Series · B2C · AI social network
Tweet screenshots of real Hinge chats where dates ask about your startup
Tweets went viral on tech Twitter; one date became a user; no numbers
Workedorganic-socialfounder-brand
What they did
Plain 'build in public' tweets got no attention, so Eunice (marketing lead) listed her job on Hinge as just 'Startup'. When matches asked, she teased instead of naming it ('the first AI social network') and tweeted screenshots of the real, unfaked chats, e.g. a match who looked her up and said Series was cool got 'So, you're trying to become a user?', with him saved as 'Jason (Hinge)'. She played up an 'SF tech girl' persona all the way. As a follow-up she went on a date with him and walked him through Series' onboarding in person. Followers began finding her on Hinge in other cities and joining in.
What happened
Tweets went 'pretty viral' on tech Twitter and became a running joke that followers played along with; the date signed up in person; Cupidly later built its launch video around her. No numbers in the body.
“So I just started off tweeting like, "Build in public," because that seemed to be the trend. But because that's the trend, no one really notices what you're doing.”
“And in my Hinge bio, for a job, it says like, "Startup."”
“So instead of just telling them the startups, I would be like, "Oh, the first AI social network," or I'll just drop hints.”
“I actually went on a date with this guy, and I physically turned him into a user. I walked him through the entire onboarding process”
“You kind of have to full send the persona, right? If you only put a foot in the door, then people are going to be able to tell that, "Okay, maybe this is not your true self and you're trying too hard," right?”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Series: Turn 12 show spots into a race, with an invite-your-friends challenge~2,500 applicants, 150 racers; top racer invited 120 people in a day
- Series: Get one or two participants posting on LinkedIn first so the rest follow100+ interns posted a banner and a paragraph within 2 days
- Cupidly: Put the person everyone's talking about in your launch video, with their OK~1.5M views from a founder with 2-3K followers
- Make a cinematic launch video that spreads among investorsWent viral with VCs; guest says it helped raise $3M
- Post calm, sideways talking videos while everyone else posts loud vertical ones35K views turned into 200-250 new followers