Discover the marketing psychology laws behind why people buy, crave, and buy again, and the marketing campaigns that used it to bend industries and shape culture. Make your product so irresistible, even your ex would buy it.
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Over 5 years, 1,500+ marketers and founders have started selling HOLY SH*T experiences!
Our clients include people from some of the best companies in the world:
You’ve followed YouTube guru’s foolproof advice, throwing cash at Facebook & Google ads like it’s a piñata...
You switched to TikTok, hoping to dance your way to sales...
LinkedIn, cold emails, SEO, AEO... you’ve done everything by the book, but here you are, worn out and stranded in the endless “maybe this time” valley.
Here’s the annoying little truth:
People don't buy products. They buy emotions.
You’re selling to actual humans with feelings, dreams, ego, doubts, status, anxiety, and the occasional mid-afternoon craving for chocolate.
"95% of our purchasing decisions are driven by emotion"
(yeah, you can google it)
Tiny cues change what people feel.
Your marketing is full of tiny cues.
You may as well stop leaving them to chance.
The tools and algorithm keep changing more often than you change your socks.
The laws behind why humans notice, trust, want, compare, hesitate, and buy are TIMELESS. They've been shaped through millions of years of our evolution. We tend to do the "logical" things, without even realizing they work against us.
When you don’t know those laws, money leaks from places you don’t even think to check.
You show people the price before you’ve built the frame that makes the price feel fair, useful, and obvious. You let buyers compare you to cheaper alternatives, because you never showed them the right category to put you in. Your page looks fine, loads fast, and has visible CTAs, but still tells people to hesitate, delay, and leave.That’s the tax.
You pay it in 0.7-1.2 ROAS, high CAC, low CVR, high churn, low LTV, posts that die at 300 views, abandoned checkouts, and people who almost bought.
That’s why the best entrepreneurs, marketers, copywriters, and designers in the world are either psychologists or studying psychology like their revenue depends on it. Because it does.
The biggest, fastest-growing businesses in the world aren’t tech businesses. They are psychological businesses presented as technological ones.
EVIDENCE
2008, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos at the 3-day Edge Master Class.
Top behavioral economists taught tech CEOs how to use psychology to influence what people notice, want, and buy.
Most marketing sounds like it was approved by 12 frightened adults and a legal team.
Your product might be good. Like reeally good...
Shame it’s dressed like every other beige AI slop brand on the internet. Stop wasting your money, depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging - you're not a Karen!
Start promoting your service the way people feel it's made by their nana - full of love, exactly for them. Build products that people fall in love with and want to get matching tattoos with them. In a world full of vanilla slop, make the kind of brand that gets a HOLY SH*T out of people.
AI made building easier, so now the real game is making people give a sh*t.
When everyone can launch something that looks good enough, the winners are the people who understand why humans buy.
now that we all can build anything with ai
we're going to all have to figure out distribution
the wealthiest people will be marketers over the next 10 years
The highest-paying job in tech will soon be marketing.
Here are the books that shaped how I see marketing...
"OpenAI, Anthropic, and Netflix are paying up to $775,000 for senior communication and storytelling jobs."
*Basically psychology-driven marketing roles
"Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Adobe, and Netflix are paying up to $775,000 for communication and storytelling roles."
*Basically psychology-driven marketing roles
“Big Tech is paying up to $1.2M for senior communications roles that don’t require coding.”
*Basically psychology-driven marketing roles
now that we all can build anything with ai
we're going to all have to figure out distribution
the wealthiest people will be marketers over the next 10 years
The highest-paying job in tech will soon be marketing.
Here are the books that shaped how I see marketing...
"OpenAI, Anthropic, and Netflix are paying up to $775,000 for senior communication and storytelling jobs."
*Basically psychology-driven marketing roles
"Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Adobe, and Netflix are paying up to $775,000 for communication and storytelling roles."
*Basically psychology-driven marketing roles
The "WHY" part:
1/5 Marketing f**ckin sucks if it doesn't work!
You’ve followed YouTube guru’s foolproof advice, throwing cash at Facebook & Google ads like it’s a piñata...
You switched to TikTok, hoping to dance your way to sales...
LinkedIn, cold emails, SEO, AEO... you’ve done everything by the book, but here you are, worn out and stranded in the endless “maybe this time” valley.
