🎙️ How to Write Good: Lulu Cheng Meservey, Meet Silicon Valley's Top PR Master

PODCAST INFORMATION

How to Write Good
Lulu Cheng Meservey: Meet Silicon Valley's Top PR Master
David Perell (Host)
Lulu Cheng Meservey (Guest) - PR strategist who has worked with companies like Substack, Anduril, and Activision Blizzard
Episode Duration: approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes

🎧 Listen here.

HOOK

Lulu Cheng Meservey reveals the revolutionary PR strategies that are replacing traditional media manipulation, showing how founders can build authentic connections with their audience by going direct and harnessing cultural energy.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

The future of effective communication lies in going direct, founders speaking authentically to their audience without middlemen, while harnessing cultural energy through strategic message, medium, and messenger alignment.

SUMMARY

This episode of "How to Write Good" features David Perell in conversation with Lulu Cheng Meservey, a renowned PR strategist who has worked with companies like Substack, Anduril, and Activision Blizzard. The discussion centers on the transformation of public relations in the digital age, particularly the shift from traditional media-dependent PR to direct communication between founders and their audiences.

Meservey begins by explaining the concept of "going direct," which she emphasizes does not mean doing everything yourself or alienating the press, but rather having founders speak directly to their audience in their authentic voice. She argues that this approach has become essential due to the decentralization of information sources. People no longer get their opinions solely from major news outlets but from diverse corners of the internet. This shift requires founders to build trust by revealing their true personality and motivations rather than relying on filtered corporate communications.

A significant portion of the conversation explores the changing nature of authenticity in communication. Meservey notes how people now crave genuine connection, preferring imperfect but honest communication over polished corporate speak. She discusses how even public figures like the Obamas strategically insert imperfections like "um" into speeches to appear more authentic, and how content creators engineer moments of spontaneity to connect with audiences. This represents a fundamental cultural shift from the polished perfection of traditional media to a preference for perceived authenticity.

Meservey introduces her core framework for effective communication: the message, the medium, and the messenger. She emphasizes that the message is the highest leverage element. Without a compelling message, all other efforts are wasted. The medium must align with where the target audience actually gets their information, and the messenger must have the appropriate authority and credibility to deliver the message effectively. She illustrates this with examples of how different messages require different messengers. Founders should communicate vision, while employees might be more credible when speaking about company culture.

The conversation delves into the concept of "cultural erogenous zones", topics people are already thinking about and interested in. Meservey advises communicators to identify these zones and shape their message to resonate with existing interests rather than trying to create new obsessions. She uses the analogy of giving medicine to a dog: you need to wrap it in something appealing (the "candy coating") to make it palatable.

Meservey discusses the importance of converting attention into tangible outcomes, warning against the dopamine trap of seeking attention for its own sake. She emphasizes that communication strategies must align with specific business goals, whether recruiting, fundraising, or sales. She introduces the "ship-to-yap ratio" as a way to evaluate founders. Those who ship meaningful products while also communicating effectively have the right balance, while those who only talk without delivering substance raise red flags.

The episode explores how to take stands without unnecessarily alienating audiences. Meservey advises companies to be opinionated but to "gerrymander the line" so it unites rather than divides their core constituency. She uses examples like Anduril's unapologetic pro-Western values stance, which alienates only those who wouldn't support the company anyway.

Meservey shares practical advice for launches, emphasizing the need to break through noise, turn attention into something tangible, and avoid simply following trends. She discusses the power of slogans in creating consistent pressure and the importance of reducing surface area to increase impact, focusing on one key message rather than diluting it with multiple points.

The conversation concludes with Meservey rewriting a CrowdStrike crisis communication to demonstrate the power of first-person accountability. She explains that when companies take immediate responsibility and show appropriate concern, customers often become more understanding, whereas defensive or passive language escalates tensions.

