Working Backwards

The Hotpot | April 2026 | By Lisanne

5.4

Triangl didn’t wait for a phone call to get Kendall Jenner wearing their bikinis in 2016.

They asked themselves a better question: What needs to happen for Kendall to notice us?

They understood a direct pitch would likely fail—but a trusted friend’s recommendation could break through.

So they worked backwards.

By sending their bikinis to Kendall’s friends, they put the product inside her inner circle. When people you trust all wear the same thing, the brand stops feeling like advertising and starts feeling like the status quo. Instead of pitching the product, they created an environment where Kendall couldn’t help but notice them.

It’s similar to how Steven Bartlett landed an interview with Michelle Obama for his podcast. Steven didn’t wake up one day and get a call from the White House. He built toward it, starting small, booking lesser-known political guests, then moving up to bigger names like ​Boris Johnson​. By the time Michelle Obama agreed to sit down for the interview, it wasn’t a surprise—it was just the next inevitable milestone in the sequence.

This is the transition from relying on chance to thinking like an architect. From asking, “How do I get an interview with the former First Lady?” to, “What level of social proof makes her team say yes?”

Being effective is the leap from waiting for a “cold call” to building the conditions that make those outcomes unavoidable. It’s about identifying the conditions required for the outcome, then putting them in place one by one until the outcome follows.

Many people operate on probability, hoping that if they knock on enough doors, the dice will eventually land in their favor.

But credibility grows piece by piece, each part strengthening the next. It’s a series of small, intentional deposits into someone’s bank of trust.

If we want the door to open, shift focus from knocking to creating a space people naturally want to enter.

Thanks for reading! The question of today:

What has to happen before you get their yes?

Let me know in the comments!

Curious to see more reflections like this? Click through to see the rest of the series on success. I’d love to hear what resonates with you.