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Hello rebel ideapreneurs 🦸♂️🦸♀️
Dean writes a weekly newsletter about easy weekday breakfasts.
He started it because mornings shouldn't mean another sad bowl of cereal.
A good breakfast, he figures, sets the tone for the whole day.
And his readers? They want the same — something warm in ten minutes before the rush.
⛳️ Problem:
Dean writes a clean issue every Sunday.
But nobody forwards it.
Tuesday's open rate hits 43%. Better than last week.
One reply, though. Zero shares. Ouch.
He stares at the numbers.
The writing was fine — he knows it.
Trouble is, nobody had a reason to pass it on.
His problem: how to write an issue someone actually wants to forward.
🔥 The recipe
➡️ The reverse press release
Think about wrapping a gift.
You don't start with the box and hope a face lights up.
You picture the face first — then pick the gift to earn it.
That's exactly how Tony Fadell builds.
He's the engineer who led the iPod and iPhone teams at Apple.
He went on to found Nest, which Google bought for $3.2 billion.
His take: most people build the product first, then hope a story shows up.
Trouble is, by then they've already built the wrong thing.
So flip it.
Write the future reaction FIRST.
Then build the thing to earn that reaction.
And get this — Fadell ran it on his own thermostat.
Before Nest shipped, his team pictured the install.
They saw a homeowner digging through drawers for a screwdriver.
So they dropped a tiny $1.50 screwdriver in every box.
Reviewers wrote about it.
Customers kept it for years.
Free PR, from one imagined moment. Boom.
🚗 The steps
✉️ Step 1 — Write the future forward note.
Picture the text a friend sends when a show is that good.
Not "it was fine" — the real one: "drop everything and watch this."
Your issue needs that text written before you write a word.
Imagine your one reader forwarding Wednesday morning.
Write the one-sentence note they'd add up top.
Dean pictures Maya, his neighbor who skips breakfast every workday.
He writes the note Maya would send a friend:
"Finally a breakfast newsletter for people with no time — 3 things I'm trying this week."
📋 Step 2 — Mine the note for the 3 promises.
A movie trailer makes promises. Big laughs. A twist. A cry at the end.
Then the movie has to actually deliver each one.
Your note made promises too — name them.
Re-read the note.
Underline what has to be in the issue for it to be true.
Dean re-reads his note.
He underlines three things: no time · breakfast · three things this week.
His three promises:
Plain steps a rushed person can do in ten minutes.
One theme — make-ahead breakfasts for busy mornings.
Three things they can try before next Monday.
✂️ Step 3 — Build the issue against the 3 promises.
Packing for a trip, you lay everything out — then pull half back.
If it doesn't earn space in the bag, it stays home.
Same rule for the issue: every paragraph earns its spot or goes.
Write only the paragraphs that serve one of the three promises.
Cut every paragraph that doesn't.
Dean writes three sections:
Why most breakfasts fail on a busy morning.
The make-ahead trick that fixes it.
Three ten-minute breakfasts to try this week.
Then he cuts the long detour about his favorite café in Lisbon.
Interesting to him. Useless to Maya at 7am.
Turns out the issue you'd be shy to send is the one your reader forwards.
The prompt below will run the Reverse Press Release on your next newsletter.
You just tell it the topic and the one reader you're writing for.
🧸 One imagined forward + 3 real promises = an issue your reader forwards.
🏄♀️ The prompt
Save this prompt as a Skill or add to Project in your favorite AI tool — build once, use often.
Update your input values in the prompt or just run as is, your AI sidekick will use the example values and will give output.
CONTEXT:
- (use what's available, fall back to the inline values)
- If my Voice Profile exists, write in that voice. Otherwise, write in a clear, warm, no-jargon voice — short sentences, plain words, zero hype.
- If my ICP / Audience doc exists, target that reader. Otherwise, use the audience below.
Inputs:
For Audience: {e.g. busy people who skip breakfast on workdays and want something warm in 10 minutes}
The one specific topic of this week's issue (one sentence):
{e.g. make-ahead breakfasts for busy mornings — and three things to try this week}
For Outcome: {e.g. a 5-minute newsletter issue this reader will forward to one friend who also skips breakfast}
Outputs:
PART 1 — The imagined forward note: write the one-sentence note my reader would add at the top when forwarding this issue. Specific enough that the friend actually opens the email.
PART 2 — The 3 promises hidden in the note: re-read it and list each thing that would have to be in the issue for the note to be true. One promise per line, no more than 3.
PART 3 — The build plan: list 3-5 paragraphs the issue needs to deliver each promise. Plus a STOP list of things to NOT include — the detours, the throat-clears, the "by the way" paragraphs.
Then in two sentences, tell me which of the three promises is the strongest forward-hook — the one I should lead with so the reader hits "forward" before they finish reading.
One future reader-text, written first.
Three promises baked into the issue.
One newsletter worth a Wednesday share.
That's it, my fellow mavericks!
Yours 'helping you turn your obsession into income 10x faster with your AI sidekick' Vijay Peduru 🦸♂️