What Really Happens When Your Product Goes Viral
What happens when something you create becomes so wildly successful that it spirals out of control beyond anything you imagined?
Dani Donovan returns to share what happened behind the scenes with the explosive demand for her uniquely ADHD-friendly productivity tool - The Anti-Planner - and the chaos of trying to keep up.
With honesty, humor, and vulnerability, Dani shares the lessons learned, the mistakes made, and the ongoing struggle to balance creativity, community, and compassion for herself.
The story behind the explosive growth of The Anti-Planner wasn’t pretty. From burnout to botched delegations, every decision reverberates. Success demands learning in real-time, accepting growing pains, and facing what’s uncomfortable—especially accountability.
For those of us building for neurodivergent communities, or anyone forging something new: you don’t need a map—sometimes you have to wayfind as you go.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS & TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - How Viral Products Create Explosive Demand
06:00 - ADHD Product-Market Fit and Underserved Audiences
12:00 - Building and Launching a Viral Product
19:00 - Content Marketing, TikTok Virality and Storytelling
26:00 - Scaling Too Fast and Business Operations
33:00 - Perfectionism, Burnout and Entrepreneurial Growth
40:00 - Email Lists, Algorithms and Sustainable Business Growth
47:00 - Entrepreneurship, Autonomy and What Comes Next
3 Key Takeaways:
Find—and serve—the underserved audience. When you truly solve a need for people who’ve been overlooked, you can create explosive demand. Building something specifically for the ADHD community, with real-life empathy and nuance, was the game-changer
Prepare to adapt at warp speed. Virality can supercharge your business, but also breaks systems you thought could scale. Managing inventory, support, and planning for unpredictable spikes is a different beast
Don’t skip the foundations—even if you’re “too busy.” Invest in core systems you own—like email lists—not just social media channels. Otherwise, you’re at the mercy of algorithms or outside platforms.
About today’s guest, Dani Donovan:
Dani Donovan is an award-winning designer and creator of the viral hit product, "The Anti-Planner: How to Get Sh*t Done When You Don't Feel Like It." Known for her relatable ADHD comics, tweets, and TikToks, she's been helping shape the online neurodiversity community since 2018 and her work has helped thousands of people seek an ADHD diagnosis and treatment.
Connect with Dani:
Website - Instagram - TikTok - X
Dani's viral tweet:
"Finding out you have ADHD as an adult feels like being told you suck at Mario Kart your entire life and then finding out your game generates 40 times more banana peels than it's supposed to"
About the Anti-Planner:
Tapping into her own frustrations and the lived experiences of ADHD peers, Dani Donovan spent over 3,000 hours creating The Anti-Planner, a “productivity spellbook”—a lovingly designed, non-linear, highly personalized compendium of over 100 strategies for overcoming procrastination and building emotional resistance.
Dani obsessed over every detail: the comforting size, playful illustrations, durable faux-leather binding, gold foil, thick paper, pen loop, and rounded corners. It is gorgeous, practical, and nothing like all the planners you’ve bought and abandoned two weeks later.
Buy your copy of the Original Anti-Planner here. (Dani also has a Clean version if you are not so sweary…)
P.S. If you missed my previous interview with Dani Donovan episode (and The Anti-Planner’s original “theft” story!), it’s a must-listen! Ep #318_ Somebody Stole My Sh*t: Copycats, Counterfeiters and How to Protect What You’ve Built
Your ADHD-ish™ host, Diann Wingert
Diann Wingert brings decades of experience as a psychotherapist and serial business owner and is now a sought-after coach to entrepreneurs with ADHD traits. Her style is direct and strategic, with a dash of humor, and filled with the insights of someone who lives and breathes the neurodivergent experience.
Diann is a fierce advocate for self-acceptance and meaningful growth at the intersection of neurodivergence and entrepreneurship. She is the creator of the ADHD-ish™ Method and host of the top-rated ADHD-ish™ podcast.
Want to grow your business AND survive your own success while doing so? Book a free consultation with me and let’s talk about how I can help.
© 2026 ADHD-ish™ Podcast. Intro music by Ishan Dincer / Melody Loops / Outro music by Vladimir / Bobi Music / All rights reserved.
