention. So I have to catch it right away. So let me tell you my advice to every entrepreneur in this world. Copy what works. I will do boring things. I will, you know, avoid what's sexy.
The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
I'll stop chasing everything that everybody else is chasing in the world. And I'm going to simplify it. And I'm going to do boring things. And the people who have succeeded in entrepreneurship, most of them can really relate to that. So that's why it took off.