How to Use Memes to Grow Your Startup
Your Competitor Is Using Memes. You’re Paying for What They Get Free.
Uncharted Snippets - This Week's Essential Startup Reads 🔎
If you care about fintech or scale, watch it now.
Andrej Karpathy Deep Dive into LLMs like ChatGPT 🤖
He built ChatGPT. Learn LLMs from the source.
From Carnegie Hall to Calming Cats 🐱🎶
Janet Marlow pivoted from concerts to pet music. $147B industry. Weird works.
The Psychology Behind Startups 🧠
Why Simplicity and Laughs Win
Why do memes go viral while your serious LinkedIn post flops? It's called the Fluency & Humor Effect. If it's easy to process, people engage. If it's funny, they share. If it's neither, they scroll past your "thought leadership" faster than VCs ghost founders in a down market.
How to Use Memes to Grow Your Startup
You know the drill.
You dump another $500 into ads that get ignored. You spend 12 hours on a white paper nobody downloads. You obsess over "brand guidelines" while your startup remains completely unknown.
It's exhausting. It's expensive. And it's completely unnecessary.
Meanwhile, some founders with half your budget are growing twice as fast using something you're scrolling past every day.
Memes.
❌ Paid ads: $31 per lead
✅ Memes: $0 per lead
❌ Campaigns: 2% clicks
✅ Memes: Shared 28× more
❌ Content marketing: Months to traction
✅ Memes: Overnight explosion
This isn't just content. Memes are a weapon of mass distribution that can actually drive business results when you know how to wield it. And most founders have no idea how to use it.
This Week I Breakdown:
Why memes beat traditional marketing
How to make them without being "creative"
The tools worth using
Converting shares to customers
Memes Aren't New
Memes aren’t just internet jokes. In 1976, biologist Richard Dawkins coined the term to describe how ideas spread just like how genes evolve.
Memes aren't just funny images. They're one of the fastest ways for startups to grab attention, build trust, and grow without spending any money.
Yet most founders are too busy writing LinkedIn posts nobody reads.
Why Startups Can’t Afford to Ignore Memes
Startups struggle for attention.
Memes hijack distribution for free. If you’re not using them, you’re paying for what others get free.
Here’s why they work:
Memes are CAC killers. Startups burn cash while ignoring free distribution.
Memes get shared. People tag friends and remix them.
Memes trigger emotions. They make people feel seen.
Memes are easy to consume. A meme says more than a blog post.
Need proof?
🔥 AI startup 1up generates one-third of its customer leads through memes. Instead of running boring B2B ads, they built a meme page full of inside jokes about sales life. It now brings in more inbound leads than most paid channels. (TechCrunch, 2025)
🔥 Memes boost click-through rates by 3x compared to traditional graphics. They work because they trigger dopamine-driven social validation. When people see a meme that resonates, they share it instantly. (Amra & Elma LLC, 2023)
🔥 75% of Gen Z and Millennials prefer brands that use humor. Memes are the language your customers already speak. (GWI Study)
Memes Hijack Human Psychology
Memes feel like inside jokes. That's why we share them.
They're social currency and free distribution disguised as fun.
Memes trigger dopamine. That’s why we can’t stop scrolling. That’s why we share. And that’s why smart founders use them instead of boring white papers.
📌 A Forbes study found meme-based content gets 10x more reach and 60% higher engagement than traditional marketing.
Memes outperform traditional marketing because they create instant social validation. When someone shares a meme, they're endorsing your message without even realising it. It's like getting customer testimonials without the awkward email asking for them.
Memes Also Work Differently for B2B vs. B2C
✔️ B2C brands can go full pop culture. That's why Slim Jim and Duolingo win with bold, unhinged internet humor.
✔️ B2B brands win by tapping into industry pain points. 1up's meme page works because it mocks sales life. Stuff only their target audience gets.
Not all memes need to go viral. The best ones build community and loyalty. A great inside joke makes your audience feel like they belong. And belonging beats your competitor's 15% discount every time.
Want to see why founders should lead their meme marketing efforts? Check out Alex Lieberman’s unhinged marketing playbook.
