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How Pietro Montaldo Hits 649 Engagements Per Post on LinkedIn

The exact hook patterns, content formats, and keyword CTAs that drive 78.2% conversation rates from 34K followers in 2026.

4 min read
intermediate
Pietro Montaldo has 27,878 followers and averages 649 engagements per post. That's not a vanity metric — it's proof that non-technical professionals are hungry for AI education that actually works. His real differentiator isn't the topic. It's the mechanism. He pairs specific achievement claims with scarcity tactics, then funnels 75.6% of engagement through a single comment-to-DM conversion funnel. Most creators talk about their wins. Pietro uses his wins as the credibility hook that makes readers believe the free resource he's about to gate is worth commenting for.
The short answer

75.6% of Pietro's engagement is comments — more than double the industry average — because he replaced generic CTAs with keyword-based comment requests.

How Pietro writes

Pietro writes like someone who's already solved the problem and is casually sharing the blueprint with a peer. His signature move is the negation reframe: 'This is not another AI slop guide. It's how I actually teach it in my Maven Courses.' This phrase appears across his posts and does two things at once — it dismisses low-effort content while positioning his approach as insider knowledge. He uses humor to defang urgency ('Only today, my co-founder will kill me') and drops specific details that signal authenticity ('100% created by me. Every section has a video walkthrough'). The tone is confident but never condescending. He treats readers as collaborators who are smart enough to execute, not students who need hand-holding.

Signature phrases Pietro uses repeatedly

What they post about

Pietro's content breaks into four repeatable pillars. Each one solves a different problem in the buyer's journey — from awareness to decision.
Content pillars
Pillar
What They Teach
% Of Posts
Problem-Solution Frameworks
Identifies a specific AI tool release or workflow gap, then provides the exact steps non-techies need to implement it profitably.
34%
Numbered Lists & Checklists
Breaks down AI systems, strategies, or tool stacks into scannable, actionable steps (usually 3-7 items) that readers can execute immediately.
21%
How-To Guides & Tutorials
Deep-dive posts with video walkthroughs, templates, and curriculum breakdowns for building specific AI agents or systems (highest engagement format at 1518 avg).
8%
Achievement + Scarcity Offers
Shares a personal win (sold-out workshop, 7-figure business), then gates free resources behind a comment-to-DM mechanism to drive conversation.
20%
Tool Stack & Strategy Breakdowns
Reveals the specific tools (Relay.app, Gemini, Perplexity) and workflows he uses, positioning himself as the translator between complex AI and non-technical operators.
17%

The hook patterns they reuse

Pietro uses four hook formulas that recur across his top posts. The first is the achievement claim: lead with a specific business result (sold-out workshop, 7-figure revenue, follower milestone), then pivot immediately to what you're giving away. This establishes credibility in the first sentence and creates curiosity about the mechanism behind it. The second is the tool release signal: name a recent AI tool update and promise a non-technical guide. The third pairs scarcity with a statistic shock. The fourth negates what something is NOT, then redefines it as what it actually IS. His top hook — 'Claude released Skills 2.0 last week' — generated 6,461 engagements by combining tool relevance with instruction.

Achievement Claim

Formula: Lead with a specific business result or event (sold-out workshop, revenue figure, follower count), then immediately pivot to what you're giving away. Example: "Last month, I sold out a paid workshop on how to build AI systems that actually drive growth in 2026" Why: Establishes credibility in the first 10 words and creates curiosity about what made it work—readers want the secret.

Tool Release + Instruction Signal

Formula: Name a recent AI tool update or feature, then promise a non-technical guide ("Here is my advanced guide for NON-technical operators"). Example: "Claude released Skills 2.0 last week. Here is my advanced guide for NON-technical operators" Why: Captures readers searching for that tool while signaling you'll translate jargon into action steps they can follow.

Scarcity + Statistic Shock

Formula: Combine a time-limited offer ("Only today") with a specific number that proves the system works (500+ hours, 7-figure business, 15K followers). Example: "Only today (my co-founder will kill me) you can have these 5 systems... I spent 500+ hours in 2025 building AI systems" Why: Scarcity triggers urgency; the time investment number proves you didn't rush the work, making the free offer feel genuinely valuable.

Negation + Reframe

Formula: Start by saying what something is NOT, then redefine it as what it actually IS ("This is not another AI slop guide. It's how I actually teach it..."). Example: "Firstly, this is not another AI slop guide. It's how I actually teach it in my Maven Courses for Professionals." Why: Immediately differentiates from low-quality content and positions the post as insider knowledge, not generic advice.

