About
I’m Basil Sadiq. Comarketer is the studio behind me.
I write for companies whose claims get checked. That’s most of what makes the work hard, and all of what makes it worth paying for.
Where I work
Four categories where the reader already knows the subject
A sentence that overstates gets caught, and the piece that caused it stops being read.
CNaught · Greenplaces
Climate & sustainability
unitQ · Capsule · Superhuman
AI products
Coursera · Uplimit
Education & learning
Handshake · Contra
Work & talent
How I work
What I actually do is upstream of the writing. And I don’t do it alone.
I’m not afraid of AI. I work with it. Every draft runs past a bench of writing skills, each built for one job.
The bench
Six skills, one pass each. Open one to see what it asks.
01Narrative & messaging
Checks the draft against the corporate narrative and current product messaging.
Asks: Does this sound like the company, and say what it says now?
02Claim verification
Traces every product claim and number to where it came from.
Asks: Would this survive a reader who knows the subject?
03Thought-leadership rigor
Pressure-tests the argument itself, not just the sentences.
Asks: Is there an actual point of view here, and does it hold?
04Style-guide alignment
Applies the client’s corporate style guide consistently.
Asks: Would the brand team sign off on this line by line?
05Reviewer fit
Tuned to how each reviewer typically gives feedback.
Asks: What will this reviewer flag first, and is it already handled?
06SEO & AIO
Structures the piece to rank in search and get cited in AI answers.
Asks: Can a search engine and an AI model both find and quote this?
What outranks all of it
Nothing trumps the reader.
The bench keeps a draft honest. It doesn’t make anyone want to read it. That part is still the job.
- It resonates
- Written for the target audience, in their terms.
- Or it picks a fight
- A controversial take: on the topic of the moment, or ahead of the headline.
In-house, then and now
In-house, as the person who has to defend the claim in the room.
Rather than hand it over and leave. That’s where most of this came from.
- Superhuman
- Now · in-house
- Comarketer
- Now · the studio
- Handshake
- In-house
- Idealist
- In-house · formerly VolunteerMatch
- Allstate
- In-house · formerly Esurance
From someone who hired me
“One of the few people I will look to bring with me whenever I start a new gig.”
Updates
New work and guides, when there’s something worth sending.
No trend roundups.
Clients