Member-only story

The Best Way To Grow On Social Media (From Zero Followers)

Dan Koe
12 min readMar 12, 2025

For non-members, read here.

I always had the dream of becoming a YouTuber.

But I failed for years before I saw a shred of success.

That’s what I want to talk about in this letter:

  • Why I failed (and what you can learn)
  • How to start even if you lack confidence and aren’t a 10/10 supermodel
  • How to use other people’s authority to build your own (this will lead to the fastest growth)
  • Why treating social media like a video game is the key to being a success (this will lead to sustainable growth)

In high school, I would get home from class, go to the gym, and spend my nights watching fitness creators doing what they loved for a living.

Those creators were the friends who didn’t even know who I was.

They didn’t realize the impact they had on my future.

They had no idea that I, a guy in a completely different location, was implementing their advice, copying their mannerisms and lingo, and becoming a person who was no longer programmed by the environment I grew up in.

The negative aspects of social media are obvious.

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Dan Koe
Dan Koe

Written by Dan Koe

Building Kortex, the future of writing apps. Find me everywhere @thedankoe

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