Ruby Hoenderdos

direct response creative strategist | building AI brains for fast-growing d2c brands

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

lore-maxxing, strategizing, experimenting. this is the core of building effective AI for DTC. it's not just about models, it's about creating a brand narrative that AI can amplify, testing constantly, and embracing calculated risks. that's how you differentiate in a crowded market.

https://t.co/12KLD8BrkE

[DAN KOE @thedankoe]

You need to be lore-maxxing. Taking risks. Failing miserably. Relentlessly strategizing and experimenting. Nobody wants to die with a story that isn't worth telling.

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

creator monetization comes down to unique value. for DTC brands, your AI systems *are* that unique value if built correctly. it's not about hoping, it's about engineering a repeatable system that scales your brand voice and operations.

https://t.co/DKngvdoZDY

[DAN KOE @thedankoe]

If you're a creator who doesn't want to hope and pray for brand deals and platform monetization to make a living off your interests, read this:
https://t.co/SjGbywSkkN

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

This applies directly to building AI for DTC brands. A '6-month commitment' means committing to refining your company brain, not just dabbling. That consistency is what separates generic AI from a system that actually understands and serves your brand.

https://t.co/VNtRciKLTz

[DAN KOE @thedankoe]

All you have to do is commit for 6 months.

That's not a lot. It's actually very little.

6 months is 1% of 50 years, and most people can't stick to something that will change the trajectory of their life for 2 weeks.

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

every dtc founder struggles with generic AI output until they build a "company brain" to ground their models. the real challenge isn't the AI, it's the context. what's your biggest AI challenge?

https://t.co/xzdBK7UGG7

[Pascio @IAmPascio]

Every founder has at least 3 of these.

Which ones are yours?

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

this resonates. building AI systems for dtc brands feels exactly like this. it's problem-solving on a new level, optimizing for conversions instead of high scores. the game changes, but the drive to win stays the same.

https://t.co/NhOLqcLir3

[Pascio @IAmPascio]

Never stopped gaming... just changed the games.

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

this is so true for building AI systems. you don't start from scratch; you study what works for top dtc brands, then adapt. the 'company brain' isn't just about feeding an AI data, it's about feeding it *proven strategy*.

https://t.co/RZZj0GnWwD

[Jay Yang @Jayyanginspires]

A wise mentor once told me: "Before you play the game, study the winners. Before you build a company, study the founders who came before you. Before you write a book, study the authors you admire. Originality comes after apprenticeship, not before it."

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

teams abandon AI tools when fixing robotic copy takes longer than writing from scratch.

once you give the model a company brain with customer objections and positioning, the first draft is actually usable and people keep using it.

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

I'm bad at selling the thing I'm selling

for creative strategy I never have to explain myself.
people come to me, they already know what I do, the conversation is easy.

company brains are different

nobody knows I do this yet

so someone asks what I'm working on, I give them a version that's too technical or too vague, and I can see the moment they stop listening

I've lost conversations I should have won. not because the thing doesn't work. because I haven't figured out how to explain it yet.

what makes it worse is I know the problem better than almost anyone.
your team explains the same brand to AI 50 times a week and still gets slop back.

I burned a max plan in 2 days.
I spent 4 months building the fix.
I use it every day.

and I still can't say it in one sentence on a call

so I'm a beginner again, which is apparently just what I do with my life

but I'd rather be bad at selling something that works than good at selling something I don't believe in

Love,
Ruby

P.S. what's the thing you're best at that you're worst at explaining?

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

a company brain solves generic AI ad copy by grounding the model in your real customer objections, voice guidelines, and offer mechanics.

writing from your own markdown files makes every hook sound distinctly like your business.

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

most of what I'm paid for is being willing to be embarrassed

I help companies like Icon, Supplend, Mother's Earth scale their creative

usually by fixing what they say, not how it looks

Love, Ruby

P.S. what's the ad you almost didn't run?

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

I'm 29 and I've been doing creative strategy for 6 years

here's the weirdest part of this job:

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

the hard part isn't making the ad.
it's the 10 minutes where you have to say "I know. run it anyway."

and you can only say that if you're not scared of being wrong

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

they know what "I stopped breaking out in 3 weeks" means

the word isn't the product

and no adjective ever fixed an offer

Love,
Ruby

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

the US government just renamed AI to "super intelligence"

same technology. better word.

and I can't really be annoyed about it because I see the same move in ad copy every week

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

they're in there because the team couldn't agree on what the real benefit was, so they reached for a word that sounds like one

your customer doesn't know what any of that means for them

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

the 45 minute problem:

continuously re-explaining your product, customer objections, and tone to ChatGPT from scratch.

a company brain stores that structured internal context.

your AI starts with the facts, and the draft sounds like you.

[Ruby Hoenderdos @rubyhoenderdos]

keeping a running doc of learnings is literally how you build a company brain.

when a DTC brand structures customer insights and offer details, every AI workflow runs on actual context.

https://t.co/ebivcSgDZO

[Jay Yang @Jayyanginspires]

I'm BEGGING you...

- learn a high income online skill
- find an agency or successful entrepreneur
- do the work upfront for free
- take responsibility off their plate
- keep a running doc of learnings
- always come to every meeting prepared
- this is how you compress decades