Lulu Cheng Meservey (Substack, Activision Blizzard)23 March 2023

Navigating comms and PR

7Frameworks

14Insights

Episode overview

Lulu Cheng Meservey explains how memorable language, stories, analogies, and an understanding of an audience’s existing passions help ideas spread. She argues that startups should accept calculated communications risk, build influence outward through concentric circles, and concentrate limited effort on a narrow group of likely advocates. The conversation also covers going direct through an authentic executive voice, choosing the communication channel that best suits the spokesperson, and publishing consistently instead of chasing isolated viral moments.

Key ideas

Make ideas easy and desirable to repeat by using simple language, jokes, analogies, vivid mental images, and stories rather than subjective adjectives.
Find an audience’s “cultural erogenous zones”: connect a product or idea to beliefs and passions people already hold instead of trying to manufacture new passions.
For startups, mistakes of commission often teach more than omissions, which silently allow the status quo to win.
Spread messages through concentric circles, beginning with leaders and employees before moving to investors, power users, influencers, media, and broader audiences.
Communications pressure increases when limited force—time, money, effort, or credibility—is focused on a smaller surface area and a sharply defined audience.
Tie communications to a business goal by identifying who must act, what they must believe, and which channels can deliver the message.
Going direct requires a recognizable person speaking authentically and building an owned audience before a defensive or promotional moment arises.
Choose the channel that fits the spokesperson’s natural communication style, prepare an initial content pipeline, and maintain a consistent publishing cadence.

Transcript available · source text is retained privately and is not published

Frameworks in this episode

Communication5 steps

Concentric Circles Message Propagation

Spread any message outward from your own desk, one audience ring at a time — never skip a circle.

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Communication5 steps

Cultural Erogenous Zones

Stop trying to change what people care about; bridge from what they already care about to you.

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Strategy4 steps

Mistakes of Commission Over Omission

Doing nothing is the riskiest comms strategy — it hands the win to the status quo by default.

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Marketing6 steps

Pressure = Force ÷ Surface Area

Same effort, narrower target, more impact — shrink your surface area to raise message pressure.

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Communication5 steps

The Comms Equation (Goal → People → Action → Belief → Medium)

Back-solve every comms plan from a business goal, never from an impressions target.

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Communication5 steps

The Going Direct Playbook

Build one owned channel, voiced by a real human, primed before you ever need it.

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Communication6 steps

The Repeatable Idea Test (Put the Pill in the Cheese)

Engineer a message people repeat for their own reasons — memorable, effortless, and never an inside joke.

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People & resources mentioned

Attributed to the moment in the episode. Timestamps are approximate.

People · 11

Lenny RachitskyMentionstoday we've got another very special compilation episode something I've been pulling on more and more with the podcast and the newsletter
“today my guest is Lulu Missouri”
▶ Watch at ~1:00approx.
Lulu Cheng MeserveyMentionsshe's currently Executive Vice President of corporate Affairs and chief Communications officer at activation blizzard
“I met Lulu while she was head of comms at sub stack”
▶ Watch at ~1:30approx.
Mitt RomneyMentionsmentioned
“you remember when Mitt Romney said binders of women”
▶ Watch at ~6:30approx.
Jairaj SethiMentionsthe suspect Founders
“if that had made Chris or Hamish or jiraj upset”
▶ Watch at ~13:30approx.
Chris BestMentionsthe suspect Founders
“if that had made Chris or Hamish or jiraj upset”
▶ Watch at ~13:30approx.
Hamish McKenzieMentionsthe suspect Founders
“if that had made Chris or Hamish or jiraj upset”
▶ Watch at ~13:30approx.
Kamala HarrisMentionswhen Kamala Harris was running for Senate
“the one that my mind goes to is when Kamala Harris was running for Senate”
▶ Watch at ~16:00approx.
Bill BishopMentionssome of the early writers on Substack that were really well-established writers
“Bill Bishop comes up a lot he's like sub stacker number one”
▶ Watch at ~22:30approx.
Balaji SrinivasanCoinedmentioned
“biology did this really well with his book the network state”
▶ Watch at ~38:00approx.
Ryan PetersenMentionsat plexport his company even after it got huge he never became the generic corporate chief
“a good example of this would be Ryan Peterson at plexport”
▶ Watch at ~42:00approx.
Elon MuskMentionsWhether you like him or not, Elon, this is similar to his um if you watch him, he has sets these really ambitious goals
“the way that Elon Musk communicates on Twitter he's like born to do Twitter”
▶ Watch at ~45:00approx.

