3 Years of Compounding
Quarterly total engagement — from scrappy video clips in 2023 to 200k followers and 3,500+ reaction posts.
Most founders know LinkedIn matters, yet the blank page still wins. Every post feels like inventing something from scratch — and when you finally do hit publish, you wonder if you sounded like every other "thought leader" on the platform.
Alex Lieberman solved that problem with a system. 1,857 posts later, he's built 200k followers while running multiple companies — and his highest-performing post in six months is literally marked #ad.
He started in January 2023 posting short video clips with a median of 76 reactions. Three years later: 200,000 followers, 75% text content, and posts regularly hitting 500+ reactions. The system compounded.
"But he had Morning Brew." Sure — but 1,857 posts in three years is 1.6 posts per day. That volume would build an audience for almost anyone with something useful to say. The exit gave him a head start on credibility; the system is what kept the compounding going. And the system is what you can steal.
1. The Content Rotation System
Alex doesn't wake up asking "what should I post today?" He pulls from one of five buckets, and that simple system is what keeps him from ever staring at a blank page.
His five content pillars:
- Industry takes position him as a thinker — posts like "The average CEO cannot tell you the difference between an automation and an AI agent"
- Borrowed frameworks let him be educational without claiming invention — "I stole this idea" is a recurring opener
- Company updates turn recruiting and business news into content — "I need to hire 100 people in 12 months" works as both job post and positioning
- Personal stories humanize him at scale — his 200k follower post told his entire life arc in four chapters
- Lists and hot takes drive engagement — "You have questionable integrity if..." is a perfect example
He rotates through these pillars, never exhausts one bucket before moving to the next, which means he never runs dry.
The Rotation in Action
Different buckets, same week. Swipe to see the variety.
His format evolution tells its own story. In 2023, his content was 66% text, 21% video, and 13% image — he was investing heavily in video series. By 2025, the mix has shifted to 76% text, just 5% video, and 18% image. He tested for years, then doubled down on what worked.
What his week actually looks like: He posts roughly 10x per week. Based on the data, there's no strict day-of-week pattern — he posts most on Wednesday and Tuesday, least on Sunday. He doesn't have "Framework Friday" or "Story Monday" — he rotates through buckets regardless of day. The takeaway: don't overthink scheduling. Rotate content types, stay consistent, skip the elaborate calendar.
"But I can't post 1.6 times a day" — The insight here isn't volume, it's rotation. Posting three times a week from five different buckets beats posting once a week while agonizing over perfection. The bucket system means you're never "out of ideas." You're just pulling from a different drawer.
The realistic 3x/week version: If you can only post three times a week, here's how to apply the rotation:
- Week 1: Industry take → Framework → Personal story
- Week 2: Hot take → Company update → Industry take
- Week 3: Repeat, never same bucket twice in a row
Three posts a week from different buckets beats seven posts a week from the same bucket. The variety is the system, not the volume.
Open LinkedIn, stare at cursor, think 'I have nothing to say,' close tab.
'I haven't posted from the framework bucket in three days — let me share that Wade Foster diagram.'
This works for any industry. A B2B SaaS founder's buckets might be: product updates, customer wins, industry hot takes, frameworks from books, and lessons from mistakes. Different content, same system.
How to implement this
First step
Write these 5 buckets on separate post-its and stick them to your monitor: Industry take, Framework, Company update, Personal story, Hot take. Flip over the one you post from today.
Help me do thisSet up your triggers
- 1Morning: Check which post-it hasn't been flipped in a while — that's today's bucket.
- 2After a meeting: Jot down one thing that happened that could become a Company update or Personal story.
- 3Before you write: Use your bucket's trigger question (Industry → "What's everyone getting wrong?" Framework → "What changed how I work?")
- 4End of week: Review your flipped post-its. Notice which bucket your audience responds to most.
2. The Bold Claim Machine
His most consistent hook pattern isn't questions or statistics. It's confident assertions that make you want to either argue or agree — and either reaction is engagement.
Hook Performance by Type
Average reactions by hook type (last 9 months, minimum 10 posts)
Avg reactions per hook type
Which hook drives the most engagement?
Only hook types with 10+ posts are shown. Hover a bar to see real opening-line examples for each hook type.
The numbers back this up: he's published over 72 posts with "Bold Claim" as the hook type since June 2025, and they average 170 reactions compared to his overall median of 88. The pattern is simple — he opens with a statement that sounds almost arrogant, follows with evidence, and creates a tension-to-resolution arc.
