Launching with a provocative stunt like Chad IDE's 'brain rot' editor can generate massive attention. However, this strategy backfires if there isn't a compelling, accessible core product to convert that attention into user adoption. Without a real product behind the curtain, a stunt remains just a stunt.

Paul Graham characterizes marketing strategies designed to intentionally anger people for attention as a tactic of "scammers." He argues that such approaches reveal a lack of long-term focus and earnest engineering, predicting that companies relying on these gimmicks will never become truly massive.

Go-to-market strategies built on outrage and controversy (rage-bait) attract attention but create a fragile brand. The audience you build is not a community of supporters but a mob waiting for you to fail. This makes it a spiritually and strategically poor choice for sustainable growth.

Conventional, consensus-driven marketing seems safe but ensures your brand never cuts through the noise. To stand out and create something differentiated, marketers must be courageous and fight against mediocrity, even if it feels riskier in the short term.

Observing a competitor's dystopian ad campaign, Dan Siroker realized the worst outcome for a startup isn't bad publicity, but irrelevance. Controversial marketing, even if it gets negative reactions, can generate crucial mindshare and get people talking, which is a prerequisite for user adoption.

The IVF company Nucleus ran a subway campaign with provocative slogans like 'Have your best baby' to deliberately anger a segment of the population. This 'rage bait' strategy manufactures virality in controversial industries, leveraging negative reactions to gain widespread attention that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.

World-changing ideas are often stifled not by direct threats, but by the creator's own internal barriers. The fear of social exclusion, of being "flamed on Twitter," or of hurting loved ones causes individuals to self-censor, anticipating external pressures before they even materialize.

While stunts and "rage-bait" can generate massive initial attention for a product like Clulee, their impact diminishes over time. Once an audience has been enraged, it's harder to provoke the same reaction again, making it a powerful but unsustainable long-term growth strategy compared to consistent value proposition advertising.

Corporate fear of social media backlash is largely unfounded. Negative attention cycles are short, and brands can neutralize issues by quickly acknowledging them and moving on. The risk of inaction is therefore greater than the risk of making a mistake.