Verified against ChatGPT · 2026-07-14
Write a first line that survives LinkedIn's "see more" cutoff
Generate several first-line options for a LinkedIn post, each built to work as a complete thought before LinkedIn truncates it, not a teaser fragment cut off mid-sentence.
The prompt
Ready to copy — highlighted parts are example details you can swap.
I'm writing a LinkedIn post about: Why we stopped doing weekly status meetings. The core insight or result I want to lead with: Cutting weekly meetings freed up 6 hours per engineer per month. Who I'm writing for: Engineering managers at 50-200 person startups. Tone: Confident, a little blunt, not salesy. LinkedIn truncates posts behind "...see more" after roughly 140-210 characters depending on device, so the first line has to work as a stand-alone sentence that earns the tap, not a fragment that only makes sense once you keep reading. Write 6 hook-line options for the first line of this post, each under 150 characters, using a different mechanism: 1. A specific, verifiable number or result (no rounded, vague stats) 2. A contrarian or "unpopular opinion" framing of Cutting weekly meetings freed up 6 hours per engineer per month 3. A direct question the audience is already asking themselves 4. A short, concrete scene or moment, not an abstract statement 5. A "most people think X, but..." reframe 6. A plain, confident statement of the outcome, with no adjectives doing the work For each one, check whether it would still read as a complete thought if LinkedIn cut it off at exactly 150 characters — if it wouldn't, rewrite it until it does. Do not use engagement-bait phrasing like "Comment YES if...", "Tag someone who...", or "This will blow your mind."
Customize the highlighted detailsoptional — the prompt above already works
Why this works
LinkedIn's feed algorithm weights dwell time and genuine comments over raw click-through, and it also demotes posts flagged as engagement bait — so a hook engineered purely to force a click ("You won't believe what happened next...") works against the same system it's trying to game. Testing each line against the "does it survive a cut at 150 characters" rule targets the actual UI mechanic doing the damage: most weak hooks fail not because the idea is bad but because the sentence was written to resolve on line two, and line two is exactly what "...see more" hides on a phone screen.
What you get back
1. (Number) "We cut 6 hours of meetings per engineer per month by deleting one recurring event." (89 chars — stands alone) 2. (Contrarian) "Weekly status meetings are a tax on the people already telling you the truth in Slack." (92 chars — stands alone) 3. (Question) "How many hours did your team lose to a meeting that could have been a message?" (82 chars — stands alone)
Verified against
ChatGPT GPT-5.1 · 2026-07-14
Claude Sonnet 5 · 2026-07-15
Changelog
- 2026-07-15 — Initial version, with the 150-character stand-alone test added after early drafts kept producing hooks that only resolved on line two.
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