The Russell Brunson Show

Episode 118 - Struggling to Focus While Writing? Adam Leeb’s "Freewrite" is the Solution

Guest: Adam Leeb, Founder of Freewrite
Date: March 9, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Russell Brunson sits down with Adam Leeb, the founder and creator of Freewrite—a distraction-free writing device crafted for writers, entrepreneurs, and anyone needing deep focus. The conversation explores Adam’s entrepreneurial journey, the engineering and philosophy behind Freewrite, how the product went from idea to market, and the broader lessons about productivity, creative process, and building a hardware business in a digital-first world.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Adam Leeb’s Entrepreneurial Journey

• Adam reveals a multifaceted background: from engineering and product design, a stint on Wall Street, to launching a nutritional supplement brand. He describes his supplement venture as a “business school” experience:

  “It cost about as much as business school and learned maybe better lessons, I’m not sure, but definitely less partying than business school.” (01:21, Adam Leeb)

• His drive to create something tangible eventually led to Freewrite.

2. Genesis of Freewrite: The Lightbulb Moment

• The idea sparked during a conversation with his now co-founder, Patrick, who discussed software that disables backspace for distraction-free drafting. This introduced Adam to the philosophy of separating writing and editing—write first, edit later—a process that was revelation to both him and Russell.
  • “It was so frame breaking that you would want to write with something that was purposefully limited.” (03:26, Adam Leeb)
  • “Why did nobody tell me this when I was writing in school?... It was so painful for me and so many others.” (04:11, Adam Leeb)
• The engineer in Adam married the idea of a Kindle (E Ink), mechanical keyboard, and cloud connectivity into a dedicated drafting device. He notes the subconscious benefit of having a tool with a singular purpose.

3. The Psychology of Dedicated Tools

• Discussion around the mental cues triggered by a dedicated device, in stark contrast to distractions on a general-purpose computer.
  • “Your brain is triggered based on its environment... when you have this device in front of you, your brain subconsciously knows, oh, this is my writing device.” (08:05, Adam Leeb)
  • “It’s a bit of a mind trick... you can do everything on this product on a laptop. But somehow everybody... they tell us... I’m writing twice as much as I used to.” (08:59, Adam Leeb)

4. The Romance of Writing: Emotional Experience

• Russell shares his personal attachment to the product’s tactile, “romantic” aura, likening it to using vintage typewriters:
  • “I collect old books and I’m obsessed with... writing was on typewriters and stuff like that... There’s something, when I got this first one... I feel like the romance of writing.” (09:37, Russell Brunson)

5. Building a Hardware Product: From Prototype to Mass Production

• Adam outlines the process: from mechanical, electrical, and software engineering to working with contract manufacturers in Asia.
• The “gating” processes: design validation, component sampling/testing, then assembly for preliminary runs—before full mass production.
• Adam reflects on the awe of witnessing the product roll off a production line and the realization of hundreds being involved in its creation.
  • “I remember... seeing a line spooled up and all these people I didn’t know, meticulously making these things... It’s incredible.” (13:37, Adam Leeb)

6. Viral Launch: Kickstarter Campaign & Early Traction

• The launch benefited from a viral press moment with only a render, a name, and a barebones website, capturing 8,000 emails before even making the product.
• Simplicity of the original funnel: “the simplest funnel possible... a couple opt-ins on this... WordPress site.” (15:45, Adam Leeb)
• $200,000 raised in the first 20 hours on Kickstarter with minimal marketing.
  • “The numbers were just like going faster than you could refresh the page. We did $200,000 in the first 20 hours.” (18:11, Adam Leeb)
• The campaign revealed a clear product-market fit.

7. Branding and Legal Adventures: From Hemingwrite to Freewrite

• Original product called "Hemingwrite," inspired by Hemingway’s persona and writing wisdom, until the Hemingway estate intervened. Transitioned to "Freewrite," ultimately releasing an officially-licensed Hemingway Edition.
  • “Turns out the Hemingway family still manages the rights... we did sign a license with them initially, but eventually decided we didn’t want to have our whole company on just this one persona.” (20:29, Adam Leeb)

8. From Campaign to Sustainable Business

• Adam discusses bootstrapped growth, iterative product launches, cautious inventory management, and lessons from other hardware startups that failed by overextending.
  • “It’s almost impossible to run out of money if you don’t overbuy on inventory. Whereas if you overbuy... that’s a really good way... to run out of money.” (22:43, Adam Leeb)
• Team: ~10 people, distributed globally, always hybrid due to factory/engineering locations.

