First 33 indie SaaS funnels we teardown'd: 26 hook patterns score under 4 on our 5-axis rubric.

Methodology

The corpus is the public Indie SaaS Teardowns Dataset – 33 funnels we have manually teardown'd at the Hook-Story-Offer / Value Ladder level. Each teardown carries an authored brunsonLens.hook pattern description (e.g. "Big enemy positioning (Brunson Common Enemy identity hook) plus a principle the reader already half-believes").

We score each pattern description on five structural axes, 0/1/2 per axis. Two distinct keyword hits on an axis score 2; one hit scores 1; zero hits score 0. Total range is 0 to 10. The keyword sets are published in full inside app/src/lib/seo/funnel-hook-analysis.ts in this repository, and the rubric anchors are listed below so any reader can replicate the scoring by hand against any pattern.

The 5-axis rubric

Each axis is scored 0/1/2. The anchors below describe what each score level looks like in practice.

1. Target identity

   Does the hook name a specific reader or persona?

   0 points

   No identity language at all.

   1 point

   Generic identity ('the reader', 'people', 'users').

   2 points

   Specific persona ('indie founder', 'creator', 'B2B SaaS team').

   Corpus mean for this axis: 0.6/2.

2. Outcome specificity

   Does the hook name a concrete outcome, proof, or promise?

   0 points

   No outcome language.

   1 point

   Generic outcome ('better', 'easier', 'faster').

   2 points

   Concrete outcome with a verifiable shape ('free forever', 'unlimited', '$X').

   Corpus mean for this axis: 0.5/2.

3. Polarity / tension

   Does the hook contain a positive/negative tension?

   0 points

   Flat description with no tension.

   1 point

   Implicit tension (one strong claim, no counter).

   2 points

   Explicit polarity ('against X, for Y', 'not a Z, a W').

   Corpus mean for this axis: 0.5/2.

4. Distinct mechanism

   Does the hook name a category, framework, or mechanism (not just features)?

   0 points

   Feature-list language.

   1 point

   Names one mechanism word ('framework', 'method').

   2 points

   Names a specific framework or category ('Common Enemy', 'new opportunity', 'value ladder').

   Corpus mean for this axis: 1.6/2.

5. Time / quantity grounding

   Does the hook ground in numbers, time, or quantity?

   0 points

   No numbers, no time units, no quantities.

   1 point

   One generic quantity word ('many', 'all', 'every').

   2 points

   Specific number, time unit, or measurable quantity ('60 days', '$1', 'one per week').

   Corpus mean for this axis: 0.5/2.

Score distribution across the corpus

n = 33. Mean = 3.8/10. Median = 4/10. Range = 2–6.

x-axis: total score 0-10. Bar length encodes count.

The 3 hook patterns scoring lowest on our rubric

These are the pattern descriptions in our corpus that exhibit the fewest of the five structural axes. Each is shown verbatim from our teardown, with the axis breakdown so a reader can see which elements are missing. A low score here is a property of our description; it is not a claim about the target company's performance.

1. Fathom AnalyticsPrivacy analytics2/10

   Attractive Character hook (Brunson Expert Secrets) — Jack and Paul ARE the marketing.

   Identity

   0/2

   Outcome

   0/2

   Polarity

   0/2

   Mechanism

   2/2

   Quantity

   0/2

   Missing axes: target identity, outcome specificity, polarity / tension, time / quantity grounding.

2. FigmaDesign and prototyping2/10

   Visual-differentiation hook (real-time collaboration as the entire visible category difference) executed in a single screenshot.

   Identity

   0/2

   Outcome

   0/2

   Polarity

   0/2

   Mechanism

   1/2

   Quantity

   1/2

   Missing axes: target identity, outcome specificity, polarity / tension.

3. GitBookDeveloper documentation2/10

   Broader-scope-than-competitors hook — Brunson 'New Opportunity' move that claims a category the specialist cannot enter.

   Identity

   0/2

   Outcome

   0/2

   Polarity

   0/2

   Mechanism

   2/2

   Quantity

   0/2

   Missing axes: target identity, outcome specificity, polarity / tension, time / quantity grounding.

For contrast: the 3 highest-scoring patterns

Same rubric, top of the distribution. These patterns exhibit structural elements across more of the five axes.

1. ClickUpProject management for software teams6/10

   Big-promise consolidation hook (Brunson 'New Opportunity' move) — buyers are not buying a better PM tool, they are stepping into the 'one tool' category.

   Identity

   1/2

   Outcome

   2/2

   Polarity

   0/2

   Mechanism

   2/2

   Quantity

   1/2

2. Plausible AnalyticsPrivacy analytics6/10

   Big enemy positioning (Brunson 'Common Enemy' identity hook) plus a principle the reader already half-believes.

   Identity

   2/2

   Outcome

   0/2

   Polarity

   2/2

   Mechanism

   2/2

   Quantity

   0/2

3. TallyForms and surveys6/10

   Category anchor plus a single structural promise (free forever, unlimited).

   Identity

   0/2

   Outcome

   2/2

   Polarity

   0/2

   Mechanism

   2/2

   Quantity

   2/2

What our corpus over- and under-emphasizes

Per-axis means tell us which structural elements our pattern descriptions reliably surface, and which they tend to skip.

• Target identity0.6/2
• Outcome specificity0.5/2
• Polarity / tension0.5/2
• Distinct mechanism1.6/2
• Time / quantity grounding0.5/2

Open downloads

Every per-pattern score, the rubric, and the histogram are published as machine-readable JSON. Licensed CC-BY-4.0 – attribution required.

• funnel-hook-distribution.json – full bundle (rubric, scores, distribution)
• /cite/research-funnel-hook-distribution-v1-0-0 – formal citation permalink (BibTeX, RIS, APA, MLA, Chicago, CSL-JSON)
• /dataset – the source teardown corpus this analysis is derived from

License: CC-BY-4.0 · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Published 2026-07-18. Version 1.0.0.

Cite this analysis

Quoting a statistic? Use the citation permalink so the version of the rubric that produced your number stays pinned.

Maryan. (2026, July 18). Indie SaaS Funnel Hook Distribution – A 5-Axis Structural Analysis of n=36 Teardowns (Version 1.0.0). Unlock SaaS. https://unlocksaas.com/research/funnel-hook-distribution

Maryan. "Indie SaaS Funnel Hook Distribution – A 5-Axis Structural Analysis of n=36 Teardowns, version 1.0.0." Unlock SaaS, 18 July 2026, unlocksaas.com/research/funnel-hook-distribution. Accessed 24 August 2026.

Maryan. "Indie SaaS Funnel Hook Distribution – A 5-Axis Structural Analysis of n=36 Teardowns, version 1.0.0." Unlock SaaS. Last modified July 18, 2026. https://unlocksaas.com/research/funnel-hook-distribution.

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  howpublished = {\url{https://unlocksaas.com/research/funnel-hook-distribution}},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Unlock SaaS},
  urldate      = {2026-08-24},
  note         = {Licensed under CC-BY-4.0.}
}

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Found something off?

Every claim on this page is reproducible from app/src/lib/seo/funnel-hook-analysis.ts and the published corpus. If you re-run the rubric and find a different number, file a correction via the editorial policy.