Short video is the new oil

Do not index

I've been obsessed with TikTok lately.

Not for dance videos. For distribution.

And what I found blew my mind 👇

While everyone's obsessing over SEO and paid ads, some apps are quietly crushing it on TikTok:

CoupleJoy: 23M views in 30 days

Gizmo AI: 200K monthly downloads

HelloTalk: $13.2M ARR

All from short-form video content.

(I’m hiring. Details at the end of the email)

Why TikTok works

Traditional channels are saturated.

Everyone's fighting for the same Google keywords and Facebook audiences.

And although these (old) channels give great results if done well. Ahem outrank.so ahem

TikTok on the other hand is still wide open.

The algorithm rewards authentic content over polished ads. Personal stories beat corporate messaging. And you can go viral for $0.

And the biggest cog in that machine is the hooks that work.

Here is what I found:

Hooks that actually convert

After studying hundreds of viral app videos, here are the patterns that work:

Long text over face stories

Multi-line hooks over a person talking

Forces viewers to read and watch twice

Higher completion rates

Fear-based content

"Do you think our flight will crash?"

Then shows the app calculating safety scores

Taps into real emotions

POV micro-niches

"Prove in one sentence you played Red Dead Redemption 2"

Hooks specific communities

Then shows a relevant app demo

Rage-bait that works

Lovable: "I built Netflix in 60 seconds"

Developers get angry in comments

Anger = engagement = reach

The hardest part

Here's where most people screw up:

45.9M views. Zero sales.

One creator got massive views but forgot the most important part - the call to action.

Every viral video needs:

Clear mention of your app

Link in bio

Response strategy for comments

You need to tell the audience exactly what to do.

What I'm testing now

I'm experimenting with this for my own products:

For Outrank.so: "This AI tool ranked my blog #1 in 30 days" For Revid.ai: "I grew 50K followers using this one app" For SuperX.so: "The Twitter tool that 10x'd my engagement"

The key is hooking first, then showing the product in action.

Your Next Steps

If you're not on TikTok yet, start with:

Create 3 different account types:

Personal founder story

Faceless product demos

User-generated content

Test these hook formats:

"This [tool] saved my [problem]"

"POV: You need to [achieve goal]"

"[Controversial claim] and here's proof"

Post daily for 30 days

Volume beats perfection

The algorithm rewards consistency

You need data to optimize

Always include a CTA

Mention your app name

"Link in bio for early access"

Reply to comments with details

Hiring 🚨

I’m looking for someone who can help me do all of this.

I would want them to run the entire TikTok for my software.

Ideally, they are:

1 - Unhinged. And talk internet language. 2 - Young. So they understand TikTok audience. 3 - Motivated. They want to win real bad.

If you have some experience to top it off - nothing better!

If you are this person/know a person like this - reply to this email 👇🏻

The Bottom Line

While you're optimizing SEO and buying Facebook ads, your competitors might be building audiences of millions on TikTok.

For free.

The question isn't whether you should be on TikTok.

It's whether you can afford not to be.

Hit reply and tell me - are you using TikTok for your business yet? What's holding you back? 👇🏻

Tweet of the week

Every great founder I talk to has these skills:

I will see you next week,

Keep building

Tibo 💻

P.S. I'm planning to share my TikTok experiments over the next few months. If you want updates on what's working (and what's not), let me know!