Treat Content Like a Nightclub: The Algorithm Is the Bouncer, and Your Only Job Is to Get Him to Let You In
Kate Tolo took Brian Johnson from 2,000 followers to tens of millions over five years, and her core metaphor is this: the algorithm is a nightclub bouncer who only cares whether the people inside are having a good time — and you can fail a hundred times without anyone seeing.
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The algorithm is a bouncer, not an enemy
Kate imagines the platform as a nightclub: only when the people inside are having a good time does the bouncer (the algorithm) let you in. Your only job is to understand what the bouncer wants — high-emotion, high-engagement content, whether that's hope, sadness, shock or education. She stresses the trade is fair: you don't need to worry about follower count, posting time or how many posts you publish, only about making content that keeps the people inside having fun. And failure is invisible — you can try a hundred times and no one sees you get rejected.
— Kate ToloEvery platform is a different nightclub
Kate says the New York Times homepage, the iPhone App Store and Uber Eats' front-page recommendations are all nightclubs — all A/B testing for a limited number of slots, all competing for your attention. So the same piece of content can't be moved to every platform as-is, because each club's "ticket price" is different: on YouTube it's the title plus thumbnail, in email it's the subject line, in an app notification it's the first three words, on Twitter it's the tweet itself. You have to know which nightclub you're in before deciding what to wear.
— Kate ToloStart in text first, then think about visuals
Kate insists on "start in text first": if the text story doesn't work, visualizing it only makes it messier. She gives the example of Blueprint's product photography — if you start from "shoot the product," you might just put it on a white wall; but if you start from the story "this is a science experiment," you'll shoot the capsules in a petri dish. Colin adds that they only recently started using reference images, and just "saying out loud what you want to shoot" changed the results dramatically.
— Kate ToloThe three-step writing method: be clear, give value, pick the gossip
Kate's writing process has three steps: first, say what you want to say in the simplest words possible, ignoring marketing; second, rewrite it and ask "what value can I create for the person listening"; third, find the most "gossipy," most shareable element in the text and move it to the front. She stresses that "gossipy" doesn't have to be lowbrow — for instance, "90% of visible skin aging comes from UV" is a shareable scientific fact.
— Kate ToloAfter creating fear, you must immediately give a solution
Kate uses "90% of visible skin aging comes from everyday sun" as an example: the line creates fear and tension, but you can't leave it at fear — you must immediately give an executable solution (say, three sun-protection rules), so the audience feels you're on their side and that the value you create is greater than the attention you're asking for. She contrasts two tweets: one piles up research jargon ("a 2020 study of 161,286 people in Korea..."), the other is Brian's direct instruction ("brush your teeth immediately when you wake up") — the latter is what "speaking human" means.
— Kate ToloThe same sentence can be posted for a year
Kate shows two tweets exactly one year apart with identical content: "Sleep is the most powerful drug for performance, mental health and happiness." The first got 220,000 views, the second 348,000. She says people assume they have to say something new every time, but if you have a good line, say it again and again. She mentions Blueprint wrote roughly 200 pieces of content about sleep, with no deliberate spacing — if it's good, post it again. Colin admits one of their biggest flaws is always wanting to reinvent the wheel.
— Kate ToloTranslate research into "do you want a cat or a dog"
Kate contrasts an academic paper title ("Protective effect of dog ownership on disabling dementia in older Japanese community residents") with Brian's tweet: "Do you want a cat or a dog? I want a dog and I exercise, dementia risk down 63%; I want a dog but don't exercise, zero benefit; I want a cat, zero benefit." She says this is what makes research "dead simple" — not simplification, but turning it into a multiple-choice question everyone wants to share. Colin says it reminds him of phone ads: nobody cares about the Snapdragon chip, they just want to know "call your mom."
— Kate ToloUse "yes and" to turn haters into your own people
Kate says when Brian faces negative comments, he doesn't argue back — he "yes ands": agrees with the other person first, then plays along. When someone mocked him for taking methylene blue, he went along with it: "I was moved by the Smurfs movie." When someone suggested "we need an anti-Brian Johnson: sleeps four hours, eats fast food, drinks and smokes but has perfect biomarkers," Brian posted a meme comparing himself with Liver King. Kate says this converts both positive and negative energy into your own energy, turning onlookers into "your people."
— Kate ToloIn their own words · checked verbatim
Your only job in creating content is to understand what the bouncer needs. You need to befriend the bouncer. The bouncer wants people inside to have a great time.
Kate Tolo6:02
You can try 100 times. And if you don't succeed, that's actually good because the people on the inside don't ever see.
Kate Tolo7:04
Start in text first because if you can perfect the text storytelling, everything becomes...
Kate Tolo15:19
What is the most gossipy element of this text? And then I pull it up to the front.
Kate Tolo24:36
You can say the same thing. People have this misconception. I need to come with something novel every single time.
Kate Tolo32:56
It captures energy negative and positive, and it turns it into your energy.
Kate Tolo47:20
Figures
| Amount Brian Johnson sold his payments company to PayPal for | $800 million | 0:00 |
| Amount Brian Johnson spends per year on anti-aging experiments | over $2 million | 0:00 |
| Instagram follower count Kate and Brian started with | 2,000 | 3:01 |
| Blueprint's current follower count | 6 million | 3:01 |
| Blueprint's funding | $60 million | 3:01 |
| Number of people Blueprint reaches monthly through media coverage | about 300 million | 3:01 |
| Reduction in dementia risk from owning a dog and exercising | 63% | 36:01 |
| Amount of sleep content Blueprint has written | about 200 pieces | 32:56 |
Glossary
- bouncer
- Kate's metaphor for the algorithm: it decides who gets into the traffic pool and only cares whether the users inside are having a good time.
- ticket price
- The moment a user on each platform decides whether to open your content: on YouTube it's the title plus thumbnail, in email it's the subject line.
- yes and
- The improv-comedy "yes, and": instead of arguing with a negative comment, accept its premise first, then play along, converting attack energy into your own traffic.
How to listen
People doing content, brand or growth, especially creators and founders trying to build a personal IP or product brand from zero to one.
The Shopify ad at the start and the chat about going public with a relationship at the end are skippable.