*Compiled from direct analysis of shaanpuri.com essays and mailbag posts, @ShaanVP Twitter threads, My First Million podcast transcripts, 5 Tweet Tuesday newsletters, Power Writing course materials, and interviews on Mixergy, Indie Hackers, and Buffer.*
Shaan writes like the smartest guy at the barbecue who happens to know a terrifying amount about business — he's excited, he's specific, he's a little irreverent, and he never talks down to you.
Shaan almost never opens with context or throat-clearing. He drops you into the middle of something.
Pattern A: The Bold Declaration
Start with a claim that demands a reaction.
> "Hot take: Everyone is wrong about the Metaverse."
> — @ShaanVP, Oct 2021 (thread reached 10M+ readers)
> "Life changes once you realize everything is an excuse."
> — "Excuses" essay, shaanpuri.com
> "I got greedy."
> — @ShaanVP, Jun 2023 (thread about buying his first business)
Pattern B: The Curiosity Hook
Create an information gap in the first sentence that can ONLY be closed by reading more.
> "This guy failed at 11 businesses before he turned 25. His 12th made him $100M."
> "There's a company making $50M/year selling... dirt."
> "He started in a garage. No employees. No funding. Just a laptop and a weird obsession with garage doors. Three years later? $1.7 billion."
Pattern C: The Personal Story Drop
Start with an "I" and a specific moment.
> "I was going for a run and this truck was driving. It had a piece of heavy machinery behind it called Van Meer... I pause for a second. I Google Van Meer."
> — Indie Hackers interview
> "For the past 10 years, I've kept a scratchpad of notes called 'money wisdom.' Anytime I read, heard, or learned something wise about wealth — I wrote it down."
> — @ShaanVP, Jun 2023 (1.1M views)
Pattern D: The Reader's Question
Open with someone else's question, then answer it. This is his blog's primary structure.
> "Devin, an engineer in Brooklyn, asked me: how do I find the right cofounder?"
> — "Down" essay, shaanpuri.com
> "Abram, a 27-year-old from Nashville, said: I feel stuck in a 'good' but unfulfilling life. What's the one thing I should do?"
> — "Proximity is Power" essay, shaanpuri.com
Short sentences dominate. They create punchy rhythm. Then he'll occasionally deploy a longer sentence that flows and builds — and the contrast is what gives the writing its energy.
Typical paragraph:
> "Every important part of life is going digital. Work — from factories to laptops. Boardrooms to Zooms. Friends — from neighbors to followers. Where do you find like-minded people? Twitter. Reddit."
> — Metaverse thread
Key stats from his Power Writing course:
The Staccato List — one of his signature moves:
> "No employees. No funding. Just a laptop."
> "Rent: $467/person. Food: bulk chicken, eggs, rice, beans, hot sauce."
> "Bold. Fun. Clever. Not fake."
Never "The company was acquired by him." Always "He bought the company."
> "He didn't have a CS degree. He had a truck and a website."
Shaan's writing has almost zero adverbs. The verb does the work. Not "he angrily yelled" — just "he yelled."
| Instead of... | Shaan says... |
|---|---|
| noteworthy | wild |
| significant revenue | printing money |
| entrepreneurial venture | thing / project / bet |
| challenging | hard / brutal |
| innovative approach | the move / the play |
| leveraged | used |
| strategic framework | playbook |
| evaluate | figure out |
| implement | do / build / ship |
| considerable | insane / crazy |
| nevertheless | but here's the thing |
| subsequently | then |
| demonstrate | show |
| facilitate | help |
Openers / Transitions:
Emphasis / Excitement:
Simplifying:
Insider Feel:
From his Power Writing course: "Start by talking out loud and then writing down what you said, editing out any unnecessary words." If you wouldn't say it to a friend at a bar, don't write it.
> Do say: "This dude turned garage door repair into a $1.7B company."
> Don't say: "This entrepreneur leveraged operational efficiencies in the home services vertical."
> Do say: "Here's what's wild about this..."
> Don't say: "What's particularly noteworthy is..."
This is Shaan's core skill. He takes abstract business concepts and makes them feel personal. Here are his specific techniques:
He never explains a concept in its own terms. He always maps it onto something the reader already understands.
> "You know in artificial intelligence, there's an idea of 'the singularity'? It's a moment in time where AI becomes smarter than humans. I think the metaverse is the same kind of thing."
> — Metaverse thread
> "Every home has broken shelves. The people living in the house have learned to ignore it."
> — "Better Leader" essay (explaining organizational blind spots)
> "You take the medicine, it's supposed to cure the problem and you're supposed to be able to move on with your life. Some people just love drinking Robitussin every day."
> — Indie Hackers (on acquisition addiction)
> "What food is to your body, content is to your brain."
> — "Content Diet" essay
Before explaining why something matters broadly, he shows how it affected him personally.
> "At age 23, I left a comfortable $120K job in Australia to move to San Francisco with no job and no connections."
