Ghostwritten Founder Essay for Blog or LinkedIn

Prompt

Act as a founder ghostwriter who has shipped essays under other people's names. Write in their cadence. Make one argument. Prefer scenes over frameworks. Do not add stories, numbers, or famous names that were not in the notes.

Inputs:
- Founder: [Name, role, company]
- Channel: [Company blog / LinkedIn / both]
- Thesis: [Thesis]
- Notes and scenes I actually have: [Notes]
- Numbers I can stand behind: [Numbers]
- Voice samples: [Paste 5-10 lines they wrote]
- Audience: [Audience]
- What this is not: [Not]
- CTA: [Soft / none / specific]
- Length: [900 / 1200 / 1600]
- Things I never say: [Never say]
- Must-keep lines: [Lines that must appear verbatim]

Generate:
1. Angle memo (1/2 page): Why this essay exists now. The enemy (a real practice, not a cartoon). The scene you will open on. Risk: where this could sound like a dunk or a pitch.
2. Title options (6) and 3 dek lines. Mark recommended. No year-clickbait unless the thesis is dated.
3. Outline: 8-12 subheads. One sentence of job per section.
4. Full essay at Length, in their voice:
   - Open on a scene from Notes, not a thesis statement
   - One argument. Each section earns the next
   - Numbers only from Inputs
   - Must-keep lines appear verbatim
   - Close without a TED bow. CTA only if requested
5. LinkedIn cut: first 210 characters (the preview), then the rest if Channel includes LinkedIn. Line breaks. No hashtag dump.
6. Line-level voice notes: 5 places you copied their cadence, 3 places you would still ask them a question.
7. Kill list: phrases you avoided from Things I never say, plus any sentence that started to pitch the product.

Constraints:
- Do not invent board meetings, childhood stories, or customer names.
- Ban: "in today's world," "double down," "it's early days," "building in public" as garnish, "moat" unless they say it, thought-leader lists of 7 lessons.
- Sound like a person with a job, not a personal brand.
- If Voice samples are thin, say so at the top of the essay draft and keep sentences short until they correct you.

Instructions

Replace every [bracket] with your details before running. Works on ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

Examples

Example Input

Founder: Maya Chen, CEO, Hatchline
Channel: both
Thesis: small agencies should not buy platforms; they should buy the one queue that kills the CC storm
Notes: Maya still answers client mail at 11pm; Hatchline was two people in a Brooklyn walk-up; they ran the first version on one shared Gmail filter plus a spreadsheet named QUEUE; a design shop with 6 people forwarded her a 47-message CC thread and asked if that was normal; she said yes and hated the answer; waitlist Sept 8 2026; she does not want this to read like a launch post
Numbers: 14 paid beta shops; $29/user/month after trial is public; no SOC2; team of 6; founded 2025
Voice samples: "It is not a platform. It is the list." "I still answer client mail at 11 p.m." "If your client has to CC six people to feel safe, the inbox is the product, whether you like it or not."
Audience: owners of 2-8 person design and marketing shops
What this is not: a Hatchline feature launch, an AI take, a how-I-raised post
CTA: soft, waitlist URL at the end in one line, no pitch paragraph
Length: 900
Things I never say: thrilled, hustle, unlocking, seamless, disrupt, crush inbox zero
Must-keep lines: It is not a platform. It is the list.

Example Output

1. Angle memo
Why now: waitlist week, but she asked for an argument, not a launch. Enemy: the CC storm as a fake safety blanket, and vendors who sell a platform to a six-person shop. Open: the 47-message thread, 11 p.m. Risk: sounding like a dunk on bigger tools, or a stealth product post. Stay on the queue. Name Hatchline once, late.

2. Titles (* = rec)
* The CC storm is the product
Your client CCs six people because the inbox is broken
It is not a platform. It is the list.
Small agencies keep buying platforms. They need a queue.
The 47-message thread
Inbox zero will not save a two-person shop
Dek: A 47-message CC thread is not normal. It is the job.
Dek: Platforms are what you buy when you are afraid to pick a queue.
Dek: I still answer client mail at 11 p.m.

3. Outline
The thread. 11 p.m. The spreadsheet named QUEUE. What normal costs. Platforms vs a list. Numbers I will stand behind. Close, one URL.

4. Essay (~900)
The email had 47 messages. A six-person design shop forwarded it and asked if that was normal. I said yes. I hated the answer.

I still answer client mail at 11 p.m. Hatchline started as two people in a Brooklyn walk-up. The first version was a shared Gmail filter and a spreadsheet named QUEUE. That was not cute. That was the work.

If your client has to CC six people to feel safe, the inbox is the product, whether you like it or not. The CC storm feels like coverage. It is delay wearing a polite header. Someone is performing we-are-on-it for an audience of six. Nobody owns the next line.

I do not think a two-person shop needs a platform. A platform is what you buy when the real fear is picking one place for the work to sit. You get modules. You get a login nobody opens. You still wake up to the thread.

It is not a platform. It is the list.

A list has rules. A message is open, waiting, or done. Someone's name is on it. The client can see the status without writing just-checking-in into your phone. That is the whole product I wanted when we were two people.

I will not dress this up. Fourteen shops paid through beta. We are six people. We are not SOC 2 certified. After the trial it is $29 per user per month. If you need a campus and a security theater binder, this is not for you.

What I want the six-person shop to do is smaller. Stop asking whether the 47-message thread is normal. It is common. It is still a failure of the queue. Put the mail in one list. Let the client see the status. Go to bed once.

Waitlist: hatchline.com (Sept 8, 2026). That is the CTA. This is not a launch post. It is the argument I make when someone forwards me a thread and asks if they are crazy.

5. LinkedIn cut
Preview (210): The email had 47 messages. A six-person shop asked if that was normal. I said yes. I hated the answer. I still answer client mail at 11 p.m.
Then the rest of the essay with line breaks. No hashtags.

6. Voice notes
Copied: "It is not a platform. It is the list." Short verbs. 11 p.m. kept. "Whether you like it or not."
Ask her: name of the spreadsheet file exactly? Which sentence of the 47-thread she would quote? Does she want Brooklyn named?

7. Kill list
Avoided: thrilled, hustle, unlocking, seamless, disrupt, crush inbox zero, AI, fundraising. Cut a draft sentence about the future of agency ops. Product named once, late, with the URL.