Build a Killer Meme Strategy for Your Startup
If you’re new to memes, here’s the 5-step playbook:
1️⃣ Find Your Audience’s Inside Jokes
The best memes make your audience say:
"Holy sht, that’s me."*
What’s the biggest pain point your product solves?
What’s a universal frustration in your industry?
What niche jokes would only your customers understand?
If you sell a workflow automation tool, make memes about manual data entry nightmares. If you sell AI tools, joke about people pretending to be AI experts after two ChatGPT prompts.
👉 Example: The “Vibe Coding” Meme
Startup X loves “vibe coding”. Launching apps with zero actual coding skills. Rick Rubin, one of the greatest music producers of all time, once casually admitted he knows nothing about music.
Perfect parallel. So, I turned it into a meme. 20k views and growing. Zero ad spend.
That's the power of memes in startup marketing. No MBA required.
2️⃣ Ride Trending Meme Formats
Memes evolve daily. Your job is to remix trends before they die.
✔️ Scroll X, Instagram, and Reddit daily (r/memes, r/marketingmemes).
✔️ Check KnowYourMeme.com for viral formats.
✔️ Follow meme-heavy brands like Slim Jim, Duolingo, and Wendy’s.
Find a trending meme. Add your startup's spin. Beat your competitors to the punch.
3️⃣ Keep It Simple and Shareable
A great meme should be:
✔️ Understood in 3 seconds.
✔️ Minimal text. Short, punchy, and skimmable.
✔️ No forced branding. People hate obvious ads… your meme should feel native.
👉 Pro tip: Want to drive engagement? End your caption with a tag-friendly question. (“Who else is guilty of this?” “Tag your co-founder.”)
4️⃣ Post Often & Double Down on Winners
Memes are a volume game. You won't hit virality every time.
✔️ Post 3-5 memes a week.
✔️ If a meme blows up, remix it.
✔️ If it flops, move on.
This isn't your quarterly marketing campaign. It's a daily habit that compounds faster than your competition can keep up.
5️⃣ Connect Memes to Real Growth
Memes aren't just for laughs as they also convert.
✔️ Meme → Social Growth (followers engage & share)
✔️ Social Growth → Email/List Signups (subtle CTAs)
✔️ List Signups → Product Conversions (trust = sales)
👉 Example: How Chris Bakke Used Memes to Pull in $3M
Chris Bakke didn't spend millions on ads.
He posted memes. Built an audience. Turned engagement into $3M revenue.
Then he sold his startup, Laskie, to Elon Musk. Not bad for a guy who never made a corporate explainer video.
Best Tools & Experts to Learn Meme Marketing
Top Meme Tools
🛠 memelord.tech → Everything you need to become a meme lord
🛠 Imgflip Meme Generator → Classic templates (Distracted Boyfriend, Drake, etc.)
🛠 Kapwing → Easy-to-use editor for both images and video memes
🛠 Canva → Custom memes with your brand’s fonts and colors
🛠 Giphy → Find and create GIF-based memes.
🛠 KnowYourMeme → Tracks trending memes and origins.
Who to Follow
📌 Jason Levin (@jason_levin) → Founder of memelord.tech, meme marketing memelord.
📌 @NoContextHumans → No Context Humans posts a mix of memes and humorous content, including videos.
📌 Wendy’s Twitter (@Wendys) → Masterclass in using humor and memes for brand-building.
📌 Ryanair (@Ryanair) → The low-cost snarky airline.
My Final Thoughts
Memes don’t just sell.
They shape culture, drive influence, and build movements.
Every founder says they want "free marketing."
Memes = free marketing.
Most founders won’t use them. Instead, they’ll keep setting money on fire and blaming ‘market conditions.’ Their loss. Your unfair advantage.
Until next week. keep growing, no fairytales required.
Martin, Chief Ranter at Uncharted
P.S. This week's track "Kids" by MGMT
How it started. A must watch if you’re an MGMT fan.
Tool of the week: Deep Research
This tool was only available in the $200 monthly Pro tier now it’s available for Plus users.
Book of the Week
Memes Make Millions - Jason Levin
Hello, thank you for sharing this piece of content. I found it extremely valuable!