Throughout the episode, Meservey provides numerous real-world examples from her work with tech companies, illustrating how these principles apply in practice and why they represent the future of effective communication in an increasingly decentralized media landscape.

INSIGHTS

"Going direct" means founders speaking authentically to their audience without middlemen, not doing everything themselves or alienating traditional media entirely.
The decentralization of information sources has made direct communication essential. People no longer get opinions solely from major news outlets.
Authentic communication often requires embracing imperfection; polished corporate speak is less effective than honest but flawed expression.
The message is the highest leverage element in communication. Without a compelling message, all other efforts are wasted.
Effective communicators identify "cultural erogenous zones" topics people already care about, and shape their message to resonate with existing interests.
Attention must be converted into tangible outcomes (recruits, sales, funding) rather than sought for its own sake.
The "ship-to-yap ratio" evaluates founders by balancing substantive product delivery with effective communication.
Companies should take stands but "gerrymander the line" to unite rather than divide their core constituency.
In crisis communication, taking immediate responsibility and showing appropriate concern often de-escalates customer tension.
The future of communication requires finding ways to stand out in a world of AI-generated content by emphasizing human elements like emotion, conviction, and personal experience.

FRAMEWORKS & MODELS

Message, Medium, Messenger Framework: Meservey's core approach to effective communication. The message is the highest leverage element and must be compelling before considering how to deliver it (medium) and who should deliver it (messenger). Different messages require different messengers—founders for vision, employees for culture, customers for product efficacy. The medium must align with where the target audience actually gets their information.
Cultural Erogenous Zones: Topics people are already thinking about and interested in. Rather than trying to create new interests, effective communicators identify these zones and shape their message to resonate with existing concerns. This is like giving medicine to a dog with a "candy coating" wrapping the core message in something appealing to make it palatable.
Attention Conversion Model: A framework for ensuring communication efforts translate to business value. Attention alone is worthless; it must be converted into tangible outcomes like recruits, sales, or investor interest. This requires clear alignment between communication strategies and specific business goals from the outset.
Ship-to-Yap Ratio: An evaluation metric for founders and companies. Those who ship meaningful products while also communicating effectively have the right balance. Red flags appear when founders talk extensively without delivering substantive results, shipping blogs and tweets but not products.
Line-Gerrymandering Principle: A strategy for taking stands without unnecessarily alienating audiences. Companies should be opinionated but draw lines that unite rather than divide their core constituency. The line should be drawn to exclude only those who wouldn't support the company anyway, making the stance costless in terms of alienating important stakeholders.

QUOTES

"The crux of what it means is for the founder and the originator of the project to speak directly to the audience without middlemen, without screens, without filtering it through all this kind of PR corpo talk and actually revealing their true personality and their true motivations." - Lulu Cheng Meservey
"If the writing is bad, it's better for it to be bad and honest, right? Like, do you ever feel like when you're having a conversation with someone and you're laying yourself bare and the person isn't articulating themselves well or you're not articulating yourself well, but you're trying and the emotion is coming through and the intention is coming through." - Lulu Cheng Meservey
"There has to be a ship to yap ratio. For someone like Elon, he tweets like 100 times an hour, but no one thinks that the companies are being neglected like the companies are shipping and the companies overall have just experienced insane growth." - Lulu Cheng Meservey
"The entire job of a comm strategy is to make those people believe those things that are going to make them make those decisions. And the way you make people believe things is the message, the medium, and the messenger." - Lulu Cheng Meservey
"The message doesn't have to be something that people have never heard of before. In fact, it shouldn't be completely unfamiliar. It should have familiarity, but you're giving it shape. You're giving it a name and a form and maybe there's a novel way to describe it so that people can latch on to something with at least a kernel of what they already feel." - Lulu Cheng Meservey
"What I'm getting from you is so so far there's a few words that have stuck out. So the image that has been like replaying in my mind is like this giant poster of the word fake and you're just like scratching it out with red ink like get this out and then at the bottom it just says be real." - David Perell
"Favors are not a renewable resource. So, you've just tapped a pretty significant favor. Like, it feels like a small favor, but people hate doing it so much that you've actually asked a lot. Like, you've burned through more relationship capital than you might think." - Lulu Cheng Meservey
"To increase your pressure, reduce your surface area. The equation in physics is pressure equals force over area. And you can picture it, right? Like if you're trying to puncture a board and you have the same amount of force, but you slap down on it with both hands versus you drive into it with a nail, the nail is going to puncture the board." - Lulu Cheng Meservey
"Every great movement has had a slogan. And the thing that slogans do is they make something feel ubiquitous and inevitable and like just echoing all around you all the time. Because if you hear the same kind of message a hundred times, but it feels different every time, it's background noise." - Lulu Cheng Meservey
"If the customer is here and you're here, they have to drag you down until you are at their level so that they until they feel that you get it. Whereas if you immediately take yourself to here and you're just like sackcloth and ashes then they still want to be at your level. So, they actually might bring you back up to here." - Lulu Cheng Meservey

