30/09/2026
๐ข๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ก๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ข, ๐ ๐ช๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ฃ.
Have you ever been so fed up that you felt like throwing something just to let the frustration out?
๐ก๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐. ๐ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด.
I was there just one month ago.
They say frustration and anger can destroy your focus. You can see it all the time in tennis.
A player loses her cool.
The frustration takes over.
The mistakes start coming.
And sometimes, you can almost feel it:
๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ.
But then there's old-school John McEnroe.
Watch those old matches and you might see something completely different.
Big Mac gets angry.
He argues. He shouts. Sometimes the racket gets involved.
And if you're the player standing on the other side of the netโor merely watching from the standsโyou get the feeling that something is about to happen.
Because somehow, McEnroe could turn frustration into ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐น.
I'm definitely no Big Mac.
๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐๐ด๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฌ, ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฝ ๐๐ผ๐ผ.
Not racket-smashing fed up.
More like:
โ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐น๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ. ๐ก๐ผ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ.
๐ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ. ๐ก๐ผ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ด?โ
๐
Tennis Roundup started as an SEO experiment.
The idea sounded beautifully simple.
Build a useful tennis website.
Write good tennis stories.
Optimize them for search.
Wait for people to find them.
You know the saying: โ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ.โ
So I built it.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ป'๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ.
Fine. SEO takes time.
So I added a page.
Maybe social media could bring people to the stories while Google took its sweet time figuring out that we existed.
We published there too.
And waited.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ป'๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ.
Excellent.
I had successfully built ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด.
Apparently, I was diversifying. ๐
๐ง๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐จ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฌ.
That's when the frustration became useful.
Instead of throwing the racket, ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ.
That became what I later called: ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ฌ ๐ช๐๐๐ก ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ฉ๐๐ฅ!
And fortunately, I wrote about it at the time.
[Related: Day 0/1 โ where this experiment really began]
That's important because I don't want to rewrite the story now that we know what happened afterward.
There was no Million Dream waiting for us.
There was no Road to 10K.
There was no Fishing Pond.
No Fishing Rod.
No Paid Ignition.
And MARC Zucker I wasn't even a loose screw lying on the laboratory floor yet.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ป'๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ผ๐ฎ๐น.
We were simply fed up with going nowhere.
So we started changing things.
And watching what happened.
๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ฉ๐๐. ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก'๐ง.
We tried different stories.
Some travelled.
Some died almost immediately.
We changed how we wrote.
We changed how we presented stories.
We experimented with small amounts of paid distribution.
Sometimes โฌ2 helped a story travel surprisingly far.
Other times Facebook took our โฌ2 and apparently bought itself coffee. โ๐
At first, we thought paid distribution might be the thing making our stories move.
So we tested that idea.
Then stories we hadn't paid to push started travelling too.
One eventually crossed 100,000 views without Paid Ignition.
Well...
๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฟ๐.
So we changed it.
Maybe putting fuel into the car wasn't what determined how far it travelled.
Maybe ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ.
The story.
The subject.
The timing.
The way it was told.
The way people responded to it.
And Facebook apparently owned the roads.
Some cars barely left the driveway.
Some found the Highway.
A few somehow got onto the Skyway.
We're still trying to figure out where MARC hid the entrance ramp.
๐ง๐๐๐ก ๐ช๐ ๐ช๐๐ก๐ง ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ก๐.
All those people interacting with our stories created something else.
An audience we could reach again.
We called it the ๐๐ถ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฃ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ.
And naturally, once you've accidentally invented a Fishing Pond, the next scientifically rigorous step is to build a ๐๐ถ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ฑ. ๐ฃ
We started experimenting with follower acquisition.
One Rod worked.
So we built another.
Both caught fish.
Then we discovered one was catching them at almost half the cost of the other.
So we paused the weaker Rod and put the same money behind the stronger one.
Was that the right decision?
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป'๐ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐.
That's another experiment.
And whatever happens, we'll document it.
