My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
The copywriting skills used in fraud operations are directly applicable to legitimate business and should be studied rather than dismissed
The Reasoning
Scammers are highly incentivized to find what actually works in persuasion, creating natural experiments in human psychology at scale
What Needs to Be True
- Ethical application can separate technique from intent
- Psychological principles work regardless of moral context
- High-stakes situations reveal true effectiveness
Counterargument
Studying fraud techniques could normalize unethical behavior and harm trust in legitimate marketing
What Would Change This View
Evidence that legitimate businesses can't ethically apply these persuasion principles
Implications for Builders
Study successful scam techniques for copywriting insights
Apply psychological principles ethically in legitimate business
Focus on the 'how it works' rather than 'what they did'
Example Application
“Use envelope techniques from psychic scams (creating curiosity, personal touches, urgency) for legitimate product launches while being truthful about claims.”
Related Knowledge
Values Must Acknowledge Trade-offs Framework
A principle that company values are only meaningful when they explicitly acknowledge what you're sacrificing or what dow
Big Bets Strategy Framework
A one-page strategy document that lists 6 specific bets for the year plus explicit non-bets to maintain focus
Validate if your newsletter subscribers are actually engaged readers
High reply rate (>10%) to personal outreach email from founder
Create viral dating events that solve app fatigue through in-person meetups
200-500 people attending regular events, partnership with dating apps, profitable event business
Collect and Store Good Phrases/Ideas for Later Use
Systematically collecting effective phrases, lines, and ideas from various sources to use in your own work later
Would You Text Me About This Test
Content quality filter asking whether you'd personally share this information with a friend via text message