2/5 You’re not just selling to robots. Well, at least not yet...
Why do some businesses take years to hit it big, while others reach the same level of success in just a few months or weeks?
Why are some products so charming it feels offensive not to buy them, while others make you want to go back to your ex?
What makes people keep coming back to certain products out of pure, whole-hearted craving?
Here’s the annoying little truth:
People don't buy products. They buy emotions.
You’re selling to actual humans with feelings, dreams, ego, doubts, status, anxiety, and the occasional mid-afternoon craving for chocolate.
"95% of our purchasing decisions are driven by emotion"
(yeah, you can google it)
That’s why the best entrepreneurs, marketers, copywriters, and designers in the world are either psychologists or studying psychology like their revenue depends on it. Because it does.
The biggest, fastest-growing businesses in the world aren’t tech businesses. They are psychological businesses presented as technological ones.
3/5 Marketing is just psychology applied to business. Ignore the laws, pay the tax.
The tools and algorithm keep changing more often than you change your socks.
The laws behind why humans notice, trust, want, compare, hesitate, and buy are TIMELESS. They've been shaped through millions of years of our evolution. Long before someone in a Patagonia decided to call it “growth hack.”
When you don’t know those laws, money leaks from places you don’t even think to check.
Your page looks fine, loads fast, and has a visible CTAs, but still tells people to hesitate, delay, and leave.
That’s the tax.
You pay it in 0.7-1.2 ROAS, high CAC, low CVR, high churn, low LTV, posts that die at 300 views, abandoned checkouts, and people who almost bought.
And yes, people really are THIS weird:
Tiny cues change what people feel.
Your marketing is full of tiny cues.
You may as well stop leaving them to chance.
4/5 That’s why vanilla brands die.
Most marketing sounds like it was approved by 12 frightened adults and a legal team.
Your product might be good. Like reeally good...
Shame it’s dressed like every other beige AI slop brand on the internet.
Stop wasting your money, depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging - you're not a Karen!
Start promoting your service the way people feel it's made by their nana - full of love, exactly for them.
Build products that people fall in love with and want to get matching tattoos with them.
In a world full of vanilla slop, make the kind of brand that gets a HOLY SH*T out of people.
5/5 In the age of AI, the most valuable skill is Marketing.
AI made building easier, so now the real game is making people care.
When everyone can launch something that looks good enough, the winners are the people who understand why humans buy.
More Social Proof
2004, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos (now 2 richest men on Earth) attending events organized by leading behavioural economists
THE "HOW IT WORKS" PART I:
Brainiac
Install the psychology behind why people buy, and STOP paying the tax for now knowing the laws of the game.
Brainiac is the gamified psychology side of the platform:
"Boost your conversion rate like itâs on a caffeine highâ¦"
"Attract more clicks than the âskip adâ buttonâ¦"
"Create copy so tempting, it could sell broccoli to a toddlerâ¦"
"Find the marketing guide thatâs basically your businessâs spirit animalâ¦..."
LEARNING ISN'T FUN?
Hold my lemonade...
Flashcards help you remember the biases, laws, and models through a quick, gamified learning experience.
Less boring memorizing. More remembering laws like Scarcity Effect well enough to make your bar conversation feel like a limited-time offer.
THE "HOW IT WORKS" PART II:
Unicorn Warrior
Install the creative mechanics behind campaigns that bent industries and shaped our culture.
Unicorn Warrior is the viral marketing side of the platform:
The app that got valued at $135M in less than a week after launch
Another app that got 5M users within 9 weeks (with a $0 marketing budget) and was acquired by Facebook for $30M?!
Did it twice
"Boost your conversion rate like itâs on a caffeine highâ¦"
"Attract more clicks than the âskip adâ buttonâ¦"
"Create copy so tempting, it could sell broccoli to a toddlerâ¦"
"Find the marketing guide thatâs basically your businessâs spirit animalâ¦..."
The "What people say about us" part:
Kickstart Side Hustle is an irreplaceable tool for Entrepreneurs and Growth Hackers and I love every part of it!
I am big fan of lists and structurized data. With KSH I don't have to remember every thing in my head.
Whenever I need some out of the box ideas - I just go through the lists. It saves time, a ton of it.
Michal goes extra mile and provides summary of most important news, ideas, methods in digital space. And the flashcards! I greatly appreciate the insights and value
I'm really loving Brainiac. It's like I suddenly have superpowers! It allows me to charge more for my copywriting services!