HABITS

Practice going direct: Founders should speak directly to their audience in their authentic voice rather than relying solely on filtered corporate communications or PR intermediaries.
Identify cultural erogenous zones: Pay attention to topics people are already thinking about and interested in, then shape your message to resonate with these existing concerns rather than trying to create new interests.
Convert attention to outcomes: Always have a clear strategy for turning attention into tangible business results, recruits, sales, funding, or other specific goals, rather than seeking attention for its own sake.
Balance ship and yap: Ensure substantive product delivery accompanies communication efforts. The ratio of shipping meaningful products to talking about them should remain healthy.
Take strategic stands: Be opinionated and take clear positions, but "gerrymander the line" to unite rather than divide your core constituency.
Focus on one key message: Reduce your surface area to increase impact. Rather than diluting your message with multiple points, focus on one memorable concept that will penetrate.
Use consistent slogans: Develop and repeat concise, memorable slogans that reinforce your core message across different contexts and communications.
Start with business goals: Begin any communication strategy by identifying specific business outcomes you want to achieve, then work backward to develop messaging that serves those goals.
Choose appropriate messengers: Select the right person to deliver each message based on their credibility and authority; founders for vision, employees for culture, customers for product efficacy.
Take immediate responsibility in crises: When problems occur, communicate with first-person accountability and show appropriate concern to de-escalate tension and build trust.

REFERENCES

Mao's propaganda strategy: Meservey references historian Sarah Payne's discussion of Mao's approach to propaganda, which similarly emphasized the importance of message, medium, and messenger.
Peter Thiel's communication style: Meservey discusses how Thiel creates "very evocative very short statements that really stick in the brain" and combines interesting ideas with interesting ways of expressing them.
Brian Armstrong's "Go Direct" concept: Meservey credits Armstrong with popularizing the term "going direct," which she reshaped and applied to modern PR strategies.
William Gibson's quote: "The future's here is just not evenly distributed yet." Meservey references this to illustrate how communicators should identify emerging trends before they become mainstream.
"Founder Mode" concept: Meservey discusses this term that went viral quickly, giving founders a name and validation for management approaches that others might criticize as micromanagement.
Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech: Meservey references Jobs' "Stay hungry. Stay foolish" line as an example of the power of focusing on one memorable message.
CrowdStrike crisis communication: Meservey analyzes and rewrites CrowdStrike's statement about a service outage to demonstrate the importance of first-person accountability in crisis communications.
The "Operation" game analogy: Meservey uses this children's game to illustrate the concept of cultural erogenous zones—finding the right points that will trigger engagement.
Physics pressure formula: Meservey applies the physics equation "pressure equals force over area" to communication, explaining how reducing surface area (focusing the message) increases impact.
The coat shop customer service story: Meservey shares this anecdote to illustrate how showing appropriate concern and taking responsibility can de-escalate customer tension and build trust.

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