Someone asked me on Threads this week: "How can I promote and build a founder-led brand on LinkedIn?"
A lot of founders struggle with this.
They know they need to be active on LinkedIn, but they get stuck somewhere in between: "I don't know what to post," and "I posted three times, and nothing happened."
I get it. When you’re building a business, there’s a lot at stake, and the faster you can get traction, the better.
LinkedIn isn't a shortcut. It's a slow build that compounds over time.
Here’s what I told him.
1. Your main concern right now is positioning
Before you worry about posting cadence or viral hooks, you need to position yourself as a credible founder and entrepreneur.
And that starts with your About section.
Most founders either:
Leave it blank (bad)
Copy-paste their company bio (boring)
Write a resume in paragraph form (is someone snoring?)
Your About section should answer three questions:
Who are you?
What do you do (and for whom)?
Why should someone care?
If you're building a founder-led brand and your About section doesn't clearly communicate what you're building and why it matters, start there.
Grab my About Me Blueprint here. It'll walk you through exactly how to structure this
2. Follow the 3:1 ratio
If you’re building a business, it feels obvious to only post about your business.
You have product updates, funding announcements, team wins, and the list goes on.
You absolutely need that content. But you need more than just that.
You need content that builds a connection.
People follow you because they’re interested in you as a person, as well as what you’re building and how you’re building it.
The 3:1 ratio keeps your content balanced:
For every three business/entrepreneur-focused posts, share something personal about who you are outside of building your brand.
Think of these as palate cleansers.
Just like a restaurant serves sorbet between courses to reset your taste buds, these posts give your audience a break from the heavy business content.
These could be:
Your favorite book right now
A podcast that's got you thinking
Recent travels (even just weekend trips)
Behind-the-scenes look at your workspace
A favorite childhood memory that shaped you
The goal isn't to force a business lesson into every personal moment.
Sometimes, a post about your favorite coffee shop is just that…a post about your favorite coffee shop.
When you only post about business, you sound like a press release.
When you mix in the palate cleansers, you sound like someone people actually want to grab coffee with (or hire).
Read more about palate cleansers and the 3:1 rule here
3. Use the MEAL Method
Okay, so you know WHAT to post about (business + personal). But how do you actually write posts that don't sound like AI or corporate speak?
This is where the MEAL Method comes in.
You want to show up on LinkedIn because you've got the stories, insights, and opinions worth sharing.
But, when it comes time to post, you overthink it and scrap the idea.
The MEAL Method is a 4-step framework for writing LinkedIn posts that feel more human, helpful, and engaging:
M – Make it memorable or relatable Start with a moment, not a lecture. Drop people into a scene or a question that makes them want to keep reading.
E – Explain your insight What's the lesson or takeaway? This is where you share what you learned or what you want them to understand.
A – Action step Give them something they can do with this information. Make it practical.
L – Lead engagement End with a question or prompt that invites conversation.
It's simple, repeatable, and built specifically for LinkedIn.
The goal is to give you a structure so you're not staring at a blank screen, wondering what to say every time you post.
4. Comment strategically
You can’t skip this step.
Being active on LinkedIn requires more than posting. You need to engage with other people's content, or else you're essentially talking to yourself in an empty room.
Spend at least 10-20 minutes a day:
Commenting on other people's content (especially other founders, people in your industry, potential clients)
Responding to comments on YOUR content (this keeps the algorithm happy and builds relationships)
When you're scrolling and commenting, you'll often come across something that sparks an entirely different thought.
A post about scaling a team might make you think about your own hiring mistakes.
Someone's take on work-life balance might remind you of a conversation you had last week.
Those sparks can turn into comments that could be fresh content for you later.
I do this constantly. I'll leave a comment on someone's post, and halfway through typing it, I realize "This is a post."
That's how comments turn into content. You're not just engaging for engagement's sake, you're mining for ideas in real time.
Read my full breakdown on turning comments into content here.
You don't have to be perfect or go viral to matter.
You do have to be consistent and real.
Show up every week with fresh content and comments, and you're already ahead of 90% of founders who post three times in one month and then disappear for three months.
Most founders know what to do. The execution is the hard part, especially when you're building a company, managing a team, and trying to have a life outside of work.
If that sounds like you and you want to talk about what it would look like for someone else to handle this for you, [let's talk - book a 15-minute discovery call].
Otherwise, hit reply and tell me: Are you building a founder-led brand right now? What's your biggest challenge with it?
P.S. A lot of execs/founders tell me a big issue of theirs is actually hitting publish. They write the post, then sit there wondering, "Is this good enough? Should I change the hook? Does this even make sense?”
If that's you, I made a Finish-the-Post Checklist that walks you through exactly what to review before you post. It takes the guesswork out, so you can stop overthinking and just hit publish. It's $5. Get yours!