Storytelling, marketing, COVID-19 recovery, viral article growth, and why we should all be predicting the future

Below are some links to what I've been reading today, along with my thoughts.

I've been inspired by Tyler Cowen's blog where he shares links to what he's reading, and also by @dru_riley's trend posts where he shares links to help you understand trends.

• The hidden structure of stories
  I'm interviewing Tomas Pueyo later today, and in this series he explains his theories for why we tell stories, why we listen to stories, and the fundamental structure of stories. Fascinating stuff for me.

• Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
  @rosiesherry shared a link by @jayclouse Sunday that turned me onto this book. Hope to finish today. Great so far. Stories are powerful, and understanding how they work demystifies a lot of great marketing. Hard to unsee once you learn.

• Helen Tran on not fitting into Indie Hackers
  We still have lots of work to do around defining our ethos and making Indie Hackers a welcoming and inclusive place for all bootstrapped tech founders. Not an easy problem to solve.

• First Round's Scenario Response Planner
  I was worried about COVID-19 in late January, but did nothing. I should've set aside time to think about the possible futures and prepare accordingly. I would've moved earlier, updated IH's content faster, sold/bought some stocks, etc. Hindsight is 20/20 ofc, but there's still a lot of uncertainty and a lot to plan for: the looming recession, and also how the world adjusts to and recovers from COVID-19 lockdowns. Everyone, founders especially, should be making thoughtful plans, so you aren't regretting not doing so later.

• Governors on the USA's west coast to present shared plan for recovery
  Different regions of the U.S. are banding together and setting policy as if they're distinct countries. Feels like an historic moment. Will be watching what they announce. 👀

• Tomas Pueyo's blockbuster article on the coronavirus from early March
  40M views in its first week. Why did this piece blow up? Is it an accident that its author Tomas Pueyo is a VP of growth at a startup? I don't think so. Analyze this article as if it's a product: Who was the target audience? What problem did it solve for them? And why did they share it? The answers are insightful and educational.