Resources · 40

FlackCoinednewsletter · Lulu Cheng Meservey
“she writes what I'd say is the best newsletter on PR income strategy newsletter called Black”
▶ Watch at ~1:30approx.
SubstackUseswebsite · Substack Inc.
“I met Lulu while she was head of comms at sub stack”
▶ Watch at ~1:30approx.
Activision BlizzardMentionscompany
“she's currently Executive Vice President of corporate Affairs and chief Communications officer at activation blizzard”
▶ Watch at ~1:30approx.
AssemblyAIMentionscompany · AssemblyAI
“this episode is brought to you by assembly AI”
▶ Watch at ~2:00approx.
Conformer-1Mentionsproduct · AssemblyAI
“they recently launched conformer 1 the largest trained speech recognition model on the market”
▶ Watch at ~2:30approx.
Public.comMentionscompany
“this episode is brought to you by public.com”
▶ Watch at ~3:00approx.
assemblyai.com/LennyRecommendswebsite · AssemblyAI
“visit assemblyai.com Lenny to try their AP AI for free”
▶ Watch at ~3:00approx.
SpotifyUsessoftware · Spotify
“just like Spotify call rail and writer due for theirs”
▶ Watch at ~3:00approx.
Public Treasury AccountMentionsproduct · Public.com
“only with a treasury account at public.com Lenny”
▶ Watch at ~4:00approx.
TwitterUseswebsite · Twitter
“so you've definitely done this on Twitter”
▶ Watch at ~8:30approx.
The New YorkerMentionsnewsletter
“it was from a New Yorker book review where in that context it was like Poetic and evocative and beautiful”
▶ Watch at ~10:00approx.
The New York TimesMentionscompany · The New York Times Company
“you're not gonna on day one call up the New York Times and get them to print the story that you want”
▶ Watch at ~19:00approx.
Google DocsRecommendssoftware · Google
“you take out your one-page Google doc I feel like most cons problems can be solved with a one-page Google lock”
▶ Watch at ~25:30approx.
Hacker NewsMentionswebsite · Y Combinator
“are they getting all of their news from Reddit if so which subreddits are they on Hacker News”
▶ Watch at ~26:30approx.
RedditMentionswebsite · Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian, and Aaron Swartz
“are they getting all of their news from Reddit if so which subreddits are they on Hacker News”
▶ Watch at ~26:30approx.
TwitterUseswebsite · Twitter
“that's actually why I started spending time on Twitter”
▶ Watch at ~33:30approx.
VantaMentionssoftware · Christina Cacioppo
“this episode is brought to you by vanta helping you streamline your security compliance to accelerate growth”
▶ Watch at ~34:30approx.
SOC 2Mentionsother
“there's a good chance you won't even get a seat at the table beginning a sock to your Port can be a huge burden”
▶ Watch at ~35:00approx.
vanta.com/LennyRecommendswebsite · Vanta
“just go to vanta.com Lenny that's v-a-n-t-a.com Lenny to learn more and to claim your discount”
▶ Watch at ~35:30approx.
The Network StateCoinedbook · Balaji Srinivasan
