Content Ideas for Founder-led Brands

How these Founder-led brands are building iconic brands in public.

Founder-led brands have a huge advantage that legacy brands do not:

They have a human face behind the brand.

The brand's 'why' is a true 'why'.

Customers can see who is building the products, hear the reasoning behind decisions, and watch the brand evolve in real time.

But building in public doesn’t mean posting random updates about your startup journey.

If you want to know how to build a founder-led brand without accidentally becoming an influencer, I wrote all about it here.

The best founder content does one thing very specifically.

It strengthens the brand while bringing the audience closer to the product.

After watching several founder-led brands do this well, I noticed that the strongest content tends to fall into three categories.

These formats are simple, repeatable, and effective at turning casuals into customers.

Showing Your Product In Action

One of the easiest types of founder content is simply demonstrating the product in real life.

It sounds obvious, but many founders spend more time talking about their business than actually showing how their product works.

Let’s look at the brand founder, Zack of Pao Labs. This is an energy gel brand for casual runners and marathoners.

Instead of making videos of how great the product tastes or its health benefits.

The founder shows the transformation.

What does the energy gel do when you go on a long run?

How does it transform your body and improve your runs?

This is how you showcase your brand's results and make them pay attention.

The founder doesn't give a complicated and drawn-out explanation.

The product is simply part of the moment, not the moment itself.

His celebration of completing his run is the moment.

The brand promotion is natural and shows why customers should buy.

When customers can visualize themselves at that moment, purchasing becomes much easier.

Customer Love

Another powerful type of founder content is highlighting real customer experiences.

When a brand founder shares customer messages, reviews, or videos, it signals something important.

The founder is paying attention and cares about their buyers.

Let's take a look at the founders of Good Girl Snacks, Leah and Yasaman. A viral pickle brand called “Hot Girl Pickles” has been one of the best examples of Founder-led brands I've seen.

In this video, they review customer reviews that caught their attention.

They even mentioned that reviewing customer insight is the best part of being a business owner.

This signals to the customer that the brand is seeking their feedback, good or bad.

This is how you use customer feedback to build a better brand in the public eye.

Too many companies treat customers as transactions and not community members.

This is also a really smart way to obtain social proof.

This will encourage more customers to review and acquire new ones.

People love seeing their posts or comments recognized by the brand they spend their coins on.

Introducing Your Brand

The final content format is the most overlooked.

Simply introduce the brand.

Many founders assume that people will kind of imply what their brand is. Yes, they have eyes, but what are you?

On social media, new people discover your brand every day.

Let's look at the founder, Ilay of Bezi. Labneh is native to Mediterranean cuisine.

In this video, she tells you everything you’d want to know.

This is especially smart because the product is not as popular as similar products in its category, like Hummus.

Customers may not only be new to this product but also unsure how to eat it or what to pair it with.

She does an amazing job at explaining.

• What the brand is.

• What labneh is.

• What it’s made of and where it's sourced.

• Why customers should be interested.

The best part?

It’s done in the most casual way.

No professional equipment required.

Videos like this one help new followers quickly understand the brand's purpose.

Need more founder storytelling tips to create better founder-led content?

Here are your two options:

• Read this blog I wrote about “How to write a Founder Story.”

• Hire me to do it for you.

I pick both.

See ya in my inbox.