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My First Million

How To Master Storytelling ft. David Perell

Become a better writer with these frameworks that have made us millions 👉 Episode 589: Shaan Puri sits down with David Perell to reveal every framework he knows to become a better storyteller, a better writer, and a better creator of…

Shaan PuriguestDavid PerellhostSam Parrhost

May 24, 20241h 50mWatch on YouTube

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

Why this interview is being re-shared: a storytelling “master class”
Shaan explains why he’s re-running an interview David did with him, pointing to unexpectedly strong performance and the topic demand. He tees up the core theme: practical frameworks for storytelling and writing.
- •Shaan frames the episode as a deep dive into storytelling and writing that he rarely sits down to explain
- •He describes the interview’s unusually high performance and audience feedback as the reason for re-sharing it
- •The conversation is positioned as a framework-heavy breakdown rather than vague praise of “storytelling matters”
Building a “binge bank”: creating a library that raises your reputation
Shaan shares a concept he learned from two young creators: the “binge bank,” a body of work that someone can consume quickly to understand you. The focus is on staying motivated without immediate feedback and intentionally stacking content that compels a deep dive.
- •A “binge bank” reframes content from individual view counts to cumulative reputation-building
- •The goal is to leave breadcrumbs so a curious newcomer can binge and come away impressed
- •Shaan describes using the concept to avoid relying on willpower or patience for slow results
- •David confirms he experienced this effect by ending up at Shaan’s long PDF of principles
Choosing undervalued skills to practice: storytelling, enthusiasm, humor
Shaan explains how he picks skills: high-value abilities people aren’t taught and may feel “lame” admitting they practice. Storytelling is introduced as one of these premium, differentiating skills, alongside enthusiasm and getting funnier.
- •Shaan looks for skills with high payoff that people don’t formally practice or talk about practicing
- •He argues enthusiasm is highly valuable yet rarely treated as trainable
- •He puts storytelling and joke-telling in the same category: broadly useful but socially “taboo” to practice
- •Sam asks Shaan to connect storytelling lessons with Shaan’s broader approach to learning skills
The core storytelling engine: Aaron Sorkin’s “intention and obstacle” (even at low stakes)
Shaan breaks down what he learned from Aaron Sorkin: every moment in a story must have a clear intention and an obstacle. He then shows how this works best when applied to relatable, low-stakes situations—illustrated with his “Brussels sprouts” story used in a corporate setting.
- •Intention: what the character wants, why they want it, and what happens if they don’t get it
- •Obstacle: what (or who) blocks the intention in that moment
- •Shaan says attention drifts if you can’t answer “what do they want and what’s in the way?” at any point
- •He argues low-stakes, relatable stories can build likability more than dramatic, unrelatable ones
- •He recounts using a personal hosting/cooking story to stand out in a boring exec-team icebreaker setting
Writing vs speaking: “write like you talk,” and the tools each medium gives you
Shaan says storytelling is mostly the same in writing and speaking, with “write like you talk” as a core rule. He contrasts medium-specific tools: writing can “break the fourth wall” with parentheses, while speaking can use timing, pauses, and delivery.
- •Shaan attributes stiff writing to school training people to sound unnatural and overly formal
- •He recommends speaking the story first to avoid the intimidation of the blank page
- •He highlights different mechanisms: parentheses and asides are easier on the page; pauses are easier in speech
- •He estimates most of the craft transfers across mediums, with only a smaller slice being platform-specific
Hooks vs frames (and a concrete viral-thread rewrite), plus a case study in reframing for persuasion
Shaan argues hooks are often overrated compared to frames—how you make an idea relevant and compelling. He contrasts a jargon-heavy critique of Clubhouse with his story-driven rewrite, and later praises Dave Chappelle’s “Unforgiven” as a powerful example of reframing to drive public action.
- •Shaan distinguishes hooks (attention-grabbing first words) from frames (the relevance and angle of the idea)
- •He explains why story structure (“here’s how it goes down”) can outperform pure logic (“here’s why”)
- •He describes writing the Clubhouse thread like a screenplay to avoid “business Twitter” sounding like an intelligence contest
- •He emphasizes doing “100 intelligent reps” to build skill, referencing MrBeast’s “make 100 videos” improvement loop
- •He analyzes Dave Chappelle’s approach as using earlier stories to reframe a dispute into a more universal narrative people emotionally adopt
What makes a story compelling: stakes and the “five-second moment of change”
Shaan pulls lessons from the book Storyworthy, focusing on stakes and emotional consequence. He also introduces a definition of story as a “five-second moment of change,” where the character transforms and everything else serves that pivot.
- •Stakes don’t need to be extreme; they can be emotional (like embarrassment) if the audience believes them
- •He warns against “vacation romp” stories that feel self-indulgent and uninteresting to listeners
- •A story centers on transformation: the moment a character flips from “before” to “after”
- •He uses common movie patterns to show how beginnings set up endings as opposites
- •He argues you don’t have a great story if you don’t know the transformation moment you’re building toward
Origin stories and “signature stories”: workshopping David’s Write of Passage narrative
Shaan explains how company and personal origin stories follow the same transformation structure, using Airbnb as an example. He then workshops David’s origin story, pushing for clearer pain, a sharper turning point, and vivid moments rather than a flat timeline.
- •Shaan describes “signature stories” as a small set of stories that communicate who you are
- •He maps origin stories to change: from “worst situation” to a decisive moment that creates momentum
- •He advises making Act 1 emotionally real with specific, memorable moments instead of vague statements
