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 – The captions + iteration matrix (inspired by MrBeast)

12:00 – Why some videos flop & others go viral: hooks, pain points, and couples content

19:20 – Triggering comments, planting Easter eggs, and why shares matter most

25:30 – The comment section as the new Reddit

31:10 – Lessons from Snapchat, Bird, and Quibi

36:00 – Gamification, streaks & consumer psychology that drive growth

39:00 – Founder life: balancing CEO duties with content creation

44:30 – Staying sane: health, habits & mental resilience

48:20 – Advice for students + how to get hired as a creator

56:30 – The future of AI in content: slop vs. real utility

1:07:00 – Rapid fire: biggest flop, consumer psych tricks, daily routines

Whether you’re scaling a startup, running campaigns, or just curious about how virality actually works, this episode will leave you with playbooks you can apply right now.

Don’t forget to listen, subscribe, and share Hooked on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube to catch every new drop.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playkit.substack.com

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