Thank youuu for taking action, creating such amazingness and sharing it 
For marketers, itâs like having the keys to the kingdom. Itâs all here, all the biases and behaviors that people *really* buy.
Here youâll find real-world examples of why certain biases work and how to use them in your marketing efforts. Decoded terminology that is easy to understand and case studies for impactful results.
I'm the biggest fan of this place! I use these techniques in my work all the time. This place have something totally unique that brands need.
I consider it the best purchase in my life!
Previously I was making a b2c startup that went viral in Japan and we managed to raise $3.5M after.
But we canât reproduce it in other countries and regions.And right now Iâm making another startup and for the first push your materials are great, you can choose from different working tactics and approaches.
The problem that I had before Kickstart Side Hustle is that you find an interesting case that you think suits you best and try to kind of replicate it.
But you canât keep in mind other cases in your head at the moment, but with KSH itâs easier, so you can cherry pick from different approaches to building a viral machine!
I've seen a lot of advice on how to use persuasive principles in marketing, but NONE are actionable and easy to understand as Michal's.
Even Robert Cialdini's INFLUENCE would struggle to hold a candle to the depth and immediately useful ideas inside Michal's free emails and paid memberships.
AJ Alkasmi
Co-Founder Blossom.team
I first came across a few Brainiac models and case studies about 6-7 months ago when I was researching how to inject more behavioral design principles into our product and growth tactics.
It was and continues to be an invaluable resource. I love how easy it is to go back and reference the concepts - so convenient and easy to grasp and action upon.
Now the question is - "Is Brainiac Worth It?" (spoiler alert, yes)
The website has gone through a number of changes ever since its initial launch and from what I'm guessing, Mike isn't even done.
The best part is, signing up to the initial newsletter gives you access to additional Cognitive Biases and Case Studies which were invaluable in designing several aspects of our own brand and product.
Nicki Friis
Digital Entrepreneur | Growth/Marketing Guy
Michal is super dedicated to his community, and his collection is worth every penny. Lot's of good examples of applications, and his cartoons are chick!
The "access" part:
Cost of behavioral economics consultancy: $20,000+
Cost of Psychology master's degree: $100,000+
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
If you’re not happy with our platform after giving it an honest try, just email us at salut@kickstartsidehustle.com:
Your refund will be on its way before you get to say "refund" and wait a few hours...
We want to make the whole experience as smooth as it's possible - a no-brainer decision, as you might call it.
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Brainiac, in my opinion, is a collection of fundamental, strategic principles every founder, marketer, designer, and copywriter should be aware of. It's like with driving your car. You have to learn the principles before getting on the road.
Unicorn Warrior is a complementary product that frames these biases right into the real world. Along with the best strategies that helped companies 100X their businesses within months or weeks.
Brainiac offers lifetime access to the database.
Unicorn Warrior provides only a yearly access.
I haven't yet found a place like this one, that's why I've created it.
All the other places I've come across, offered only a fraction of useful details regarding viral case studies featured here. And most of them considered the success of the business or campaign to the sheer luck
As for the cognitive biases, I'm aware of only 1 company that provides something similar, yet different, and for 4X price.
Nope. I still consider this platform, the way it looks, works, provides as a very early stage startup.
Call it MVP if you want ;)
If you buy today yearly access, your prices will stay the same forever.
There are still people in the community that supported my project at its beginnings. They will keep paying the initial price of $15~/year forever
As for the normal prices, they will go up again a few times. As the platform expands, providing more and more value the prices will increase as well. They are still quite low at the moment. For the $12.5/month you can get 2 coffees at Starbucks
Hello there!
I'm Michal and I'm the highest marketing priest of this website.
This platform ethos in 5 steps:
I believe life is too short and valuable to waste years using ineffective marketing methods when you could get the same results within months or weeks.
We create our products providing only the smartest, science-backed, and already-proven techniques, to show you how the most creative companies in the world did it.
We provide this information in the simplest terms to let anyone use it.
Many competing products provide artificial solutions to address companies' or personal insecurities, rather than helping you embrace your own awesomeness.
We think you are awesome and our products are designed the way to help you build your business to fully express yourself in an authentic and creative way.
If you feel like DMing me, do it on Twitter
