Platform Strategy
Each platform has a specific role — not 'write once, post everywhere.'
Platform Strategy
Ship With Intent operates across three platforms. Each has a specific role. This is not "write once, post everywhere." Each platform gets content shaped for its audience, format, and purpose.
Substack — Free Tier
Free Substack carries the ideas. Concepts, narratives, honest takes — the "what" and "why" of a topic. Any post that stands alone as a complete, shareable idea belongs here.
The email subject line is the hook. It's written before the post, not after. It creates tension or curiosity on its own — distinct from the title. The subject line is the reason someone opens the email. The hook is the reason they keep reading.
Minimum length: 400 words. Free posts have a clear reason a subscriber would forward or share them. They deliver full value without requiring the reader to pay.
Substack — Paid Tier
Paid Substack carries the process. This is the "how" behind the free "what." The distinction is precise:
- Specific prompts and AI outputs, verbatim — not paraphrased
- Iteration documentation: what the second and third prompt looked like when the first one didn't work
- Full session transcripts with Claude
- Detailed process artifacts: memos, frameworks, exercise outputs
- Code snippets with annotated implementation decisions
- Novel writing prompts and manuscript excerpts
- Tool configurations that would take significant time to reconstruct
Every paid post references its corresponding free post. "This is the paid companion to [title]. If you haven't read it, start there." The paid post delivers the working knowledge — what didn't work and why, the verbatim AI interaction, a practical artifact the reader can use or adapt.
Minimum length: 600 words. Paid posts include at least one verbatim prompt or session excerpt. The reader gets something they can take and use, not just read and nod.
YouTube
YouTube carries concepts and process — visual demonstrations of ideas that benefit from seeing the work happen. The format is spoken, not written. Scripts are read aloud before recording; if it wouldn't sound natural on a phone call, it gets rewritten.
The production pipeline is AI-augmented at every step:
1. Interview — Claude conducts a conversational interview to extract the core insight, generating supporting points and hook angles 2. Outline — Bullet-point structure approved before scripting 3. Script — Full spoken-language script, double-spaced between beats 4. Recording — Raw capture with take notes 5. Metadata — Claude generates title options, description blocks, and tags 6. Thumbnail — Three-word copy options, legibility tested at 120x67px
Title formula: under 60 characters, searchable term first, then the angle. "Why My Game Shipped in 90 Days (And What Broke)" or "The AI Prompt Pattern I Stopped Using." No "How to" unless purely tutorial.
Tags run 10-15, ordered from specific to broad to brand. "Ship with intent" is always included.
LinkedIn amplifies the leadership angle. Primary threads are The Human Layer and Full-Spectrum Delivery — topics that resonate with engineering managers and directors.
Posts are 150-300 words, formatted for scannability with line breaks every 1-3 sentences. Value is delivered in the post itself, not behind a link. Cross-posting from Substack ends with "Full version on Ship With Intent: [link]" — after the reader has already gotten something worth their time.
LinkedIn is not for first publication of paid content, content requiring context from previous posts, or promotional posts that don't deliver value first.
Why Platform-Specific
The alternative — writing one piece and posting it everywhere — looks efficient and is actually wasteful. A 1,500-word Substack post doesn't work as a LinkedIn update. A conversational YouTube script doesn't work as written content. A paid process breakdown doesn't work as a free concept piece.
Each platform has different audience expectations, attention patterns, and format constraints. Writing specifically for each platform means every piece works where it lands. The overhead of platform-specific adaptation is lower than the cost of content that doesn't fit.
The unifying element isn't the format — it's the voice, the structure arc, and the quality bar. Those stay constant. The shape changes.