When I made my first YouTube ad, I had no idea which opening would land. So I stopped trying to guess.

I wrote about eighty hooks. Then I filmed every one of them.

Here’s the part that matters: I put them all on the same ad. Same video, same ending — the only thing that changed was the first few seconds. That way, whatever happened next, I knew it was the hook doing it.

Then I ran them in small groups. Ten at a time. I’d let a group run, keep the one or two that did best, and let the rest go.

Once I’d been through all eight groups, I had my winners. So I ran those against each other.

One came out on top. That’s the hook I used for my long-form YouTube ad — and that’s the ad that actually got seen.

This is the ad. Notice how the first few seconds hold you.

You don’t need to run ads to do this. Post them as Shorts and watch which one holds people. It’s slower, but it’s the same thing — you’re letting the response tell you, instead of sitting there trying to decide on your own.

And if eighty sounds like too much, do twenty. The number isn’t the point — running them against each other is. Small groups, keep the best from each, then put those winners head to head. Like a tournament. That’s what finds you the one, whether you started with eighty or twenty.