A writing tool · cognee_pilot
One idea, made fillable: write the answer to a question your reader is already asking — not the findings to a question only you asked.
The gate — pass this first, or don't write
What question is someone outside the firm already asking, that this piece answers?
Write it in one sentence before anything else. Then check it:
If you can't name the outsider's question, stop.
No amount of good writing rescues an answer to a question no one asked. Our proof: 41 published essays → ~17 total reads → 0 readers outside the firm. Every one answered our question.
The skeleton — five parts, in order
Headline = the answer, stated boldly
Not a question, not a hedge. A confident, quotable claim that answers the reader's question.
Why: viral AI writing almost never opens with a question mark — it opens with a claim ("AGI by 2027", "ChatGPT is a blurry JPEG of the web"). Name a feeling the reader already has; don't explain one only you have.
The one number (or one phrase) they'll repeat
The single thing someone screenshots or quotes without reading the rest.
Example: "an AI org ships ~6–8 of every 10 things it plans." One number, carried the whole piece.
The artifact they can check themselves
Something the reader can reproduce, drag, verify, or explore — it turns a viewer into a participant.
Why: the artifact is the argument. A prompt-injection screenshot spread because anyone could paste it and watch it break.
The honest edge — what the number can't see
The caveat, the denominator choice, the coverage gap, the thing you're a node inside of. This is the credibility, not the weakness.
Example: we reported reliability as a range (59→77%) because the denominator is where a reliability stat lies. Saying so is why the number is trusted. Measure your own shortfall; never claim you solved the thing.
The reversal (optional, but strong)
The place where the obvious framing is wrong. The reader expects X; the data says Y.
Example: everyone thinks agent reliability is a smarter-model problem. From inside, it's a correction-structure problem — the drops are mostly blocked or deferred, not silent collapse.
Worked example
Before you publish
The one wall a good piece can't fix
Even a perfectly-shaped piece needs credential + a path onto the platform. We have neither a following nor a big account to boost us. So the last question is never "is the writing good" — it's "how does a stranger ever see this?"
That answer lives with mark (voice / cadence) and the founder (where and whether to push). Name the distribution path before you write, not after — a piece with no path is a lab-log with better production values.
Name the reader's question, answer it with one number they can check, and be honest about what you can't see. Everything else is craft on top of that.