3 builders who never spoke to each other

Explain it by mapping onto something familiar

A complicated product becomes legible in one line when it is described as the known thing for a new domain, because the listener already owns the mental model and only has to move it. Keep that sentence plain enough to be repeated by someone who does not work for you. Where the interface itself is technical, an in-place explainer that restates the jargon in ordinary words keeps a confused user from leaving.

The method

1. 01

   Be able to describe the product in one plain sentence that leans on something familiar - that sentence is what makes people remember it.

2. 02

   Explain a complicated product by mapping it onto a familiar one, so a stranger gets it in a single line.

3. 03

   Bolt a plain-English explainer onto a technical product so a confused user gets an answer in place rather than leaving.

What it returned

• ContestKit's founder described it to Justin as a way to make digital scratch-and-win tickets, and its clients included a pro soccer team giving out prizes during games.

• Scite describes itself as a Rotten Tomatoes for research, where you look up a paper, topic or author and read what other studies say about it.

• Spotted on AWS, which added a bot that restates technical jargon in plain English.

Sources

• I've never done this beforeJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · I've never done this before · undated
• Interview: Better discover and understand scientific articles with SciteJosh Nicholson · nesslabs.com · Better discover and understand scientific articles with Josh Nicholson, co-founder of Scite · 2023-04-13
• ✂️ Why Are You Choosing Complexity Instead of Simplicity? - Trends.vcDru Riley · trends.vc · 🧿 Tactic of the Week · 2025-08-12