“biology did this really well with his book the network state”
▶ Watch at ~38:00approx.
HarperCollinsMentionscompany
“he didn't try to compete with like the roster of harpercollins on their turf”
▶ Watch at ~38:30approx.
AmazonMentionscompany · Jeff Bezos
“when the book launched they propelled him to the top of the Amazon list”
▶ Watch at ~39:00approx.
YouTubeMentionswebsite · Google
“I would not recommend trying to do an Instagram a Twitter LinkedIn YouTube and tick tock”
▶ Watch at ~44:00approx.
InstagramMentionssoftware · Meta
“I would not recommend trying to do an Instagram a Twitter LinkedIn YouTube and tick tock”
▶ Watch at ~44:00approx.
LinkedInRecommendswebsite · LinkedIn
“LinkedIn is really underutilized and Founders should know this PM should know this”
▶ Watch at ~48:30approx.
L'OréalMentionscompany
“it's a division of L'Oreal NYX is one of the makeup companies”
▶ Watch at ~51:00approx.
CVSMentionscompany
“that one eyeliner will be sold out at CVS's across the country for a couple weeks”
▶ Watch at ~51:30approx.
MediumMentionswebsite · Medium
“if you enjoy long form writing then you're gonna have to choose do you do a sub stack do you do a media”
▶ Watch at ~54:00approx.
TikTokUsessoftware · ByteDance
“if you're starting at Tic Tac with zero followers you want to get a week or two of solid data”
▶ Watch at ~55:00approx.
AppleMentionscompany · Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne
“they say best feature Apple's ever built”
▶ Watch at ~57:00approx.
Gates of FireRecommendsbook · Steven Pressfield
“I recommend Gates of Fire it comes off the Marine commandant's reading list”
▶ Watch at ~59:30approx.
The Last of Us (video game)Mentionsproduct · Naughty Dog
“it's really interesting to see how the show drives sales of the video games”
▶ Watch at ~1:00:00approx.
The Last of UsUsestv show · Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann
“I've been watching The Last of Us like everybody on Earth”
▶ Watch at ~1:00:00approx.
Notion AIUsessoftware · Notion Labs, Inc.
“I really like the new AI that they filled into it”
▶ Watch at ~1:00:30approx.
NotionUsessoftware · Notion Labs
“I use notion for almost everything”
▶ Watch at ~1:00:30approx.
Microsoft ExcelUsessoftware · Microsoft
“I use a lot of Microsoft Excel which I think is controversial”
▶ Watch at ~1:01:00approx.
getflac.comUseswebsite · Lulu Cheng Meservey
“people can find me at getflac.com that's where I write down my ideas”
▶ Watch at ~1:02:00approx.
SpotifyMentionssoftware · Spotify
“you can subscribe to the show on Apple podcast Spotify or your favorite podcast app”
▶ Watch at ~1:03:00approx.
Apple PodcastsMentionssoftware · Apple Inc.
“you can subscribe to the show on Apple podcast Spotify or your favorite podcast app”
▶ Watch at ~1:03:00approx.
lennyspodcast.comMentionswebsite · Lenny Rachitsky
“you can find all past episodes or learn more about the show at lennyspodcast.com”
▶ Watch at ~1:03:00approx.

