Off Script Strategy Hub

Niche: Entrepreneurship and business-building in the AI era. AI is the enabler, not the subject.

This is an identity story, not a productivity story. The newsletter is about who you want to be, and the fact that AI now makes it possible to become that person. Passion is the variable AI cannot supply.

The newsletter provides strategic context around tools, not user guides. "If you want to know how to install an MCP, ask Claude." The value is the strategic frame.

Competitive Positioning

The strategic layer in the AI-for-business space is nearly empty. Tactical content is massively oversaturated.

International lens: 33/67 split (1 US, 2 non-US examples).

Core (Sub-profile B): Senior professionals with entrepreneurial ambitions (30-50, international, 8-20+ years experience). Two itches: side project/business idea AND internal company opportunities.

Secondary (Sub-profile A): Serial entrepreneurs between ventures.

Not the audience: First-time founders, students, anyone looking for basic entrepreneurship education.

Key pain point: "Shiny object trap" (trying tools without strategy, never shipping).

Four editorial lenses. Not sections. They guide topic selection and framing.

Issue type mix: roughly 3/4 "Reframes." 1/4 "Blueprints" or "Dispatches."

Input model: Claude researches topics and prepares prompts to extract Stephane's most opinionated takes. Stephane provides 15-20 minutes of verbal input. Claude synthesises the final issue. Progressive automation toward full autopilot.

Monetization: Entirely free. No paid tier, no paywall. Sponsorships when audience is large enough, plus indirect promotion of Stephane's ventures. Reference: Not Boring ($3M+/yr at ~183K subs).

Frequency: Weekly target. May start biweekly.

AI disclosure: Full transparency. First issue explains the experiment. About page links to it. Not repeated every issue.

Off Script origin story: First 2-3 issues tell the experiment story. After that, a running thread woven through Behind the Scenes.

Barely Legal: Potential monthly feature when the brand launches. 70-80% Stephane, 20-30% Claude. Deferred until brand is closer to market.

Name: Off Script. AI runs on scripts. The production pipeline is scripted. But the most valuable part goes off script. Everything is scripted except the part that matters.

Subtitle: Not a playbook. Not a tutorial. Just a weekly take on AI and why the human side matters more than ever.

Three Layers

Subscribes because of Signal. Opens because of Spark. Stays because of Contrarian.

One voice across the entire newsletter. Stephane's voice. Even The Research sounds like Stephane presenting facts through his lens.

Rhythm & Structure

• Thinks in contrasts. Before/after. Old world/new world.
• Short declarative punches followed by longer explanations.
• Arguments built by stacking short concrete images, not abstract concepts.

Energy Patterns

• Accelerates when excited. Sentences get shorter.
• Rhetorical questions set up reframes. Then answers them.
• Closes with punchy, cinematic one-liners. No questions at the end.

Never Does

• Lectures or explains from above.
• Hedges: "it could be argued" or "one might consider."
• Corporate language or passive constructions.
• Em dashes or double dashes.
• Uses: "innovative," "great," "driven."

Always Does

• Leads with opinion, supports with evidence.
• Makes the reader feel like a conversation, not a classroom.
• Treats the reader as an equal who just hasn't seen this angle yet.
• Respects what came before. Shows why it changed.

Single idea per issue. 700-950 words. 5-7 minute read.

My Take: Construction

Open with the trend as fact. Second paragraph: the pivot, a question that reframes (bold). Third: "here's what actually happened." Close: cinematic statement (bold). No questions. No CTAs.

The Research: Construction

Open with numbers/data. Introduce tension. Case studies (2 of 3 non-US). Each tool: name, link, difficulty, strategic superpower. Closer: pattern summary, not punchline.

Style Rules

• Photography: Black and white, high contrast monochrome. Mario Testino editorial portrait style.
• Composition: Tight, portrait-oriented. Person fills most of the frame.
• Marker overlay: Thick hand-drawn electric yellow (#FFF000) lines trace ONLY human elements. Imperfect: uneven, gaps, blobs.
• Colour: Electric yellow is the ONLY colour.
• Locations: International, aspirational, change each issue.
• People: Diverse. Never posed, never corporate, never smiling. Focused, contemplative.

Hard Rules

• Laptop ALWAYS visible, ALWAYS closed, NEVER marked.
• Tech objects NEVER marked. Background NEVER marked.
• Marker lines must look imperfect and hand-made.

Parts in [BRACKETS] change per issue.

One newsletter issue generates 8 content pieces across 3 platforms. Total weekly time: ~30 minutes.

LinkedIn Carousel (5 slides)

Link placement: LinkedIn penalises external links (~60% reach cut). Link goes in the first comment, never the post body.

Newsletter: Tuesday 1:00 PM HKT (7:00 AM CET). Strongest open-rate day.

LinkedIn: 9 PM HKT Tue/Thu = 3 PM CET = 9 AM EST. Three formats across three days triggers LinkedIn's format rotation reward.

Daily Email from Claude

Category: Primary: Business. Secondary: Technology.

Recommendation Network

Biggest growth lever inside Substack. Recommendations drive 50% of new subscriptions. After 5-10 published issues, reach out for mutual recommendations.

Notes as Discovery Engine

Notes feed surfaces content from unfollowed creators. The 4 weekly Notes trigger this algorithm. Thursday restack signals overlapping audiences.

Dual-Headline Strategy

Keyword Territories

• "AI strategy for entrepreneurs"
• "how to use AI to build a business"
• "entrepreneurship in the AI era"
• "AI tools for founders"
• "human skills AI age"

Claude researches long-tail keywords per issue and sets SEO fields automatically.

LinkedIn: Carousel is the workhorse. Link in first comment. Text and image posts carry no links.

X/Twitter: Pin a tweet linking to Off Script. Weekly tweet has no link. Bio converts.

Aggregators: The Sample, Letterhead, InboxReads, Newsletter Stack. Free, one-time setup.

Podcasts: After 10-15 issues, pitch as a guest. The thesis is a compelling segment. Highest-ROI channel.

Under 50 characters. No clickbait. The subject line is My Take compressed to one sentence.

Preview text: First sentence of My Take (factual setup). Subject provokes, preview grounds.

Two CTAs, both light. Invitation, not toll booth.

No pop-ups. No gates. No "share to unlock."