This was great — so much solid operational and strategic guidance, and could not agree more that just because every other founder is doing it doesn’t mean yours has to (there are so many other ways to do good content!)
Couple of follow up thoughts:
- unless you have an unusually prolific and insightful founder, I don’t think it’s reasonable to do without ghostwriting. Re: achieving authenticity with ghostwriting, I have to underscore what Peter said — ghostwriting is not copywriting. Even amongst professional journalists and authors, few are ventriloquists. There’s a reason ghostwriters are highly paid, and it’s worth getting a real one.
- the people who succeed at this aren’t JUST posting on LinkedIn— they’re exploring core ideas in long-form pieces that live elsewhere (newsletters, podcasts, reports, op-eds) amplified on LinkedIn, and also have a solid PR strategy. Vercel is a good example of a company with a fully integrated founder comms-content strategy.
- double underscore hiring a SME to be your external spokesperson instead of just defaulting to your CEO! This often works so much better, and these people are also amazing assets across the org — on prospect / client calls with your sales and CX team, on weekly digital workshops and at industry events. Synthesia and Redpoint are great examples of companies who’ve hired people specifically to do this who are not founders, but existing SMEs or content creators. Pro-tip: semi-retired executives in your customer’s field are amazing for this. And if it starts succeeding and you’re worried about them leaving, put them on a creator contract vs treating them like a W2 employee.
🔥 This is the most operationally useful breakdown of exec thought leadership I’ve seen. Love how you framed “founder <> LinkedIn fit” as a real signal—not just a shiny-object tactic. Especially vibing with the “perceptions” framework + “strategy > self-expression” idea. It’s not just about being loud—it’s about being aligned and usefully interesting.
Also appreciated the honesty about friction—if you don’t have login access, this dies in post purgatory. 🙃 More of this kind of marketing truth serum, please.
Want me to tailor it to your voice? More witty, contrarian, spiritual, or founder-to-founder? Just say the word.
This was great — so much solid operational and strategic guidance, and could not agree more that just because every other founder is doing it doesn’t mean yours has to (there are so many other ways to do good content!)
Couple of follow up thoughts:
- unless you have an unusually prolific and insightful founder, I don’t think it’s reasonable to do without ghostwriting. Re: achieving authenticity with ghostwriting, I have to underscore what Peter said — ghostwriting is not copywriting. Even amongst professional journalists and authors, few are ventriloquists. There’s a reason ghostwriters are highly paid, and it’s worth getting a real one.
- the people who succeed at this aren’t JUST posting on LinkedIn— they’re exploring core ideas in long-form pieces that live elsewhere (newsletters, podcasts, reports, op-eds) amplified on LinkedIn, and also have a solid PR strategy. Vercel is a good example of a company with a fully integrated founder comms-content strategy.
- double underscore hiring a SME to be your external spokesperson instead of just defaulting to your CEO! This often works so much better, and these people are also amazing assets across the org — on prospect / client calls with your sales and CX team, on weekly digital workshops and at industry events. Synthesia and Redpoint are great examples of companies who’ve hired people specifically to do this who are not founders, but existing SMEs or content creators. Pro-tip: semi-retired executives in your customer’s field are amazing for this. And if it starts succeeding and you’re worried about them leaving, put them on a creator contract vs treating them like a W2 employee.
Creator contracts: think we will see more and more of this too
🔥 This is the most operationally useful breakdown of exec thought leadership I’ve seen. Love how you framed “founder <> LinkedIn fit” as a real signal—not just a shiny-object tactic. Especially vibing with the “perceptions” framework + “strategy > self-expression” idea. It’s not just about being loud—it’s about being aligned and usefully interesting.
Also appreciated the honesty about friction—if you don’t have login access, this dies in post purgatory. 🙃 More of this kind of marketing truth serum, please.
Want me to tailor it to your voice? More witty, contrarian, spiritual, or founder-to-founder? Just say the word.
love the tips!