Hooked with Julia and Nick

In this episode, we sit down with Zehra Naqvi, founder of Lore, the internet’s home for obsession. Before launching a single feature, Zehra and her team built a waitlist of over 100,000 users, generated 215M+ organic views, and grew a 14,000-person Discord community, all by rallying Gen Z around one shared frustration: the internet is broken for fandom.

We get into everything from why TikTok’s algorithm has a “short memory,” the exact strategies behind Lore’s viral TikTok and Twitter moments, why leading with the problem (not the solution) built insane trust, and how their Discord quietly be...

In this episode, we sit down with Lillie, co-founder of Ditto, the app often described as “Pinterest meets your Notes app.” After scaling major skincare brands as a marketer, Lillie pivoted into building consumer social: raising capital, launching Ditto, and now running one of the most ambitious campus ambassador programs in tech.

We get into everything from how Ditto is reinventing social media and why Gen Z needs a new way to share online, to the exact playbook behind Ditto’s IRL college launches. Lillie breaks down their three-school pilot, what they learned from literally living on campus...

In this episode, we sit down with Mia Mirzayan, NYC-based strategist, content creator, and founder of Creator Vault. Mia has spent the past three years creating organic and paid content for brands like ADIDAS, Banana Republic, Canva, and Haus Labs.

We get into everything from landing higher-paying gigs, to what separates top UGC creators from the rest, to the real difference between influencer vs. UGC campaigns. Mia also shares the mindset shifts that helped her build a career in content, and what inspired her to create Creator Vault - the app helping creators earn more, avoid bad...

Paid ads are getting more expensive. Consumers are tuning them out.The brands still winning are the ones with a repeatable organic content strategy that turns views into installs.On Wednesday, November 19th, I’m hosting a live session breaking down exactly how to create high-performing viral formats that drive real business outcomes: installs, signups, and sales.You’ll learn:- How to identify and build repeatable content formats- What makes organic content convert (and what doesn’t)- Real examples of formats driving millions of organic views- How to adapt winning formats to your product or nicheIf you’re ready...

At just 25 years old, Quinn Slocum has built an empire of over 4 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, with zero paid ads.

He’s the founder of @BestCelebrations (nearly 3 million) and @Culture (100k+), two of the internet’s most viral and community-driven social pages. In this episode, Quinn shares the exact systems, frameworks, and mindset that took him from editing Vine clips as a teenager to running multi-million-follower brands today.

You’ll learn:

→ How to grow from 0 → 10K followers

→ The “1,000 True Fans” framework that e...

How do you go from dropping out of college to building an AI engine that hits 100,000 organic views a day on TikTok?

In this episode of Hooked, Zuhair Lakhani, founder of DoubleSpeed (backed by a16z’s Speedrun program), joins us to break down the future of AI video content, the creator economy’s next phase, and what happens when AI replaces the influencer.

Zuhair reveals how he:

• Used Midjourney + ElevenLabs to generate content that made $100K in 30 days• Built a phone farm to automate posts and boost views without ads• How...

He built three 7-figure brands. Shut one down. Then grew his personal Instagram account from 0 to 150K followers in three months by turning content into a system.

In this episode, Caleb Ulffers breaks down the exact playbook founders can use to grow faster through short-form video (even if you’ve never posted before).

We talk about gear, process, mindset, and why founder-led content is the most powerful growth channel in the world. If you’ve ever wondered how to start, what to post, or how to make content actually driv...

What if your next marketing campaign didn’t need a single dollar in ad spend?

Ben Schaefer, co-founder of Cinque, built a 400-person community in San Diego through authentic experiences (surfing, music, and connection), all grown through organic social. No ads and no agency. Just people who cared.

In this episode of Hooked, Ben joins Julia and Nick to break down how he turned one simple idea into a viral movement, and why Gen Z’s scrappy approach to marketing is rewriting every rule in the playbook.

🕒 Timesta...

How do you build a tech startup that actually brings people together and then walk away from it to chase your dream?

In this episode of Hooked, Playkit co-founders Julia Pintar and Nick Sanchez sit down with Avery Kokka, the 23-year-old co-founder and former CMO of Plots, a venture-backed startup backed by a16z that’s reinventing how Gen Z connects IRL.

Avery shares how she turned her passion for live events into a viral growth engine and how she’s now channeling that same creativity into a full-time career as a DJ and artist.

This week’s episode is just us (Julia and Nick) answering the top questions we’ve been getting from founders and creators about UGC, virality, and scaling content.

From how to find your first creators to how some people are making $10K+ a month filming TikToks, we’re breaking it all down this week.

Whether you’re a founder trying to drive installs or a creator trying to land your first brand deal, this one’s for you.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro

DMs from founders + creators → t...

This week on Hooked, we sit down with Anna Greene, PlayKit’s Head Strategist, crochet YouTuber with nearly 100K subscribers, and the Gen Z marketer behind hundreds of millions of TikTok views.

Anna’s journey is anything but traditional: she went from being a teenage photographer working with brands like Vogue, to running a viral crochet channel in high school, to studying computer engineering (before realizing she hated it), to finally leaning into social media and marketing. This path that’s now made her one of the sharpest strategists in UGC.

I...

Alexis Hedley went from posting one viral TikTok in college to managing 200+ creators and millions of views as Playkit’s Campaign Manager.

In this episode, she pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to succeed as a creator or land your first role in the UGC space. From monetization frameworks to horror stories of creator outreach, Alexis shares the tactical insights every founder, brand, and aspiring creator needs to know.

What you’ll learn:

• How Alexis went from creator → strategist → campaign manager.• The 4 monetization “buckets” every creator should know.• Why you d...

Garrett Rothstein (founder of Queue, ex-Snapchat, Bird, Quibi) shares how he turned TikTok into a growth engine, engineering features for virality, building a captions matrix, and iterating 100+ times before hitting his first breakout video.

If you’re a founder, marketer, or creator, this is a masterclass in how to design products and content for distribution.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Cold open: 100 TikToks before the first viral hit

1:15 – Intro: Who is Garrett Rothstein & how Q + Playkit teamed up

4:00 – Building Q & engineering the “swipe with a friend” feature for TikTok virality

9:20 –...

Chris Josephs (founder of Autopilot and the Pelosi Stock Tracker) joins us for a no-BS breakdown of what makes each platform tick, and why creators and brands keep getting it wrong.

We cover how Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter actually work, why authenticity always beats polish, and the creator strategies that scale. If you’ve ever felt lost about what to post and where — this episode gives you the playbook.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro: who is Chris Josephs

6:00 – Why DMs are still the most underrated growth channel

12:00 – The origins of the Pelosi Tracker Duration: 01:40:18