- Building a personal brand as a founder can help your company appear more trustworthy.
- Choose topics to share or discuss that you're passionate about and that support business goals.
- Don't be afraid to share aspects of your life that relate to your leadership style or values.
Quynh Mai ran her digital-creative agency, Qulture, for the better part of a decade before she started building her personal brand as a founder in 2020.
"It was really difficult for me for many years to put myself out there because I wanted the work to speak for itself," she told Business Insider.
But then she noticed a shift in business culture, with consumers wanting to know and trust the person behind the company.
Since Mai has started promoting herself and her work more via LinkedIn, media, and speaking engagements, she's spent less time convincing prospective customers of the depth of her experience.
"Building a personal brand connected to your business is more important than ever because people won't do business with anyone they don't trust," she said. "You want to know where the buck stops — you want to know that there's a human being who's going to be accountable for their actions."
In a 2021 survey, four in five Americans said companies were more influential when their founder or executives had a personal brand consumers knew about, trusted, and followed.
Anouck Gotlib also spent years as more of a silent CEO, running the baked-goods brand Belgian Boys from its Brooklyn, New York, headquarters. At an industry conference in 2021, she attended a session on personal-brand building and started to post on LinkedIn about her journey to building a company.
"I never could have expected what happened over the course of the next year," Gotlib told BI, adding that the personal following she built had helped her meet other founders and mentors, develop impressive partnerships for her company, and get invitations to other reputation-building opportunities such as conferences and podcast interviews.
"It's opened a lot of doors to rooms that I wasn't being invited to," she said.
BI asked Mai and Gotlib for advice on building a personal brand as a founder.
Figure out your talking points
When deciding the topics to talk about on your personal-brand channels as a founder, Mai suggests thinking about the things that differentiate you from your competitors or that you have a unique take on.
"My agency's mission is to help brands move into the near future. So, as a personal brand, I focus on innovation, what's next, whether it's trends or Gen Z or AI," Mai said, adding that while a lot of her counterparts talked about new technology itself, she liked to focus on the human side of tech as a way to set her expertise apart.
When thinking about the messaging she wants to share on her personal-brand platforms, Gotlib likes to start with her company's goals.
"Think about what your objectives are in business and if you as an individual could contribute to those objectives," she said.
For instance, by sharing details about the journey to landing exciting partnerships for the brand, she's been able to develop relationships with customers and connect with prospective business partners.
But Mai emphasized that it's also important to consider your own passion.
"What is the thing that you can talk about again and again, ad nauseam, and still be incredibly excited by it?" she said.
Your authenticity and genuine enthusiasm will come across to others and make it easier for you to keep promoting your brand, she added.
Share the ups — and the downs — of the business
A mistake Mai sees many leaders make when building a personal brand, she said, is talking about only the good things that are happening in their business.
"One way to really build a personal brand is to show all sides of the conversation, even when it doesn't meet your ultimate goals," she said.
Talking about the pitfalls of her own industry, for example, has really resonated with others, she said.
"What's really important when you're building your personal brand is that you are speaking through knowledge and truth and not through the lens of: How can I build my business?" Mai said.
Gotlib agreed that transparency with the harder aspects of building a company (along with the wins) had ignited and strengthened connections.
"I'm not trying to sell you Belgian waffles — I'm just bringing you on for the journey," she said. "I share about our challenges, and I think that resonates with people."
Connect your personal and professional selves
Certain aspects of a founder's personal life may also resonate with their company's audience.
When deciding what to share, Mai likes to think about what in her personal life might drive value to her business or give her a unique point of view as a thought leader.
"Who cares if I love baking if it doesn't help me become a better CEO and entrepreneur?" she said. "But the fact that I live in a multiracial household does help infuse how I see the world and how I see Gen Z and multiculturalism."
Gotlib is more likely to share personal aspects of her life, she said, if she thinks they'll bring attention to the causes and values that matter to her, both professionally and privately, such as sharing experiences related to her Jewish heritage.
"Interestingly enough, those personal things usually resonate the most," she said.