- •He pushes David to identify the true “turnaround trigger” and not skip the hard middle too quickly
- •He stresses that stories are not records of events; they exist to explain the change from one state to another
Viral sharing starts with emotion: writing for “Jenny in bed” and “Debbie at her desk”
Shaan explains how he learned to design content backward from emotional reaction, citing repeated versions of the same idea from different people. David adds that “audience” is really individuals consuming alone in specific moments, and Shaan connects this to what makes people stop scrolling and share.
- •Shaan recounts Steve Bartlett’s model of “Jenny in her bedroom” as the real consumer of social content
- •He shares a BuzzFeed framing: “Debbie at her desk” and the “bored at work network”
- •He describes Chris Quigley’s approach: work backward from shareable reactions (like laughing, shock, awe, warmth)
- •David reframes “impressions” as many individual moments rather than a crowd, changing how you write
- •Shaan argues you should start with the target emotion, then write to reliably produce it
Changing your state to write: physiology, focus, and story (plus curing the slump with curiosity)
Shaan expands the idea that content is “energy transferred,” pointing to Miss Excel’s practice of getting into a charismatic state before creating. He then gives a concrete three-part method for changing state and discusses how shifting your internal story (and returning to curiosity) can fix a writing slump.
- •Shaan describes Miss Excel’s process: deliberately shift energy first, then capture ideas fast when they arrive
- •He critiques the “cold, miserable writer” stereotype and compares writing to performance preparation
- •He offers a framework: change physiology, then change focus, then change the story you’re telling yourself
- •David shares how a coach helped him exit a slump by dropping identity pressure (“creative force”) and returning to curiosity
- •Shaan connects this to Paul Graham’s idea that curiosity and excitement guide great work and direction
Voice on the page: breaking the fourth wall and anticipating reader questions
David points out Shaan’s ability to build connection by getting inside the reader’s head and speaking conversationally. Shaan attributes part of this to copywriting influences like The Boron Letters and to a deliberate habit of addressing skepticism and questions in real time.
- •Shaan recommends The Boron Letters as a model for writing warmly to a specific person
- •He describes writing as if to a “young grasshopper,” or sometimes as a beginner admitting ignorance
- •He tries to surface the reader’s likely questions, doubts, and reactions while the idea is unfolding
- •He says it’s frustrating when podcasts or writing skip the obvious follow-up questions—so he doesn’t skip them on the page
- •David summarizes Shaan’s process as imitation, deconstruction, then building reusable principles
Distribution and Twitter: earning attention over time, then pairing ideas with packaging
David asks how to distribute great writing from someone without an audience. Shaan argues distribution is earned through repeated proof of interestingness, then explains his own Twitter growth as a mix of timing, genuinely interesting thinking, and strong packaging—without pretending his approach is the universal best practice.
- •Shaan says distribution can’t be “turned on” instantly; it’s built by repeatedly delivering value
- •He shares a “one-two-three rule” of interestingness (one interesting thing vs being an “interesting” person)
- •He suggests early-stage hustle like sending work directly to people with a personal note
- •On Twitter, he credits virality more to having an interesting thought at the right time than to prose alone
- •He argues creators need both: unique ideas and good packaging; either one without the other collapses
Personal brand as a “feeling SKU” and editing as removing the rocks from the river
Shaan shares what he learned from hiring a personal branding consultant: audiences return for a consistent, hard-to-get-elsewhere feeling. He then explains his editing approach—separating drafting from editing, walking away, and returning to remove what blocks the idea from flowing.
- •Shaan describes personal branding as selling a consistent feeling people want repeatedly
- •He uses examples of media as “merchants” of emotion (like inspiration or camaraderie)
- •He says his drafting/editing improved after learning to “walk away” before revising
- •He uses a river metaphor: the idea wants to flow; editing removes the rocks that block it
- •He borrows a Pixar-style view: every first version starts with “suck,” and revisions remove it
Humor, memorability, and learning from adjacent fields (not just writers)
Shaan describes early principles of humor: it’s “sauce” (not the main dish) and it works through surprise. The conversation explores funny word choice, Theo Von-style language play, and how framing makes ideas more memorable—then closes the loop on studying comedians, storytellers, and other mediums to improve writing.
- •Shaan says humor should support a point rather than replace it, reducing pressure to “be funny” constantly
- •He defines humor as surprise: set expectations, then subvert them
- •They discuss how specific word choices can carry more humor than formal phrasing
- •Shaan argues memorable framing is a responsibility if you have ideas worth remembering, giving an example of turning abstract concepts into vivid imagery
- •Both emphasize learning from adjacent fields (comedy, film, TV) to avoid “a sea of sameness” and improve communication
Teaching someone to write in your voice: the Milk Road system
Shaan explains why he needed writing to be teachable for Milk Road’s daily schedule, and how he built repeatable patterns to transfer voice. He describes training by format, line-by-line examples, and a “voice memo first” filter to ensure the subject is genuinely interesting before it becomes text.
- •Shaan says he couldn’t rely on his own consistency for a daily 6:00 AM send, so he had to systematize voice
- •He describes using a consistent format and breaking down why each line is written the way it is
- •He emphasizes “tagging the joke” to create a smile that isn’t dependent on market movement
- •He identifies a common failure: writers adopting a fake “school voice” or choosing topics they don’t care about
- •He required a voice memo of the news before writing, using it as a filter for energy and interest

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