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Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Myth Buster· 1

Myth Buster41:00

Stop Speaking Like a Faceless Corporation

A common mistake is letting your company "cosplay an executive" and issue statements on behalf of the C Corp because that's what real companies supposedly do. It doesn't work: people don't trust institutions or feel passionate about corporations, they care about people. Lulu cites Ryan Petersen at Flexport, who stayed a person even as the company got huge and became a "human gateway drug" into an otherwise unglamorous logistics business.

People don't trust institutions; they care about people
Cosplaying a generic corporate chief doesn't resonate
Ryan Petersen stayed human and drew people into Flexport personally

“because people don't trust institutions people don't like corporations or at least are not passionate about them people care about people entrusted like people”
Lulu · 41:30

“even after it got huge he never became the generic corporate chief he always was a person”
Lulu · 42:00

#comms#founder-voice#branding#authenticity

Hot Take· 3

Hot Take11:00

Make Mistakes of Commission, Not Omission

Lulu argues a startup's real enemy is the status quo, and doing nothing to "minimize risk" is how you let the status quo win by default. She prefers mistakes of commission because they're observable and you can learn and adapt from them fast. She compares sitting in cash (feels safe, quietly falls behind) to investing (volatile but wins over the long run).

For a startup, the status quo is your enemy; doing nothing lets it win
Commission mistakes are observable and teachable; omission mistakes are invisible
Sitting in cash feels safe but you get poorer in real terms as the market grows

“I think if you're a startup your enemy is the status quo and when you don't take risks when you minimize Risk by doing nothing…”
Lulu · 11:30

“I always encourage people to try to make mistakes of commission rather than Omission”
Lulu · 11:30

#risk#startups#comms#decision-making

Hot Take48:00

LinkedIn Is Massively Underutilized

Lulu argues LinkedIn is underrated for career-related content: it's less of a cesspool than Twitter and gets huge eyeballs and time, yet roughly 95% of its content is low-value work-anniversary congratulations and "proud of my team" posts. Because genuinely interesting content is rare there, the ratio of your competitive set to the attention available is excellent.

LinkedIn gets a ton of eyeballs and time but most content is filler
~95% is congratulations and "proud of my team" posts (not scientific)
Rare genuinely useful content means an excellent competitive ratio

“LinkedIn is super underutilized because it gets a ton of eyeballs in time but most of the content sucks like 95 of the content”
Lulu · 48:30

“but actually genuinely interesting and useful content on LinkedIn is very rare so the ratio of your competitive set of interesting content versus how much…”
Lulu · 49:00

#linkedin#distribution#content#comms

Hot Take57:30

Going Viral for Its Own Sake Is a Trap

Lulu warns that chasing virality yields low-value likes from random people that don't deepen a relationship with a meaningful audience or earn peers' respect. A one-off viral hit (like the iPhone security-code "best feature" joke) rarely converts to followers and changes nothing about your life the next day. Consistent, non-viral content aimed at the right audience beats an audience mismatch from a viral hamster tweet.

Viral hits yield low-value likes from random people, not a real audience
A one-off joke rarely earns followers unless it's uniquely, repeatably you
Consistency beats occasionally trying to go viral

“oh it went viral I'm done my life is good now no nothing's gonna really change”
Lulu · 57:30

“they get a lot of likes that are kind of low value likes from random people about the internet but I don't think that they're…”
Lulu · 59:00

#virality#audience#content-strategy#comms

Explainer· 1

Explainer43:00

What "Going Direct" Actually Looks Like

Everyone says "go direct" but few define it. Lulu spells it out: a founder or very senior person speaks in first person, in a human and authentic voice, visibly making mistakes and being vulnerable, and becomes an ambassador to the community. A Twitter or Substack account isn't direct if it's connected to a corporation rather than a person. Step two is to start building your own audience as early as possible.

A senior person must speak first-person in an authentic human voice
You have to let people see you make mistakes and be vulnerable
A channel connected to a corporation, not a person, isn't a direct channel

“it means that the founder or executive or some very senior person has to be speaking from themselves first person maybe first person plural and…”
Lulu · 43:30

#going-direct#founder-voice#audience#comms

Story· 6

Story06:30

"Binders of Women": Why Sticky Phrases Can Backfire

Lulu uses Mitt Romney's "binders of women" as an example of a phrase that spread virally because it was concrete, image-rich, and easy to repeat. The catch: it was a negative for Romney, showing that the same qualities that make a phrase memorable can be turned against you. A word of caution that stickiness is neutral, not always in your favor.

