McDonald's $73M Fry Trick (You're Doing It Backwards)

I was 19, slaving away at the first window of the McDonald's drive-through, questioning every decision that led me there. And the fact that I smelled like greasy ass on the drive home every single day.

Not very glamorous.

Why it matters: Most solo founders are either giving everything away and wondering why nobody pays, or charging for everything up front and wondering why nobody stays. McDonald's cracked both of those problems with a bag of fries they sell at a loss. And most of us are still getting it completely backwards.

I've been thinking about that first window a lot lately. Because everything McDonald's built maps directly onto the same conversion problems solo founders keep hitting. The menu. The drive-through sequence. The fries priced at a loss.

Three things I stole from the machine. One move you can make this week.

Your product's job in the first ten seconds is to give, not ask. Every ask before the give is a conversion you are paying for with your own first impression.

First time reading?

Every employee I worked with, me included, stuck their hand in the fry bin on their shift. You just did it mentally reading that sentence. Those salty little potato fingers are a booby trap McDonald's set on purpose. Fries are sold at cost or below. Almost no margin. And that's the plan.

Because once you're in that door, you're spending $10+. Especially in 2026 where a Big Mac meal runs $9.29 and somehow you always end up with nuggets you didn't plan on ordering.

The question is simple: what feature is worth sacrificing to get someone in the door?

The psychology is this. The user has to feel like they got what they came for. They try the thing, make it a little bit their own, and then paying feels like exhaling. Not a decision. A continuation.

McDonald's sells 75 burgers a second. The Big Mac isn't their most profitable item. It's the reference point that makes everything else feel reasonably priced. Once $6.72 feels normal for a sandwich, upgrading to a meal for $9.29 is basically free.

If your product has a free plan and a $99/month plan with nothing in between, you just handed someone a yes or no. That's a conversion killer. Put something in the middle, tag it "most popular," and watch what happens. Humans don't evaluate value in isolation. We compare. Give them something to compare against.

That first window was my boss's favorite form of torture. Taking orders on the headset, collecting money, folding boxes, all at once.

You commit before you arrive. You move forward with momentum. By the time someone pulled up to my window, the decision was locked. No menu to stare at. No going back. Just pay and move.

Most digital products do the opposite. Too much time, too many exits, too many options before any commitment. Every time someone pulled up to my window and I gave them too much space to second-guess themselves, they changed their order. Every single time.

Give people a fast path. One next step. Less time to think before the first action. If they have to think, you already lost them.

Want me to find exactly where your product is leaking revenue? That is the Revenue Leak Map. 👇

You don't need a better product. You need a system that stops giving people reasons to bail before they pay.

What to think: Every product has a fry. The question is whether you're using it on purpose or just giving it away.

What to do: Pick one play from above and map it to your funnel this week. Loss leader, anchor pricing, or fast path. One. Not all three.

What to watch for: When paying starts to feel like exhaling for your users instead of a decision, you found the right version of the fry.

👋 I’ll see ya next week! — Dana

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