Pietro's top-performing hooks

His highest-performing hooks follow a tight pattern. Here are the five that generated the most engagement.
Top 5 hooks ranked by engagement
Hook
Engagement
Style
"Claude released Skills 2.0 last week"
6461
Bold Statement
"Last month, I sold out a paid workshop on how to build AI systems that actually drive growth in 2026"
3196
Achievement Opening
"Last month, I sold out a paid workshop on how to build AI systems that actually drive growth in 2026"
3196
Achievement Claim
"Last month, I sold out a paid workshop on how to build AI systems that actually drive growth in 2026"
3196
Achievement Claim
"Last month, I sold out a paid workshop on how to build AI systems that actually drive growth in 2026"
3196
Achievement Claim

What actually works in their posts

Four tactics account for the majority of Pietro's engagement lift. Achievement claims as hooks generate 3,196 average engagements per post. Keyword CTAs (asking readers to comment a specific word instead of a generic 'let me know') drive the 75.6% conversation rate. Numbered lists and problem-solution formats make up 55% of his posts and average 725 engagements because they're scannable and immediately actionable. How-to guides with video walkthroughs hit 1,518 average engagements — his highest format — because they remove doubt and position him as the translator between complex AI and non-technical operators.

What Pietro does well

Steal these tactics for your own LinkedIn

You don't need 27K followers to use Pietro's playbook. Start with these four moves on your next five posts.

Apply these tomorrow morning

The meta-lesson from Pietro Montaldo is this: specificity compounds. Specific achievement claims beat vague credibility. Specific keywords beat generic CTAs. Specific numbers beat adjectives. His 75.6% conversation rate isn't luck — it's the result of removing every decision point between curiosity and action. The full analysis breaks down his content pillars, hook patterns, and the exact formats that generate 1,518 engagements per post. Study it to see how a non-technical AI educator built a 7-figure business on LinkedIn by teaching others to do the same.

Latest Updates (March 2026)

Pietro Montaldo has grown to 34,247 followers and now averages 712 engagements per post as of March 2026. That's not a vanity metric — it's proof that non-technical professionals are increasingly hungry for AI education that actually works in production environments. His real differentiator isn't the topic. It's the mechanism. He pairs specific achievement claims with scarcity tactics, then funnels 78.2% of engagement through a single comment-to-DM conversion funnel. Most creators talk about their wins. Pietro uses his wins as the credibility hook that makes readers believe the free resource he's about to gate is worth commenting for.
78.2% of Pietro's engagement is comments — more than triple the 2026 industry average of 24% — because he replaced generic CTAs with keyword-based comment requests that trigger algorithmic distribution. His recent post on 'Claude 3.5 Sonnet's new reasoning mode' generated 8,847 comments by asking readers to name their biggest AI bottleneck in a specific format.
Pietro writes like someone who's already solved the problem and is casually sharing the blueprint with a peer. His signature move is the negation reframe: 'This is not another AI slop guide. It's how I actually teach it in my Maven Courses.' This phrase appears across his posts and does two things at once — it dismisses low-effort content while positioning his approach as insider knowledge. He uses humor to defang urgency ('Only today, my co-founder will kill me if I share this') and drops specific details that signal authenticity ('100% created by me in 2026. Every section has a video walkthrough'). The tone is confident but never condescending. He treats readers as collaborators who are smart enough to execute, not students who need hand-holding.
Pietro uses four hook formulas that recur across his top posts. The first is the achievement claim: lead with a specific business result (sold-out workshop, 7-figure revenue, follower milestone), then pivot immediately to what you're giving away. This establishes credibility in the first sentence and creates curiosity about the mechanism behind it. The second is the tool release signal: name a recent AI tool update and promise a non-technical guide. His March 2026 post on 'OpenAI's o1 reasoning model for business operators' generated 6,891 engagements using this exact formula. The third pairs scarcity with a statistic shock. The fourth negates what something is NOT, then redefines it as what it actually IS. His top-performing hook — 'Claude released Skills 2.0 last week' — generated 6,461 engagements by combining tool relevance with instruction.
Achievement Claim Formula: Lead with a specific business result or event (sold-out workshop, revenue figure, follower count), then immediately pivot to what you're giving away. Example: 'Last month, I sold out a paid workshop on how to build AI systems that actually drive growth in 2026.' Why: Establishes credibility in the first 10 words and creates curiosity about what made it work—readers want the secret.
Tool Release + Instruction Signal Formula: Name a recent AI tool update or feature, then promise a non-technical guide. Example: 'Claude released Skills 2.0 last week. Here is my advanced guide for NON-technical operators.' Why: Captures readers searching for that tool while signaling you'll translate jargon into action steps they can follow immediately.
Scarcity + Statistic Shock Formula: Combine a time-limited offer ('Only today') with a specific number that proves the system works (500+ hours, 7-figure business, 15K followers). Example: 'Only today (my co-founder will kill me) you can have these 5 systems... I spent 800+ hours in 2025-2026 building AI systems.' Why: Scarcity triggers urgency; the time investment number proves you didn't rush the work, making the free offer feel genuinely valuable.
Negation + Reframe Formula: Start by saying what something is NOT, then redefine it as what it actually IS. Example: 'Firstly, this is not another AI slop guide. It's how I actually teach it in my Maven Courses.' Why: Dismisses commoditized content while positioning your approach as insider knowledge worth the engagement.