> — "Proximity is Power" essay
> "I spent a decade unsuccessfully trying to become an exceptional CEO before recognizing my actual strength: explaining complex concepts clearly."
> — "Finding Your Thing" essay
> "I was at this dinner with [name], and he told me..."
> — recurring MFM pattern
He shifts from third-person facts to second-person directly, making the reader the protagonist.
> "So if you play this forward another 10-20 years — we will cross into the metaverse. The moment in time where digital matters more to us than physical."
> "Would you rather 100,000 Americans read your book? Or be invisible to them — but every attendee of Davos loves your work?"
> — "Build an Audience" essay
> "So here's the question: if you had $10K and six months, what would YOU build?"
He makes the reader feel like they're part of an in-group that understands something most people don't.
> "While everyone was focused on AI, this $50M business was being built with zero tech."
> "There's a quiet shift happening in [X] and most people haven't noticed yet."
> "Chilean sea bass used to be called 'Patagonian toothfish.' They just renamed it."
> — 5 Tweet Tuesday (demonstrating prestige hijacking)
Lead with the most surprising stat. Don't bury it.
> "317M views."
> — Beast Mode essay (MrBeast's chocolate factory video)
> "Green Eggs & Ham: over 8 million copies sold. Written using only 50 unique words."
> — "Creativity Loves Constraints" essay
Shaan rounds aggressively. Never "approximately $1.73 billion" — always "$1.7B" or "almost $2B."
> "Jaws earned approximately $500 million on a $7 million budget."
> — Note he kept the $7M precise (small = specific) and the $500M round (big = round)
He pairs two numbers to create a gap the reader has to process.
> "Our attention used to be 99% on our physical environment. TVs dropped that to 85%. Computers down to 70%. Phones... 50%."
> — Metaverse thread
> "Rent: ~$467/person monthly. Target income: $1,000/month. Maximum freedom."
> — "Strategically Broke" essay
> "13,000 cars sold, but worth more than GM selling 2.6M cars annually."
> — "Build an Audience" essay (on Ferrari)
Numbers should feel like they were scrawled on a napkin at dinner, not pulled from a 10-K filing.
> "He bought a laundromat on a credit card. Five years later, he owns a $3.5B Hollywood production company."
> "$8K a day. From 'easy' businesses. His words, not mine."
Compress time to make growth feel explosive.
> "0 to 330K followers in less than 2 years."
> "We sold the newsletter for seven figures within 14 months."
> "Pieter Levels: Making $2.7M A Year With No Employees."
Never five lessons. One.
> "The lesson? Distribution beats product. Every time."
> "The takeaway is dead simple: start before you're ready."
> "Proximity is power."
> "Intensity IS the strategy."
Turn passive consumption into active engagement.
> "So here's the question: if you had $10K and six months, what would YOU build?"
> "Can you afford NOT to?"
> — "3-Step Plan" essay
End by changing how the reader sees something they took for granted.
> "Nobody will call it the 'metaverse' in a few years. That's like in 1997 people used to call the internet the 'information superhighway' and 'cyberspace.'"
> — Metaverse thread
> "Is this a good or a bad thing? Like anything, it's neither good nor bad. It's just a thing. A very different thing."
> — Metaverse thread (final tweet)
> "Either this is an excuse to stop. Or it's an excuse to restart."
> — "Excuses" essay
He never takes himself too seriously at the end.
> "Stay thirsty, Uncle Shaan"
> "331 words (93 words over budget!)"
> "Except pooping. We'll all still poop in the real world."
> — Metaverse thread (literal final line)
End by making the reader feel empowered, not overwhelmed.
> "You don't need a CS degree for this. You need a laptop and some nerve."
> "The bar is lower than you think. Seriously."
> "Get paid a king's ransom for something that you would do for free."
> — "Stop Working So Hard" essay
> "Story is a five-second moment of change."
> — MFM Storytelling Episode
Every story has one single pivot point where everything shifts. Find it and build toward it. Everything before it creates tension. Everything after it resolves.
At any moment in a story, the audience should know:
1. What does the hero want? (intention)
2. What's stopping them? (obstacle)
3. What happens if they fail? (stakes — emotional, financial, reputational)
> "If you ever go five minutes without that being clear, people will lose attention and drift away."
> "You want to work backwards from the emotion."
> — MFM Storytelling Episode
Before writing anything, pick which emotion you're aiming for:
| Emotion | Trigger |
|---|---|
| LOL | funny, absurd |
| WTF | outraged, frustrated |
| OMG | surprised, shocked |
| AWW | heartwarming |
| WOW | admiration, wonder |
> "If you don't trigger one of these, they keep scrolling."
From his MFM research segment framework:
1. Frame — the conceptual lens (connects two seemingly unrelated things)
2. Talking points — supporting details
3. Take — your perspective/analysis
> "Frames are about the idea and how you're going to make that idea relevant."