Caveat: These numbers don't account for posts he may have deleted, and his credibility likely affects how bold claims land. A first-time poster writing "The average CEO cannot..." might get ignored. But the pattern holds: confident assertions outperform soft questions.
"Hire a 22-year-old digital native that gives a shit about your industry." At 3,644 reactions, this works because the bold opening isn't about him — it's a direct challenge to how companies run social media. The statement is controversial but defensible.
"I've started to do something strange but I think it makes sense." This earned 2,176 reactions by framing his behavior as an experiment worth watching, not advice worth following. It invites curiosity instead of resistance.
"Your company isn't your family." At 1,806 reactions — a take most founders believe privately but don't say publicly. That's the formula: say the quiet part out loud.
What underperforms: Promotional posts without bold hooks bomb badly:
- "Going live at 4pm ET today!" → 17 reactions
- "Last chance to register for..." → 20 reactions
Same person, same audience. The hook makes the difference.
"But bold claims feel arrogant" — There's an important distinction. Arrogant sounds like "I'm the best at X." Bold sounds like "Most people get X wrong." His claims are about the world, not about himself. You can be specific and confident without sounding like you're better than everyone.
'Here are 5 tips for better LinkedIn posts...' — soft, hedging, forgettable.
'You have questionable integrity if...' — no apology, no hedge, immediate tension.
Every industry has conventional wisdom that's wrong, and every founder has an opinion they're afraid to say out loud. That's the next post.
How to implement this
First step
Finish this sentence right now: 'Most [people in my industry] get _______ wrong.' Write a 3-paragraph post about it. That's tomorrow's content.
Set up your triggers
- 1When drafting: Start with "Most people..." or "The average [role]..." — forces observation mode, not advice mode.
- 2When you hesitate: If you think "that's controversial" or "I shouldn't say this," write it down. Those instincts point at your best content.
- 3Weekly: Review your notes for bold takes you haven't posted yet.
3. The Framework Thief
His highest-performing educational posts aren't original ideas. They're borrowed frameworks, shared with credit, and filtered through his own application.
The formula has four parts:
- Open with "I stole this" or "h/t [person]" — immediately disarms imposter syndrome
- Explain the framework clearly
- Add your own take — "Here's how I use it with my team..."
- Close with "Feel free to steal it" — gives the reader permission
"I was dead wrong. I always thought I was an A+ delegator... I'm more like a D+." Opens with failure, then introduces two frameworks: the Eisenhower Matrix and Six Levels of Delegation. Neither is his invention — he adapted them to delegation. 2,508 reactions.
"Such a simple but powerful framework by Bezos." The post is 4 sentences long, credits the source in line one, and earned 4,247 reactions. No original insight required — just clear framing of someone else's idea.
"I run my life like I run my businesses." He adapts the EOS operating system to personal planning and explicitly says "I DID NOT INVENT THE LIFE MAP" in the post itself. 1,479 reactions plus 890 comments asking for the template.
Why this approach works:
- No imposter syndrome — he's not claiming to have invented anything
- Builds relationships — the people he credits often share the post
- Simplifies content creation — it becomes curation plus perspective, not invention
"But I don't have frameworks to share" — That's exactly the point. He didn't invent the 5 Levels of Work. He didn't create the automation/agent distinction. He found something useful, applied it to his own context, and shared it with credit. You've learned something from someone in the last year that changed how you work. That's your next post.
"But my industry is boring or not tech" — The 5 Levels of Work applies to any team. "Here's what I tell every new employee" works whether you run a SaaS company or a construction firm. The framework is industry-agnostic. Your application is what makes it specific.
Spend an hour drafting an 'original insight,' second-guess yourself, delete it.
Find a framework you already use, write 3 paragraphs about how you apply it, credit the source, hit publish.
Every industry has people sharing frameworks in podcasts, books, and tweets. Your job isn't invention — it's translation.
How to implement this
First step
Think of one framework someone taught you that changed how you work. Write 3 paragraphs: what it is, how you use it, credit the source. Post it this week.
Set up your triggers
- 1When consuming content: Save any useful framework with its source to a "framework bank" (Notion, Apple Notes, whatever you use).
- 2Before writing: Check your framework bank — you probably have 3-5 posts waiting.
- 3Monthly: Reach out to one person whose framework you've shared. Let them know. Some will collaborate.
