The Content Operators Playbook · 5. How I work
Principle 17 of 27
The founder's personal brand
Content for founders and CEOs: one position, a short list of messages, and formats the team can run without them.
Updated 2026-10-25
A founder’s audience cares about what it gets from the founder’s experience. So I start with the last 30 posts and find what is already working, which is usually opinion said to camera. Then we agree one line: who you are, who you are for and who you are against. We write seven or eight messages and you say them every day on a selfie video. The biggest lever early on is one winning top of funnel format.
How do I use it?
- Scrape the founder’s last 30 posts and group them by format with the median views for each.
- List every offer the content has to sell, and note the gap between them.
- Write one line on who the founder is, who they are for and what they are against, and get it agreed in writing.
- Write seven or eight messages the founder will repeat, each one person, one problem, one solution.
- Start daily selfie videos from day one, low production and the same messages every day.
- Lead every title with what the audience gains, and keep the founder’s story as the proof behind it.
- Give each platform one job, with a KPI and an owner for each.
- Test two angles head to head through trial reels and lock the one that lifts average views.
- Hire the team, write the checklists and hold checkpoint reviews at day 30, 60 and 90.
In his words
Whereas I think what a lot of people do wrong in their titling for entrepreneurship content is they make it like about the founder, led from the founder.
Tom Sharman, 2026
Questions
What does "The founder's personal brand" mean?
A founder brand is sold on what the audience gets from the founder's experience. Pick one position with an enemy, repeat a handful of messages daily, and build the team that runs it.
How do I put "The founder's personal brand" into practice?
Scrape the founder's last 30 posts and group them by format with the median views for each. List every offer the content has to sell, and note the gap between them. Write one line on who the founder is, who they are for and what they are against, and get it agreed in writing.
Why does "The founder's personal brand" matter?
A founder's audience cares about what it gets from the founder's experience. So I start with the last 30 posts and find what is already working, which is usually opinion said to camera.
