Nine post formats that actually travel

How to use these
A format doesn't make a boring thing interesting. It makes an interesting thing legible. If you fill one in and it's dull, the problem is the material — go and find a better one rather than reaching for a different template.

1. The reversal

Works because it promises that the next line contradicts the first. Requires you to have actually changed your mind.

The reversal

I spent [time period] convinced that [common belief].

Then [specific thing that happened].

Here's what I'd do differently:

[3-5 short lines, most specific first]

[One line on what it cost you to learn this.]

2. The number in the first line

The number

[Number]. That's how many [unit] it took to [outcome].

Breakdown:
— [component]: [number]
— [component]: [number]
— [component]: [number]

The part that surprised me: [the one non-obvious line item].

3. The thing I deleted

Consistently the highest-engagement shape for founders, because everyone posts what they built and almost nobody posts what they removed.

The deletion

I just deleted [feature / page / process] that took [effort] to build.

Why I built it: [the reasonable-sounding original logic]

Why it had to go: [what actually happened when real people used it]

What replaced it: [usually something much smaller]

4. The specific how-to

The how-to

How to [specific outcome] in [time], without [the expensive/obvious way]:

1. [Action] — [why this order matters]
2. [Action]
3. [Action]
4. [Action]

Takes about [honest time]. The step people skip is [n], and it's the one that does the work.

5. The comparison table

A table stops the scroll because it's visually different from everything around it. Be fair about the alternatives — an obviously rigged comparison is worse than no post.

The comparison

[Option A] vs [Option B] for [specific job]:

Cost: [A] / [B]
Time to set up: [A] / [B]
Breaks when: [A] / [B]
Best for: [A] / [B]

I use [choice] because [one specific reason]. [Genuine case where the other one wins.]

6. The public question

The question

Genuine question for people who [specific role/situation]:

[The question — narrow enough that only about 200 people in the world can answer it well.]

Context: [two lines on why you're asking, including what you've already tried]

I'll share what I learn.

The last line is what makes people answer. Then actually do it — that follow-up post outperforms the question.

7. The receipt

The receipt

[Time period] update on [thing]:

[Metric]: [number] ([change])
[Metric]: [number] ([change])
[Metric]: [number] ([change])

What worked: [one thing, specifically]
What didn't: [one thing, specifically — do not skip this line]
Next: [one thing]

8. The tiny useful thing

The giveaway

I made [small thing] because I got tired of [annoyance].

It [does exactly one job]. Free, no signup, no email.

[Link]

Built it in [honest time]. Take it, fork it, ignore it.

9. The unpopular specific

An opinion narrow enough to be defensible. The failure mode is a vague contrarian take, which reads as bait — the fix is specificity.

The unpopular specific

Unpopular: [narrow, defensible claim about your actual domain].

Not [the broad version everyone argues about]. Specifically [the narrow version].

Reason: [the mechanism, not the vibe]

I'd change my mind if [the specific evidence that would do it].

The two that don't work

Format	Why it fails
The milestone with no story	"We hit 100 users!" is a post about you. Nobody outside your company gets anything from it. Add what you did differently to get from 50 to 100 and it becomes a receipt post, which does work.
The generic thread of tips	"10 tools every founder needs" competes with ten thousand identical posts and signals that you have nothing first-hand. One tool you actually use, with the specific reason, beats all ten.