🔎 Co-Working at Costco

This triggered a perfect storm of surprise, amusement, and social validation by subverting expectations around startup culture while making viewers feel "in" on a clever hack. Of course the punchline being it’s totally satirical. But you can’t help thinking…would this actually work though?

Key points:

• Surprise activation through misdirection - The setup ("pulled the trigger on coworking space") creates one expectation, then delivers a completely unexpected punchline (Costco). Surprise is brief but powerful. It captures attention and primes us for the next emotion.

• Amusement through juxtaposition - The juxtaposition of serious startup language with mundane retail reality creates cognitive dissonance that resolves in laughter. The deadpan delivery ("security at entrance and exit," "walk-in produce room") amplifies the comedic effect by maintaining the pretense.

• Contempt toward pretentious startup culture - This content allows viewers to feel morally superior to the "$200/month WeWork" crowd. Contempt is an inherently enjoyable emotion—we get pleasure from looking down on perceived pretension while celebrating authentic frugality.

Steal this tactic:

Set up a familiar scenario with serious language, then reveal an absurd but logical twist. The emotional payoff comes from the surprise-to-amusement pipeline, enhanced by making your audience feel clever for "getting" the joke.

This is a perfect example of expectation-subversion storytelling. The creator hooked you with "coworking space" then flipped the script…they're working out of bloody Costco! It's the same psychology used when Mr Beast titles a video "I Survived 50 Hours Buried Alive" but then reveals unexpected twists that make it 10x crazier than you thought.

Key points:

• Hook perfection - "Finally pulled the trigger on coworking space" immediately sets up an expectation that gets shattered in the best way. It creates a curiosity gap that demands resolution.

• Escalating reveal structure - They don't just say "I work at Costco." They build it up: $200 WeWork vs $60/year mystery location, then list all these "amenities" that sound legit until you realise it's bulk shopping perks.

• Relatable flex + comedy - Everyone's stressed about startup costs and workspace expenses. This hits the "I wish I'd thought of that" nerve while being genuinely funny. It's spectacle (working in Costco) meets relatability (startup hustle) - my exact formula.

Steal this tactic:

Start with a common problem/assumption, build tension around it, then reveal your unexpected solution. Works for any niche: "Finally found the perfect gym membership... it's called moving furniture for £20/hour."

This went viral because it's brilliant parody that uses the "fake hustle culture" format to mock LinkedIn's obsession with productivity hacks and startup bros.

Key Points:

• Perfect parody structure: Mimics every LinkedIn humble-brag post ("Let me break it down") whilst being so absurd it becomes obvious satire. It’s just subtle enough that some people miss the joke

• Hits multiple targets: Simultaneously mocks WeWork culture, startup bros, LinkedIn thought leaders, and the entire "optimise everything" mentality in one post. Maximum relatability across audiences

• Viral tension through confusion: Half the comments are people genuinely asking "wait, is this serious?"…that uncertainty creates engagement as people debate whether it's real or satire

Steal this tactic:

Take any trendy business advice and push it to an absurd extreme whilst maintaining the serious tone of LinkedIn thought leadership. The key is nailing the earnest language ("Thought about keeping this one to myself") whilst describing something completely ridiculous.

It works because everyone's sick of performative hustle culture but afraid to say it directly. Satire lets you say what everyone's thinking.