Teardowns · 20 pieces
Copy teardowns: what makes great writing work
Every teardown reverse-engineers a piece of copy the world already agrees works — Apple, Nike, Stripe, Linear, Naval, Hormozi, Jobs — into a reusable formula. Extract the skeleton. Rewrite the message. Keep the power.
Prefer the pattern first? Browse the framework library →
Why Apple's 'Think Different' still converts
1997Apple / TBWA\Chiat\Day
Name the outsider → celebrate the outsider → invite the reader to identify → position the product as the outsider's tool.
BABRead →Nike × Kaepernick: sacrificing everything as a mechanism
2018Nike / Wieden+Kennedy
Universal belief → extreme condition → brand ethos as the bridge.
BABRead →Naval's 'How to Get Rich' opener: 40-tweet formula in one line
2018Naval Ravikant
Imperative → three parallel definitions that reframe the reader's category assumptions.
PASRead →Basecamp's Shape Up launch: 4 Ps in one landing page
2019Basecamp / Ryan Singer
Aspirational promise → concrete picture of the new workflow → proof it works at Basecamp → free-book push.
4 PsRead →Steve Jobs at Stanford 2005: three stories, one formula
2005Steve Jobs (Stanford commencement address)
Disarm the audience → promise exactly N stories → each story ends with a portable maxim.
AIDARead →Apple '1984': how a 60-second ad rewrote a category in one metaphor
1984Apple / Chiat\Day / Ridley Scott
Cast the incumbent as the villain of a story the reader already knows → cast the product as the interruption → collapse the whole argument into one line.
BABRead →Airbnb 'Belong Anywhere': the identity move behind a brand pivot
2014Airbnb / Douglas Atkin
Replace a transactional verb with an identity verb → let the identity verb become the promise.
SB7Read →Dollar Shave Club: how the launch video sold a business in 90 seconds
2012Dollar Shave Club / Michael Dubin
Absurd hook → agitate a mundane pain → discredit the incumbent's price gouging → deliver the mechanism (subscription) → close on the founder in-frame.
PADDSRead →Stripe homepage: how one sentence sells to two audiences at once
2023Stripe
Category-defining noun for the technical buyer → outcome verbs for the commercial buyer → proof at scale.
FABRead →Linear homepage: the 'system' word that reframed project tools
2023Linear
Reject the category noun the incumbent owns → coin a new one → position the product as the standard of that new category.
SB7Read →Notion homepage: how one word ('workspace') swallowed a category
2023Notion Labs
Three verbs the reader already does → one container word that unifies them → close the loop with a status upgrade.
SB7Read →Superhuman's first email: how onboarding earns the price tag
2019Superhuman / Rahul Vohra
Reframe the free trial as an appointment → make the appointment the product → let the software feel like the artifact left behind.
Grand Slam OfferRead →Paul Graham 'Do Things That Don't Scale': the essay as counter-formula
2013Paul Graham
Contradict the reader's accepted wisdom → name a principle that inverts it → back it with cases the reader can't dismiss.
6+1Read →Hormozi's $100M Offer: the equation as pitch
2021Alex Hormozi
Name the four value levers → move each one visibly → let the price become the last thing anyone asks about.
Grand Slam OfferRead →Sabri Suby's VSL opening: the 30-second hook stack
2019Sabri Suby / King Kong
Time promise → outcome anchor → named mechanism → proof number → cliffhanger.
VSL LoopRead →Steve Jobs' 2007 iPhone reveal: the three-things-in-one hook
2007Steve Jobs (Macworld keynote)
Announce N distinct products the audience already knows → repeat the list until they laugh → collapse them into one product.
VSL LoopRead →Ogilvy's Rolls-Royce ad: the specific-detail formula
1958David Ogilvy
One concrete number → one concrete condition → one absurdly specific detail as proof of the abstract claim.
4 UsRead →Basecamp 'It doesn't have to be crazy at work': the counter-manifesto formula
2018Basecamp / Jason Fried & DHH
Name the abnormal that everyone treats as normal → deny it → offer the alternative as obvious.
PADDSRead →Hormozi's $100M Leads intro: the credential drop formula
2023Alex Hormozi
Big credential number → total content promise → personal risk reversal → founder access.
Grand Slam OfferRead →Sam Altman 'How to Start a Startup' opener: the compression formula
2014Sam Altman (Stanford CS183)
State the exact number of ingredients → make each ingredient a single adjective + noun → let the rest of the lecture unpack each one.
AIDARead →
How to read a teardown
Every teardown follows the same five-part anatomy. Learn to spot these moves and you can reverse-engineer any piece of copy on your own.
- One-line formulaThe whole piece compressed into a single sentence — the shape you can transfer.
- Block mapEach paragraph labeled by its role: hook, tension, mechanism, payoff, CTA.
- MechanismThe single psychological move the copy is doing under the surface.
- Do / avoidWhat to reuse from the pattern and what to leave with the original.
- Reusable templateThe formula turned into placeholders you can fill with your own message.
Frequently asked
- What is a copy teardown?
- A teardown is a reverse-engineering of a piece of copy that already works. Instead of admiring it, we label each move — hook, tension, mechanism, payoff, CTA — and extract the reusable skeleton so you can rebuild the same structure for your own message.
- How is a teardown different from just copying the source?
- A copy would reuse the wording, names, metaphors, and biography. A teardown extracts only the structural mechanism — the sequence of moves and rhetorical functions — and leaves the surface language behind. That's what makes the formula transferable.
- Which teardown should I read first?
- Start with the one closest to what you're writing. Writing a short manifesto or brand ad? Apple 'Think Different' or Nike × Kaepernick. Writing a sales page? Hormozi Grand Slam Offer or the VSL open loops. Writing homepage copy? Stripe, Linear, or Notion.
- Can I run a teardown on my own copy?
- Yes — that's the tool. Paste any post, email, or ad into Get Text Formula and the analyzer produces the same structure: block map, mechanism, do/avoid, and a reusable template you can fill with your own message.
Frameworks
The pattern library
12 copywriting frameworks — AIDA, PAS, BAB, FAB, StoryBrand, Grand Slam Offer, VSL loops — with definitions, examples, and when each one fits.
Browse frameworks →
Long-form guide
The complete copywriting frameworks guide
One essay that ties every framework and teardown in this library into a decision tree you can hand to a junior writer.
Read the guide →
Run this on your own text
Paste any post, email, or ad into Get Text Formula and the analyzer produces the same kind of teardown — hook, tension, mechanism, payoff, CTA — plus a reusable template you can fill with your own message.