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- Virality Isn’t a Strategy
Happy Wednesday!
Today is one of the biggest days of my life. My New York Knicks are in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since I was eight years old and I could not be more excited. Typing this from a coffee shop in Miami with a full Knicks outfit on head to toe. Light a candle for me.
Today’s newsletter is going to be about something super important. Getting your company on the map. Creating that one big moment that can get your brand off the ground. That’s where the magic happens.
I’m gonna be real with you: if you're trying to go viral, you’re already thinking too small.
Founders get so obsessed with that one moment. The viral TikTok, the influencer shoutout, the press hit that’ll “change everything.”
And don’t get me wrong, it’s tempting. We see the brands that blow up seemingly overnight and assume there was some master plan behind it. But here’s the truth that took me a long time to learn:
Virality is rarely manufactured.
And when it is?
It usually doesn’t stick.
The Moment That Blew Up CROSSNET
Let me take you back for a second.
The year is 2019 and we are 12 months into building CROSSNET. I’m wrestling between giving up, going back to my full time job and just calling the entire thing off.
Every day we would hit the beach, record content, try to sell one net to help pay for McDonalds and rebuy two new units. When I got home at night, we’d run Facebook ads on the videos we shot that night we’d load up $100 or $200 to max out our credit card and pray that we’d get some sales to help keep the lights on.
And then, one day, out of nowhere, this random video surfaces from a volleyball player in Europe that we had sent a set to months ago.
No pitch from us, no brand deal, no expectations.
Just an epic clip of a player who I find out is a volleyball legend, diving, balling out, and making CROSSNET look more fun and competitive than I’ve ever seen it.
It wasn’t staged. It wasn’t polished.
But it was real.
And the internet ate it up. You can watch it here.
That video did millions of views, and then it got picked up by meme pages, volleyball accounts, and parents who were like “What is this?!” Sales spiked. Our DMs lit up.
The site traffic 50x’d overnight. Best of all, all of our retailers that we had product is sold out within 72 hours and helped us expand nationwide in Scheels & DICKS.
And all we could do was watch it happen. That moment changed the trajectory of CROSSNET forever.
The one that started it all.
You Can’t Script Magic
What made that clip work? Not the angles, the audio, or the hashtags.
It was the authenticity.
A real athlete, doing real things, having real fun. No brand guidelines. No lighting kit. No influencer brief.
That’s what resonates today.
The internet has become one giant BS detector. People can feel when it’s fake.
They can smell when it’s been optimized, scripted, and polished to death. And most importantly? They can feel when something’s done to impress an algorithm, not an actual human being.
Here’s what I see happening with a lot of founders right now:
They spend weeks crafting the “perfect” piece of content.
Overthink the hook
Script it line by line
Add music that’s trending
Pray for a million views
And when it flops? They’re crushed.
But let’s call it what it is: They weren’t trying to tell a story. They were trying to manipulate attention. And attention is a fickle thing.
Here’s the better play:
Tell the truth,
Be consistent,
Make things that matter.
Let the audience decide what’s viral. And when they do, you better be ready.
Viral moments are exciting, but they’re not a strategy.
A strategy is having the foundation in place to handle and make the best of the spike—without breaking everything in the process.
You need to have your back-end dialed
Know your cash position in real-time,
And operate with clarity instead of chaos.
When we first started with CROSSNET, we had the world’s worst banking partner. They couldn’t believe we were selling this much volume on the internet. Constantly froze our money. Restricted our transfers. And made what should have been the most fun part of business (seeing my money) the most stressful.
That’s why I can’t speak more highly of Mercury*.
We’re using them now at The Founders Club and I wish I would have found them ten years ago.
Clean UX, founder-first design, FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts, virtual cards, working capital, and actual support–no elevator-music and keeping you on-hold for hours.
Thousands of eCommerce operators use Mercury to keep their finances tight while they scale. If you’re building a real, long-standing business, and not just spraying-and-praying for viral moments, this is the infrastructure that you want behind it.
The brand you're building deserves better banking.
*Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank.
Mercury’s Venture Debt and Working Capital loans are originated by Mercury Lending, LLC (NMLS: 2606284) and serviced by Mercury Servicing, LLC (NMLS: 2606285). Mercury Lending and Mercury Servicing are wholly-owned, separately managed subsidiaries of Mercury Technologies, Inc.
Sustainable Brands Are Built in the Comments Section
When I look at the brands that are crushing it right now, they’re not obsessed with “going viral.”
They’re obsessed with connection.
Talking directly to customers
Creating moments of delight
Building feedback loops from real usage
Sharing actual behind-the-scenes stuff (not just curated chaos)
The content that converts best is usually not the stuff that gets a million likes.
It’s the video that made 10 people DM you, or the email that got 5 replies from potential buyers,
Or the IG Story that led to your next hire.
Stop trying to impress everyone, start trying to connect with the right people.
Viral is a spike. Momentum is a slope.
Virality gives you 1,000 orders in a day. Momentum gives you 100 orders a day for a year.
Guess which one builds a business?
Momentum.
Carrying that momentum across any and every business that I have a hand in.
That random video from the volleyball player? It wasn’t our whole business. It was fuel for the fire we were already building.
We had the site ready,
The logistics in place.
The support team dialed.
The product was solid, we didn’t need the virality, but we were ready for it.
Let me tell you another story. We once spent a solid chunk of change putting together a high-production CROSSNET shoot. We brought in talent, had drones flying, shots on the beach, crazy cinematic.
Posted it, and... crickets.
Meanwhile, a day later, a mom in Wisconsin posted a shaky iPhone clip of her kids playing CROSSNET in the backyard.
Went nuts.
Thousands of shares. Comments. Organic traffic. What does that tell you?
People don’t want ads,
They want real life.
They want to see themselves in the product.
Real people playing CROSSNET. No high-production setup, just the product in action.
Not a Hollywood trailer.
You’re Not a Content Creator. You’re a Brand Builder.
There’s a huge difference.
Content creators chase views, brand builders chase connection.
If you’re always trying to “hack” virality, you’ll never build a foundation.
Because virality doesn’t build trust, trust builds virality.
And the way you build trust?
You show up every damn day,
You speak directly to your customer,
You share what’s actually going on in your business.
When you do that consistently, the big moments will come.
But they’ll be a result of your consistency, not a replacement for it.
What You Should Do Instead
If you’re stuck trying to “make” something go viral, here’s my playbook:
1. Double Down on Community Content
Start reposting your customers. Reshare their IG Stories. Use their language.
The best content already exists, it’s just sitting in your DMs.
2. Create a Library of Evergreen Moments
Behind-the-scenes clips. Founder voice notes. Real-life product usage.
Doesn’t need to be fancy. Just real.
3. Don’t Chase Virality, Chase Volume
Put out more reps. Let the internet decide what hits.
If you post 10x more, you 10x your chances of something taking off.
4. Be Ready for the Moment
Have systems. Have inventory. Have intent.
Because when something finally does pop off? It’s too late to prepare.
Final Thought
The video that changed my life didn’t come from a media team. It came from a random guy who just happened to love the product.
And that’s the lesson.
The best moments aren’t created, they’re captured.
Your job isn’t to manufacture virality. It’s to build a brand worthy of it when it happens.
So put your head down. Keep building. And when your moment comes?
Be ready.
Keep showing up,
Chris