Founders Not Wanting to Get Personal

I never can understand why founders don't want to invest in their personal brand, especially the ones who have battle scars and interesting things to say. They think that it might be inappropriate for B2B, that being “too personal” somehow makes them look less serious or less professional.

And yes, that may have been the case before the influencer generation, when brands were expected to sound polished, distant, and corporate. But right now everything has shifted, because creating good enough content is really quick with artificial intelligence.

 

That’s exactly the problem: AI can generate content that looks and sounds decent, but so can everyone else. It sounds pretty good, but it's missing perspective and something unique that people can relate to. If your content feels interchangeable with what any other founder or any AI could write, it won’t stand out.

 

The content that gets the most attention right now is deeply personal stories, and most founders have them. Building a company—or even having the courage to build a company—puts you in the top 1% of people, maybe even less. Most people are just happy to be employees, or they don't have the skills to go out and pitch their idea, make connections, and have the grit to actually try something new and get beaten—probably many times—by customers, investors, and even family as well.

 

Those experiences are exactly what make you different. These are the kinds of stories that you can remember when you're creating content and then tie them back to your product. When you do that well, your product stops being “just another tool” and becomes part of a real journey your audience can see themselves in.

 

The trick is that the connection to the product can't be forced; it has to be very relatable. That’s where you build out your perspective and earn attention: by showing how your lived experience naturally led you to what you’re building.

 

Now, this doesn’t mean you should chase virality at all costs. In fact, going viral is really hard, especially on LinkedIn, because the algorithm senses sales talk, and it doesn't like that. It wants you to be more relatable because that increases dwell time and comments on posts. So instead of asking, “How do I go viral?”, you should be asking, “How do I start conversations?”

 

That should be your goal: think of things people will want to comment on and engage with.

 

And this is where authenticity becomes non‑negotiable. Authenticity is key. It's not just the word count or the structure of the post that experts talk about. It's really the authenticity: Can they trust you? Is your story something that feels real and not something manufactured just to get attention?

 

Ironic, right? Because we are all trying to get attention—but the way to earn it is by not faking it.

 

When you zoom out, you start to see that you’re not just chasing impressions; you’re building relationships. You have to take a step back and think of the bigger picture: you're building many one‑to‑one relationships with people.

 

That means you're going to have to invest time in responding to comments and really being empathetic with them. Over time, this is what compounds. It pays huge dividends, including a lot of genuine direct messages—and those are often where the real opportunities start.