Writing Guide

Replace adverb + weak verb with a strong verb. Before: "The company quickly grew its user base." After: "The company's user base exploded." (or "surged," "doubled," "snowballed")

The adverb is almost always a confession that you picked the wrong verb.

Concrete over abstract. Before: "They have significant traction in the market." After: "They have 40,000 paying customers across 12 countries."

Numbers, names, and places do more persuasive work than any adjective.

Front-load the point. Before: "After months of research, dozens of interviews, and careful analysis of the competitive landscape, we concluded that the company should enter the Japanese market." After: "The company should enter the Japanese market. Here's what months of research told us."

English business readers scan. Give them the headline, then the evidence.

Cut throat-clearing. Before: "It's worth noting that the regulatory environment has shifted considerably." After: "The regulatory environment has shifted."

Phrases like "it's worth noting," "it's important to mention," "needless to say," and "as a matter of fact" add zero information. They're verbal tics on paper.

Kill "there is / there are" openings. Before: "There are three factors driving this trend." After: "Three factors drive this trend."

"There is/are" delays the real subject. Cutting it makes sentences more direct and usually shorter.

Use the specific word, not the category + modifier. Before: "A very large body of water." After: "An ocean." (or "a reservoir," "a lake" — whatever it actually is)

This applies everywhere. "A negative outcome" → "a loss." "A small amount of funding" → "$200K." Precision replaces the need for modifiers.

Prefer active voice over passive. Before: "The decision was made by the board to discontinue the product." After: "The board killed the product."

Passive voice hides the actor. Sometimes that's intentional (politics, diplomacy), but in most writing it's just weaker.

One idea per sentence. Before: "The company, which was founded in 2019 by two former Google engineers who had previously worked on the search infrastructure team, raised a $15M Series A led by Sequoia." After: "Two former Google search engineers founded the company in 2019. Sequoia led their $15M Series A."

Long sentences aren't inherently bad, but sentences that try to do two or three jobs at once almost always are.

Vary sentence length for rhythm. Before: "The product launched in March. The reception was positive. The team was pleased. Growth was steady." After: "The product launched in March to a warm reception and steady growth. The team exhaled."

Monotone sentence length puts readers to sleep. A short sentence after a long one creates punch. A long one after a short one creates flow.

Delete "in order to" — just say "to." Before: "We restructured the team in order to ship faster." After: "We restructured the team to ship faster."

Same family: "due to the fact that" → "because." "At this point in time" → "now." "In the event that" → "if." English is full of these inflated phrases and native speakers use them just as much as non-native ones.

Show cause, not just correlation. Before: "Revenue grew and the team expanded." After: "Revenue grew, so the team expanded." (or "The team expanded because revenue grew.")

One conjunction — "so," "because," "which meant" — turns a list of facts into a story. Readers remember stories.

Put the surprise at the end of the sentence. Before: "Remarkably, only three people built the entire platform." After: "The entire platform was built by three people."

English sentences stress their final word or phrase. Put the most interesting thing there and you don't need adverbs like "remarkably" to tell the reader what to feel.