"Binders of women" caught on because you could picture it and it lent itself to jokes
Specific, unusual phrasing is highly repeatable
The same virality can backfire and work against you

“you remember when Mitt Romney said binders of women and it just absolutely caught on like wildfire and it's because you could picture the binder…”
Lulu · 06:30

#comms#virality#messaging#pr

Story09:00

The Tweet That Flopped: An Inside Joke Released Into the World

During Substack's free-expression stand, Lulu wrote a well-received thread but slipped in an esoteric New Yorker book-review reference that made no sense out of context. The likes dropped off precipitously on that single tweet. Her lesson: never release an inside joke with yourself into the world, because what's evocative to you is meaningless to everyone else.

An esoteric reference that felt fresh in her mind landed as nonsense to readers
You could see the likes drop off on that one tweet in the middle of the thread
Sharing missteps is useful because there are more misses than hits

“I did the thing you're not supposed to do which is take an inside joke with yourself and release it”
Lulu · 10:00

“and that one tweet was sort of a dud in the middle of the thread where you could see the likes drop off precipitously and…”
Lulu · 10:30

#comms#twitter#mistakes#messaging

Story16:00

Selling K-12 Education to People Who Care About National Defense

To make an unsexy topic land, Kamala Harris's Senate campaign reframed K-12 reading standards for a national-security audience: you need a 10th-grade reading level to enlist and read the Army Field Manual. The bridge made people who care about a standing army suddenly care about middle-grade reading. It stuck with Lulu so well she was still repeating it years later.

K-12 education is not a "sexy" topic and mostly moms cared about it
The reframe: you need a 10th-grade reading level to enlist and read the Field Manual
Tie your cause to what a target audience already cares deeply about

“did you know that in order to enlist for the Army you have to have a 10th grade reading level because below that if you…”
Lulu · 16:30

“if you care about the future of National Defense and being able to maintain a standing army you need to care about middle grade reading…”
Lulu · 17:00

#messaging#framing#audience#comms

Story20:30

How Substack Turned Power Users Into Its Own Growth Engine

Lulu points to Lenny himself as an example: Substack propagated product updates through power users first, making them feel invested and on the inside. Because Lenny was brought on early and made to love the product, he evangelized recommendations for a year unpaid. The second-order effect of listening to power users is that they voluntarily spread the word to their own circles.

Substack pushed updates through power users before newer writers
Making someone feel invested turns them into an unpaid evangelist
A favor-tweet gets done once; organic ownership keeps someone spreading it

“you've been telling people about recommendations for nearly a year no one asked you to do that we didn't pay you to do that you've…”
Lulu · 21:00

#substack#growth#power-users#comms

Story37:30

How Balaji Launched The Network State Without the Traditional Book Tour

Lulu credits Balaji's success with The Network State to building his own distribution channels instead of competing on HarperCollins's turf. He focused on true fans, went on podcasts that reach them, and refused to water down his message to please people who'd never like him. His die-hards propelled the book to the top of the Amazon list by evangelizing it, unpaid.

He skipped the traditional book tour and built his own channels
He fostered die-hards rather than diluting his message for universal appeal
True fans propelled the book to the top of Amazon without being paid

“biology did this really well with his book the network state that book was super successful he didn't”
Lulu · 38:00

“so biology Fosters his true fans and then when the book launched they propelled him to the top”
Lulu · 39:00

#distribution#audience#launch#going-direct

Story49:30

The Makeup Industry Cracked Going Direct Years Ago

Lulu says makeup companies are smarter than the rest of us at social media because they understood early that people don't buy makeup to subscribe to a brand, they buy because an influencer or Kardashian has a look they want. NYX (an L'Oréal division) spends essentially zero on marketing and pours everything into influencers, selling out a fungible black eyeliner at CVS nationwide. They speak through humans and move on trends within the hour.