4. Building in Public Without the Cringe
He builds his ventures in public, but he never makes it about "building in public." The difference is subtle but significant.
Consider the contrast:
- Where most people write "Day 47: We got our first customer! 🎉", Alex writes "I need to hire 100 people in 12 months. Here are the 3 roles."
- Where most people write "Feeling grateful for this journey", Alex writes "Tenex is a rocket ship. Unlike anything I've seen."
- Where most people write "Failed today. Learning a lot!", Alex writes "We lost the deal. Then our engineer built an app in 12 hours to win them back."
This isn't a humble update — it's a bold business statement that doubles as a job post. The urgency is real, the comp ranges are specific, and it earned 873 reactions.
The structure here is tension, unexpected twist, resolution. They lost the deal, an engineer took initiative, the door reopened. It earned 678 reactions because it's a story, not a status update.
An interview story about Big 4 consultants wanting to "live on the frontier of AI." His company is the implied answer, but it's never pitched directly. It earned 567 reactions.
What he actually does breaks into four patterns:
- Hiring as content — real job descriptions with comp ranges and urgency
- Milestones as news — not celebrations, but stories with context
- Strategy as thought leadership — "Here's how we use Notion Agents" reads as insight, even when sponsored
- Wins as stories — the engineer building an app in 12 hours makes the company look good through narrative, not bragging
"But I don't have interesting stories like his" — His engineer-builds-app-in-12-hours story is really just "we lost a deal, then someone on our team did something unexpected to win it back." That happens in every company. The story isn't inherently interesting — the framing is.
Progress updates that read like a diary. 'We hit X customers!' with no context. Celebrating yourself instead of creating value.
Makes business updates feel like insider intel. Turns hiring into content. Uses milestones as excuses to tell bigger stories.
Your business has drama. Someone saved a deal. Someone quit and taught you something. A customer surprised you. Those are stories — not when you share the emotion, but when you share the structure.
How to implement this
First step
Write about one thing that went wrong at work and how it got fixed. Structure: situation → complication → resolution. Post it this week.
Set up your triggers
- 1After meetings: Ask yourself "Is there a story here?" — difficult conversations, surprising wins, broken processes all have potential.
- 2When something happens: Capture the moment in 2-3 bullet points before you forget. Raw notes become posts.
- 3Weekly: Review your captured moments. Pick one and write it as situation → complication → resolution.
5. Selling Without Selling
He published 71 sponsored or partner posts in 2025 alone, and none of them feel like ads. His top post of the last six months is literally marked #ad — and it outperformed everything else.
This earned 3,569 reactions, making it his highest performer. It's technically an advertisement, but it reads as a story about Morning Brew's hypergrowth and what broke along the way. The product is mentioned as something that would have helped — not as something you should buy.
At 885 reactions, this #NotionPartner post works because it's about what he plans to build, not about Notion's features. The product is context for his strategy, not the point of the post.
Feature-led: 'Here's a tool I've been using...' Describes problems he's supposed to have. Treats sponsorship as an obligation to mention a product.
Story-led: 'My business 10x'd and here's what broke...' Describes problems he actually had. Treats sponsorship as an excuse to tell a better story.
His CTA pattern: Almost never "DM me" or "Buy this." Instead: "Shoot me an email at [email protected]" or just a simple link. Soft, not aggressive, assumes you'll come if interested.
"But I don't want to sound salesy" — His top-performing post is literally marked #ad and earned 40x his median engagement. It worked because it's not a product pitch. It's a story about growing Morning Brew from 100k to 1M subscribers and what broke during that growth. Story first, product as footnote.
Every business has stories that happen to involve products. Your customer success story is content. Your feature launch is content — if you lead with the problem it solves, not the feature itself.
How to implement this
First step
Write about a problem you solved for yourself or a customer. Mention the tool that helped in one sentence near the end. Ratio: 90% story, 10% product.
Set up your triggers
- 1Before announcements: Ask "What's the story behind this?" The backstory is always more interesting than the news.
- 2When promoting: Lead with the problem you solved, not the product features. Product is context, not the point.
- 3For sponsors: They pay for your stories, not ad copy. Your voice, their context.
6. The Missing Funnel (And Why It Works)
Most LinkedIn advice talks about TOF/MOF/BOF funnels — top-of-funnel awareness, mid-funnel engagement, bottom-of-funnel conversion. Alex doesn't really have one. At least not the typical kind.
