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How Erik Torenberg writes on X: 173 posts, and what they have in common

Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) has 173 posts in the library with 90.8K likes between them. What they write about, how they open, and the posts that did the most — read from the posts themselves.

Rests on:@eriktorenberg,the post,the post,the post,the post,the post

Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) has 173 posts in the library. Between them they drew 90,845 likes; the typical one reaches 342, and the biggest reached 6,236. Most of that work is about Founder. This is what the posts themselves say about how they write — not a profile, a pattern.

What they write about

  • Founder — 68 of 173 posts (39%)

One subject, consistently. That is rarer than it sounds; most accounts in the library spread across three or four, and the ones that do not tend to be the ones people follow for something.

How they open

  • 73% of posts open with an observation
  • 10% of posts open with a question
  • 9% of posts open with a number

Half or more of their posts open the same way — an observation. That is a signature, and it is worth reading the three below with that in mind: the move is the same, the subject changes.

There should be something like a Wikipedia for careers:

A Facebook employee who blocks FB for their kid.

Some of my favorite Naval Ravikant takeaways & quotes from his interviews 👇

The posts that did the most

  1. @eriktorenberg — “There should be something like a Wikipedia for careers:” — 6,236 likes · open

Why it worked: Opens with a short, self-contained line that is easy to take in at a glance.

  1. @eriktorenberg — “A Facebook employee who blocks FB for their kid.” — 5,934 likes · open

Why it worked: Opens with a short, self-contained line that is easy to take in at a glance.

  1. @eriktorenberg — “Some of my favorite Naval Ravikant takeaways & quotes from his interviews 👇” — 3,558 likes · open

Why it worked: Opens with a short, self-contained line that is easy to take in at a glance.

  1. @eriktorenberg — “Who are the ppl in your career who took a chance on you?” — 2,241 likes · open

Why it worked: Opens with a question, so the reader starts answering before they have decided to read.

  1. @eriktorenberg — “When you find a person with a high slope/growth rate—invest in them, hire them, find ways to work with them.” — 1,934 likes · open

Why it worked: Short enough to read in full without expanding, which removes a step before the point lands.

What to borrow

Nothing of theirs — not a phrase, not a number, not a fact. What carries over is the shape.

  • From the 6,236-like post: Preserve the Hook → Landing structure and the plain observation opening.
  • From the 5,934-like post: Preserve the Hook → Context → Context → Invitation structure and the plain observation opening.
  • From the 3,558-like post: Preserve the Hook → Context → Landing structure and the plain observation opening.

The structure the analysis reads most often across their best work is Hook → Landing — 2 of the top 5 follow it.

Start here

  • Every post of theirs in the library — sortable by likes, replies or date, with the mechanics on each.
  • Remix their style — their five strongest posts as sources, your product as the subject. The words will be yours; the moves will be theirs.
  • Save the ones that match your taste to a board, and the board's remixes will lean their way.

See it in the posts

Every number above is a post in the library, with the mechanics named beside it.

Open their page

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