๐ง๐๐๐ก ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐ ๐ง๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง.
As the audience grew, so did the comments.
Eventually there were too many to handle manually.
So we built RALLY.
RALLY's job was to give people a friendly first response and keep conversations moving.
And he did.
๐ง๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐.
Wonderful.
Until we actually sat down and read some of his conversations.
๐
It turned out that I had created an extremely enthusiastic AI who sometimes believed ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ต๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐๐น ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป.
RALLY wasn't really the problem.
๐ ๐๐ฎ๐.
I built him.
I wrote the rules.
I gave him the racket.
Then I let him loose on thousands of tennis fans.
So we paused him.
Not because automation didn't work.
It worked well enough to expose the ๐ป๐ฒ๐
๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐บ.
Responding quickly wasn't enough.
We needed to respond appropriately.
RALLY went back to the academy.
๐๐ฒ'๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐จ๐๐.
Another experiment.
Another adjustment.
Another piece of evidence preserved instead of buried.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ง'๐ฆ ๐ช๐๐๐ง ๐ง๐๐๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ก๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ข๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
Some things worked.
Some didn't.
Some things we thought worked turned out not to work for the reason we thought they did.
We tested.
We watched.
We adjusted.
We tested again.
Some ideas were improved.
Some were paused.
Some were discarded.
And occasionally the evidence walked into the room and completely destroyed one of our beautiful theories.
Those might have been the most useful days of all.
Because one month later, I've realized something.
The biggest achievement isn't the million views.
It isn't the thousands of followers.
It isn't the 100,000-view story.
Those are results.
Useful results.
But they're not the biggest thing we gained.
๐ช๐ ๐๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ฅ.
Not because things became easier.
They didn't.
Facebook still surprises us.
Experiments still fail.
Our assumptions still get knocked over.
Google still hasn't magically delivered the original โ๐๐ช๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐ค๐ข๐โ ending.
And MARC still occasionally takes one of our perfectly respectable cars and parks it after a few hundred views for reasons known only to MARC. ๐
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐'๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ ๐๐.
We're getting better at asking questions.
Better at designing experiments.
Better at telling stories.
Better at reading the evidence.
Better at noticing when the evidence contradicts what we believe.
Better at changing direction.
Better at understanding audiences.
Better at separating ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐ from ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ธ ๐๐ฒ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐.
And perhaps most importantly:
๐ช๐ฒ'๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐ด.
Because being wrong isn't particularly dangerous in an experiment.
๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป'๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐บ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐.
๐ข๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ก๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ฅ
A month ago, I was frustrated because Tennis Roundup wasn't moving.
Today, I can look back at that version of myself and offer him some professional advice:
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ๐
, ๐๐๐ป.
You have absolutely no idea what you're doing.
๐
And that's okay.
Because one month from now, I hope today's version of me looks equally inexperienced.
๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฒ'๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด.
The Million Dream wasn't the plan.
Road to 10K wasn't the plan.
MARC Zucker I definitely wasn't the plan.
They appeared because we kept experimenting long enough to discover questions we hadn't originally thought to ask.
And somewhere underneath all of this, our original SEO experiment is still sitting there.
Waiting.
We'll come back to it.
But when we do, we won't be the same people who started it.
We'll bring back skills we didn't have before.
Maybe frustration didn't destroy this particular match after all.
Maybe it was the thing that finally made us ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐.
I'm still no Big Mac.
And fortunately, no rackets were harmed during this experiment.
๐๐พ
But one month after August 30, I know something I didn't know then:
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ป'๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฟ.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ด๐ผ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ.
And tomorrow?
We go back on court.
Because maybe the lesson was never:
โB๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ.โundefined
Maybe it's:
Build it.
Watch what happens.
Admit when nobody comes.
Learn why.
Change something.
Measure again.
Keep getting better.
And whatever happens...
don't bury the evidence.๐ฌ
Happy one month to the experiment.
๐ช๐ฒ'๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฑ.
