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Hey, {{first_name | product-preneur}}!
Somewhere in the last year, LinkedIn got me to pay for it without me really noticing.
I couldn't even tell you how many months. I create content on there. I've been looking for work since August. Two different opportunities reached out this week. Could be something, could be nothing, can't say yet. So yeah, I have reasons to be on it.
But honestly? I don't even know what paying for it does for me anymore. I know when I wasn't paying, I couldn't send the messages I needed. Couldn't see who was lurking on my profile. Didn't get the job hunting features. So I stayed subscribed. And now it's just part of me. Symbiosis. A hive mind. I don't know what life without it looks like.
That's not an accident. That's the product working exactly as designed.
And today I'm going to show you the $2 billion mechanism behind it and the three moves you can steal for your own product this week.
Brewers' Bulletin
Last week I audited McDonald's. Turns out losing money on fries on purpose is a $73M/day strategy. Your product is probably doing it backwards. Watch now!
This week's Leak Ledger is out. Three products. One pattern killing all of them. Scores inside. View now!
Potion of the Week
The most profitable feature in your product might be something you're already showing for free. You're just showing too much of it.
Here's how LinkedIn figured this out… You've been out of work for weeks. Maybe months. And you're checking LinkedIn. Constantly. Not because you want to. Because you need to know. Could this be a hiring manager? Could this be a potential client? Could this be the one?
Then the notification hits. Someone viewed your profile. You click it. And LinkedIn gives you just enough. A job title. A company name. Maybe not even that. Just enough to make you wonder who's on the other side.
That specific itch is not a coincidence. LinkedIn built it on purpose. And it's worth $2 billion a year.
That partial context is a product decision. They know if you have open to work turned on. They know what you're looking for. And they gave you just enough to tease you, like the answer is right there.
Three brain mechanisms making this work:
The Zeigarnik Effect: Your brain treats incomplete information like an unfinished task. It cannot let go until you close the loop. Why do you think you eat the whole pizza.
Information Gap Theory: George Loewenstein, 1994. Curiosity isn't from not knowing at all. It's from knowing the answer exists and being this close. Complete ignorance doesn't produce curiosity. Partial knowledge does.
Dopamine: Not the reward. The anticipation of the reward. Curiosity killed the cat, baby. You don't actually care if they're viewing you. The tease is the trigger. Not the reveal.
A blurred name. A locked list. A notification with no answer. Those are not UI choices. Those are upgrade mechanisms.
Created with Claude Design
Now here's how to steal it:
Move 1: Find the one thing your free users keep coming back to. That's your tease. Don't give them more of it. Give them just enough to make it feel like a mosquito bite the size of the earth. They should be scratching before they even realize they're reaching for their wallet.
Move 2: Show the number. Hide the breakdown. A score, a count, a metric — right there in plain sight. The detail behind it is what they pay for. LinkedIn shows you 27 viewers. Strava shows you the top 10. The Leak Ledger shows you the score. Same con. Every time.
Move 3: Make the path to paying stupid simple. The itch only lasts seconds. Friction kills it. One button. One click. No forms, no calls, no reach out to learn more. Give them the cure before the scratch fades.
Want me to find exactly where your product is leaking revenue? That is the Revenue Leak Map. 👇
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Corking Things Up
LinkedIn built a $2 billion business on a blurred name and a number. Strava gatekept your own ranking back to you. The Leak Ledger shows you the score and makes you open the email to get the rest.
Same pattern. Different products. All of them printing money from the gap between what users see and what they want to know.
This week: find your tease. Make the itch unbearable. Then make paying feel like relief.
Hit reply: does your product already have a moment like this — something users can almost see but not quite? If not, where do you think it could live? Hit reply and tell me.
👋 I’ll see ya next week! — Dana
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