A hook is just words. A frame is the conceptual lens that makes you see the topic differently.
Formula: [Unexpected Thing] + [Business/Money Angle] = Frame
Real examples from The Hustle:
1. Hook — Bold claim or gripping problem
2. Struggle — What's hard, what was tried, what failed
3. Breakthrough — The solution, outcome, or key metric
4. What's Next — The new challenge or opportunity (keeps them wanting more)
This is the emotional engine of MFM's appeal.
Show the missed opportunity to create urgency about the NEXT one.
> "Bitcoin was $1 in 2011. A pizza cost 10,000 BTC. That pizza is now worth $700M."
Pattern: "[Ordinary-sounding thing] is now worth [insane number]. And almost nobody saw it coming."
Present a trend as a train leaving the station.
> "There's a quiet shift happening in [X] and most people haven't noticed yet."
> "While everyone was focused on AI, this $50M business was being built with zero tech."
> "I'm just trying to put myself out there. It's like when you're in a car and have the music so loud that other people can hear it from their cars."
> — Buffer interview
MFM's secret weapon: they make listeners feel like they're eavesdropping on a conversation between two connected guys casually dropping alpha.
> "The playbook is embarrassingly simple. And that's exactly why it works."
> "This isn't rocket science. It's a guy with a truck and a website."
> (yes, seriously)
> (his words, not mine)
> (mostly gents if we're being honest..)
> "Work — from factories to laptops. Boardrooms to Zooms."
> "Something most people neglect — consistently staying connected."
> "But what if it's not a place?"
> "Where do you find like-minded people?"
> "What does that mean? It means..."
He writes TO you, not about things.
> "you," "your," "here's what you need to know"
> "Don't send it to 250,000 people if you wouldn't send it to me."
> — Mixergy interview
He catches himself mid-thought, which creates authenticity.
> "I'm just a jackass with wifi"
> "He is not fake and robotic" (describing what he wants people to say about him)
Based on actual MFM episode titles, Hustle headlines, and tweet openers:
| Formula | Example |
|---|---|
| Hot take: [contrarian claim] | "Hot take: Everyone is wrong about the Metaverse." |
| [Person] turned [mundane thing] into [$big number] | "How he turned garage door repairs into $1.7B" |
| [Big Number] a [time period] with [surprising constraint] | "Making $2.7M a year with no employees" |
| The [unexpected adjective] [economics] of [everyday thing] | "The economics of free lunch" |
| [Number] [things] that [strong verb] | "13 questions that will change your life" |
| I [did surprising thing]. Here's what happened. | "I got greedy." |
| [X] will never die | "Corporate swag will never die" |
| My $[small] to $[big] Guide | "My $0 to $1 Million Guide" |
| [Simple statement]. [Surprising follow-up]. | "He started in a garage. Three years later? $1.7 billion." |
1. Never hedges. No "it could potentially" or "it might be argued." He commits to a take.
2. Never lectures. No "you should" without first proving why through story.
3. Never uses passive voice. Everything has a subject doing something.
4. Never front-loads context. He drops you in the action, gives context later.
5. Never writes long paragraphs. 3 sentences max. Usually 1-2.
6. Never uses jargon to sound smart. "Synergies" and "value proposition" are banned.
7. Never gives 5 takeaways. Always one. Maximum two.
8. Never buries the number. The most shocking stat is always near the top.
9. Never ends without energy. The last line always has punch — a question, a reframe, a laugh.
10. Never pretends to be neutral when he's not. He has opinions and states them. "Both sides have merit" does not exist in his vocabulary.
Before publishing any piece in his voice, verify:
Daily Trades should sound like: the sharp friend in the group chat who always knows what's moving in the markets and explains it in a way that makes you feel smarter — and a little anxious that you're not paying attention.
1. Open with the jaw-drop stat or contrarian claim — the most surprising thing about this trend.
2. Bridge with "here's what's happening" — 2-3 sentences of context, no more.
3. Name 2-3 tickers — neutral, no recommendations. Let the reader connect the dots.
4. Close with the FOMO/hindsight hook — "In 3 years, you'll either be telling people about this trend or asking them to explain it to you."
1. First sentence = curiosity gap. If it doesn't make someone stop scrolling, rewrite it.
2. 5-minute read max. Respect their time.
3. One big trend per article. Don't dilute.
4. Numbers are your friend. But wrap them in story. Not "Revenue grew 10%" — instead, frame it as a turning point or use a contrast pair.
5. Write 20+ subject line variations. The subject line IS the product.
6. End every article with a clear takeaway or FOMO close. Make them feel something.
7. Use the group chat test: Would a 25-year-old guy send this to his friends? If not, rewrite.
8. Specificity over vagueness. Names, numbers, dates, dollar amounts. Vague = boring. Specific = credible.
9. Write like you talk. Read it out loud. If it sounds like a textbook, start over.
10. Spiky > safe. Have an opinion. Take a side.