People buy makeup to copy a specific person's look, not to follow a brand
NYX spends ~$0 on marketing and everything on paying influencers
Consumer/makeup brands speak with a human voice and move on trends fast

“people don't buy makeup to subscribe to makeup brands that they do it because a certain celebrity or influencer or Kardashian has this nice looking…”
Lulu · 50:00

“NYX is one of the makeup companies that has as far as I know zero dollars spent on marketing and all of their dollars and…”
Lulu · 51:00

#going-direct#influencers#marketing#consumer

Tool· 1

Tool59:30

Lulu's Book and Software Picks: Gates of Fire, Notion AI, Lex

In the lightning round, Lulu recommends Gates of Fire, a Battle of Thermopylae novel from the Marine commandant's perennial reading list, that she reads for its lessons on leadership, courage and creativity. For daily software she leans on Notion for almost everything (praising its new built-in AI), Nathan Baschez's AI writing editor Lex, and a lot of Microsoft Excel.

Gates of Fire — on the Marine commandant's reading list; leadership and creativity
Notion for almost everything, with its new built-in AI
Lex (Nathan Baschez's AI writing editor) and heavy use of Microsoft Excel

“I recommend Gates of Fire it comes off the Marine commandant's reading list it's on there perennially it is about the Battle of Thermopylae”
Lulu · 59:30

“I use notion for almost everything and I really like the new AI that they filled into it I also have been using Lex which…”
Lulu · 1:00:30

#books#tools#productivity#recommendations

Takeaway· 2

Takeaway44:00

Pick the One Channel Your Spokesperson Is Best At

Rather than spreading a startup across Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and TikTok, Lulu says choose the single channel your spokesperson (often the CEO) is naturally best at. Some CEOs write great long-form blog posts; others, like Elon Musk, are "born to do Twitter." Ghostwriting shows, so invest everything in that one channel, build it up, then expand outward.

Don't try to build six or seven channels at once
Match the medium to the spokesperson's dominant, natural style
Ghostwritten content shows; authenticity matters

“so pick the thing that your spokesperson is the best at and then invest everything into that channel”
Lulu · 45:00

“if somebody else is post writing all their stuff it shows”
Lulu · 44:30

#channels#founder-voice#focus#comms

Takeaway1:01:30

Give It Away Free to the Right People

Lulu's single best tip for getting attention for a product: give it away free to the right people. Find the sliver of the Venn diagram where people who'll be obsessed with the product overlap with people who have a large following among the audience you want to reach, and shower them with free product.

Give the product away free, but choose recipients deliberately
Target the overlap of obsessed users and people with large relevant followings
Shower that Venn-diagram sliver with free product

“give it away for free to the right people if you can choose the people who are gonna love it”
Lulu · 1:01:30

“whoever falls into that sliver of the Venn diagram shower them with free product”
Lulu · 1:01:30

#distribution#influencers#product-launch#comms

Key ideas

Frameworks in this episode

Concentric Circles Message Propagation

Cultural Erogenous Zones

Mistakes of Commission Over Omission

Pressure = Force ÷ Surface Area

The Comms Equation (Goal → People → Action → Belief → Medium)

The Going Direct Playbook

The Repeatable Idea Test (Put the Pill in the Cheese)

People & resources mentioned

People · 11

Resources · 40

Insights & moments

⚡Myth Buster· 1

Stop Speaking Like a Faceless Corporation

◆Hot Take· 3

Make Mistakes of Commission, Not Omission

LinkedIn Is Massively Underutilized

Going Viral for Its Own Sake Is a Trap

✶Explainer· 1

What "Going Direct" Actually Looks Like

❝Story· 6

"Binders of Women": Why Sticky Phrases Can Backfire

The Tweet That Flopped: An Inside Joke Released Into the World

Selling K-12 Education to People Who Care About National Defense

How Substack Turned Power Users Into Its Own Growth Engine

How Balaji Launched The Network State Without the Traditional Book Tour

The Makeup Industry Cracked Going Direct Years Ago

✦Tool· 1

Lulu's Book and Software Picks: Gates of Fire, Notion AI, Lex

▲Takeaway· 2

Pick the One Channel Your Spokesperson Is Best At

Give It Away Free to the Right People

Myth Buster· 1

Hot Take· 3

Explainer· 1

Story· 6

Tool· 1

Takeaway· 2