The Signature Object: Own a Small Piece of Mental Real Estate
Pick one uncool thing you genuinely love and mention it relentlessly, so people think of you every time they encounter it.
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 7
- Confidence
- 80%
Shaan Puri describes running a deliberate two-hour exercise with his producer early in building his brand: study people with good brands and identify what they have in common. One recurring pattern was a signature object — Ryan Hoover with Philz Coffee and LaCroix, Anthony Pompliano with Domino's, Michael Girdley with Chili's. The mechanism is that it pairs a serious professional persona with a small, human, slightly absurd enthusiasm, and in doing so claims a piece of mental real estate: every time someone drives past a Chili's, they think of Girdley. The criteria are specific and partly counterintuitive. It must be genuine — Shaan is explicit that it can't just be false. It must not be cool, because attaching yourself to something already fashionable is bandwagon-hopping and claims nothing. It should be mildly odd, which Girdley illustrates with wearing suits to grunge-era San Francisco parties purely because the incongruity made people ask why. And it must be widely recognised and lightly nostalgic, so that people can gift it to you, offer to take you there, or be reminded of you at zero effort. Shaan notes that LaCroix became a genuine startup meme partly on Hoover's repetition. He identifies Cinnabon as an unclaimed corner he could take cheaply, and the pair settle on Cheesecake Factory as their own.
Origin
Shaan and his producer Ben ran a two-hour exercise studying people with strong personal brands, looking for common mechanics they could apply to a new podcast and a few thousand Twitter followers.
Core principles
- 01The affection has to be real — a fake stick collapses.
- 02It must not be cool; fashionable choices are bandwagon-hopping.
- 03Mild oddity is the mechanism — incongruity makes people ask why.
- 04Pair the serious persona with the human enthusiasm.
- 05Choose something recognisable and lightly nostalgic.
- 06The goal is that others think of you without any effort from you.
- 07Unclaimed corners are cheap; contested ones are not.
How to run it
- 1
Study brands you find memorable
Shaan's two-hour exercise with his producer: look at people with good brands and ask what they have in common. The signature object was one recurring answer.
- 2
Shortlist genuine, uncool enthusiasms
It has to be something you actually love. Shaan's test case for himself is Cinnabon — genuine, and nobody thinks about it.
- 3
Reject anything currently cool
Shaan is explicit: if you pick a fad everybody thinks is cool, you're hopping on a bandwagon and claiming nothing.
- 4
Check for mild oddity
Girdley's principle from wearing suits to grunge-era parties: it should be just odd enough that people ask why you're doing this.
- 5
Check it is claimable and unclaimed
Shaan frames it as territory — Cinnabon is 'a piece of land on the board that nobody's touching, I could pick that up for cheap.'
- 6
Confirm people can act on it
It should be something people can gift you, offer to take you to, or pass in daily life — that's what converts it into repeated recall.
- 7
Mention it relentlessly, never explain it
Girdley finds an excuse to name-drop Chili's constantly. The repetition without justification is what installs the association.
In the wild
Before and during Product Hunt's rise, Hoover constantly mentioned Philz Coffee and LaCroix. Shaan credits him with meaningfully accelerating LaCroix's status as a startup-community meme.
→ An association strong enough that Shaan cites it years later as the canonical example of the technique working.
Girdley works Chili's into unrelated posts — Shaan's parody: 'I love my mother, but not as much as I love Chili's.' The incongruity of a San Antonio technology entrepreneur loving Chili's is what makes it stick.
→ Shaan's admission that it worked: 'every time I drive by a Chili's, goddammit, I think of Michael Girdley — they own that mental real estate in my mind.'
At 25, Girdley and a friend started wearing fancy suits to San Francisco parties during the grunge era, purely because the incongruity was odd enough that people asked why.
→ Girdley's generalised rule for choosing a signature: it has to be just a little odd, so people ask what's going on.
Common mistakes
Picking something cool
Shaan's first rule. Attaching to something already fashionable is bandwagon-hopping — you claim no territory and gain no distinctiveness.
Faking the affection
Both hosts insist it can't just be false. A manufactured stick has to be maintained deliberately and reads as a bit rather than a trait.
Choosing something too obscure
The value comes from people encountering it in daily life and thinking of you. Something nobody recognises generates no reminders.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and operators building a personal brand who come across as competent but interchangeable.
Not ideal for
Anyone who would have to fake the affection — the framework's central requirement is that it be genuine.
From the transcript
“every time i drive by a chili's god damn it i think of michael girdley right and it's like same thing with the lacroix and…”
“it can't be cool that's the first thing it can't be cool cuz if you're just trying to say some fad that like everybody thinks…”
“i think you got to figure out something that's just a bit odd ... like why are they wearing suits to this party like what's…”
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