9. Freewrite Product Line—Current and Upcoming

• Smart Typewriter (original Hemingway/Freewrite): The flagship with mechanical keyboard and E Ink screen.
• Traveler: Portable, folding, with scissor-switch keyboard—ideal for travel.
• Alpha: Slate-style, inspired by AlphaSmart, very low-power, non-E Ink, best battery life.
• WordRunner (upcoming): A mechanical keyboard for computers featuring a mechanical word counter ("Wordometer").
  • “It’s got some very unusual features... including an embedded word counter... rotating wheels that count your words as you type...” (27:29, Adam Leeb)

10. How Freewrite Integrates into a Workflow

• Prescribed method: write draft on Freewrite, which syncs via Wi-Fi to “Postbox” (Freewrite’s backend) or cloud providers (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Evernote). Users draft distraction-free, then edit later on a computer.
  • “You turn it on, it instantly opens the writing canvas, you start typing... in the background, it's syncing in real-time back to our backend called Postbox...” (29:52, Adam Leeb)

11. The Freewrite Writer Community

• Who uses it? Primarily creative writers (authors, novelists), but also lawyers, academics, journalists, bloggers, journalers, and even songwriters.
  • “If you write more than 300 words at a time, you should probably consider a Freewrite. If you don’t, then yeah, probably not.” (32:10, Adam Leeb)

12. Scale & Growth

• Almost a billion words written on Freewrite devices globally.
  • “We’re about to cross a billion.” (33:14, Adam Leeb)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Mind Trick of Dedicated Devices:

  “It’s a bit of a mind trick, the whole product... somehow everybody... they tell us—I’m writing twice as much as I used to. I don’t understand how this works. Why am I enjoying writing again?”
  — Adam Leeb (08:59)

• On Catching Writing Flow:

  “The times I got the most and the best writing was... stuck on an airplane... I would just write and write... All of a sudden, all the spell check things would pop up because they weren’t there when you had no Internet access...”
  — Russell Brunson (06:05)

• On Building Physical Products:

  “You can’t make one without all of the pieces... you can’t assemble the whole thing until you have 100% of the components. There’s a lot of different things that have to line up...”
  — Adam Leeb (12:22)

• On a Viral Early Launch:

  “We had a terrible single page one WordPress website and it went super viral... over 100,000 people came to this little website.”
  — Adam Leeb (15:45)

• On Branding Pivots:

  “We’ve given ourselves years of confusion with naming... It was Hemingwrite and then Freewrite, and then Freewrite became a brand, and now there’s the Hemingway product...”
  — Adam Leeb (20:29)

• On User Experience:

  “There’s something—when I got this first one... I feel like the romance of writing... It felt like I was actually writing versus on my keyboard where we’re doing whatever. It felt different.”
  — Russell Brunson (09:37)

Important Timestamps

• [01:21] Adam’s background: from Wall Street to supplements to engineering
• [03:26] Origin story: write-first, edit-later insight
• [08:05] Why a dedicated writing tool works (psychology of hardware)
• [09:37] Russell on the emotional “romance” of writing with Freewrite
• [13:37] First experience seeing the Freewrite production line in action
• [15:45] Building hype: viral press and simple funnel
• [18:11] Blazing Kickstarter launch: $200k in 20 hours
• [20:29] Naming drama: Hemingwrite to Freewrite, and back to Hemingway
• [22:43] Lessons from hardware startups: cautious inventory, business philosophy
• [25:29] Walkthrough of product line—and Adam’s preferences
• [27:29] WordRunner keyboard: mechanical word-counting innovation
• [29:52] How Freewrite fits in a digital workflow (cloud sync, Postbox)
• [32:10] Most common Freewrite users and testimonials
• [33:14] Freewrite’s usage at scale: approaching a billion words

How to Get a Freewrite

• Website: getfreewrite.com
  • Browse devices, special editions (like Hemingway), and accessories
• Russell’s Recommendation:

  “You should get the Hemingway and get a travel one. That’s what I say. Then you got one at the office, one to travel with. Need at least two, that’s my thought. But you can get one.” (34:05, Russell Brunson)

Tone and Takeaways

• Candid, enthusiastic, and practical—both Russell and Adam weave personal anecdotes, technical details, and business wisdom.
• Adam shares a refreshing, cautious approach to growth, focusing on product quality and sustainability over hype.
• Both host and guest celebrate the creative potential unleashed when tech “gets out of the way,” restoring joy and productivity to writing.

Final Words

If you’re seeking ways to focus, reconnect with creative flow, or dive into deep work, Freewrite (and this episode) offers insights both philosophical and practical on building products—and habits—for creative breakthroughs.

Learn more: getfreewrite.com
Share your Freewrite experience: Post pics and tag Russell and Adam on social media!