What he has instead:
- LinkedIn → Podcast — Most posts don't include CTAs. When they do, it's usually "listen to today's pod" or a link to a longer breakdown.
- LinkedIn → Company awareness — Tenex job posts work as content. Storyarb gets positioned through stories. No pitch required.
- LinkedIn → Email (rarely) — He occasionally drives to Morning Brew or his newsletter, but it's not systematic.
Why no hard funnel works for him: He's not selling a course, a community, or coaching. His businesses (Tenex, storyarb) are high-trust, high-ticket services. Those don't convert from LinkedIn DMs. They convert from "I've seen this guy's thinking for 6 months, I trust him, let me reach out."
What this means for you: If you're selling low-ticket or info products, you probably need a harder CTA strategy than Alex runs. But if you're selling services or building trust-based business, his approach — consistently showing up, no pitch, let people come to you — is worth stealing.
"But I need leads" — Fair. His soft CTA approach works because his products benefit from long sales cycles. If you need shorter cycles, add one clear CTA per week while keeping the other posts pitch-free. Don't make every post a funnel push.
7. The Vulnerability Play (Without the Cringe)
Personal stories are his highest performers, but they're never what you'd call "vulnerability porn." There's always structure, always a lesson, and often humor.
At 918 reactions, this works because of its clear structure — his life arc in four chapters: Privilege & pain, The Brew, Loss of identity, New north star. He's not complaining. He's reflecting.
This earned 783 reactions as a bait-and-switch joke. The opening sounds like disaster, then pivots to humor. It uses the pattern of vulnerability but subverts the expectation.
A persistence story at 762 reactions. The bold kicker — "You & I are not built the same" — turns personal experience into a challenge.
The pattern across these posts:
- Personal doesn't mean emotional dumping
- Posts usually end with a lesson or pivot to business
- Humor is often used to balance weight
- There's always structure: setup, conflict, resolution
'I'm struggling and wanted to share.' Point is the emotion. Asks for sympathy. Either avoids personal content or overshares uncomfortably.
'Here's what I learned from struggling.' Point is the insight. Earns respect. Personal stories have structure and end with relevance to business.
Personal content doesn't mean confessing. It means voice. Your work life has moments with tension and resolution. The job is framing them as stories with lessons.
How to implement this
First step
Think of a moment from your work life with tension — a decision, conflict, failure, or surprise. Write it as: what happened → why it was hard → what you learned.
Set up your triggers
- 1Build your list: Write down "milestone moments" from your career (first hire, first customer loss, pivot, breakthrough). Each is potential content.
- 2Ratio rule: About 1 in 5 posts can be personal. Never post personal content back-to-back.
- 3Before posting: Ask "Does this end with an insight?" If it's just emotion, add the lesson.
What You Can Steal This Week
Priority 1: The Content Rotation (do this first)
Write down five buckets: Industry take, Framework, Company update, Personal story, Hot take. Stick them on your monitor or in a note. Before your next post, pick a bucket you haven't used recently. That's your topic. Stop staring at blank pages — you're just opening a different drawer.
Priority 2: The Bold Claim Rewrite
Take whatever post you're working on. Rewrite the first sentence as a statement, not a question. "Most people get X wrong." "The average [role] cannot..." If you feel nervous publishing it, you're probably on the right track. Bold claims get engagement because they create stakes.
Priority 3: The Framework Theft
Think of one idea from a book, podcast, or conversation that changed how you work. Write 3 paragraphs: what the framework is, how you use it, credit the source. That's a post. You didn't have to invent anything — you just had to apply someone else's thinking.
If you only do one thing: Write your 5 buckets down today. Tomorrow morning, pick a bucket and write. The system starts with knowing what drawer to open.
The Honest Caveats
Some things to keep in mind:
- Volume is the real story — 1,857 posts in three years is what built the audience. The Morning Brew exit gave him credibility, but consistent volume is what made it compound.
- His volume is likely team-supported — Most founders can't match 1.6/day. Start with 3x/week and build from there.
- Tenex timing is unusually good — AI services in 2025 is a hot market. His business content benefits from riding a wave.
- Milestone posts like having a baby or hitting 200k followers aren't repeatable tactics. Don't benchmark against those spikes.
But the patterns — rotation between content pillars, bold claim hooks, borrowed frameworks with credit, stories over announcements, soft CTAs — those transfer regardless of your starting point. They don't require his advantages. They require consistency.
His Top Recent Performers
The posts that worked best in the last 9 months. Swipe to explore.
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