For us, it started from something frustrating: creating content felt very annoying and time-consuming. We tried the classic way: scripting, memorizing, filming, editing. But none of it felt authentic. And honestly, it was eating time we needed to focus on other things.

At the same time, we kept reading the same advice everywhere:
"founders should build in public and create content consistently". Easy to say but harder to do in reality. So instead of forcing ourselves to create content from scratch, we tried something simple: recording our own calls and using those moments as content.

During today s standup meeting, an idea came up about improving our presence on Reddit (for LLM search visibility and similar reasons).

One of the suggestions was to look for high-karma accounts and possibly buy them to appear more credible when posting and mentioning the product within the posts/comments. It s a tactic, sure, but to me it already feels like it crosses an ethical line. I sometimes worry they can seriously damage a company s reputation.

1. I've always been on the personal brand side. More and more founders are building it now (sometimes even before the product is ready while it's still in development, before seed fundraising). The CEO builds their position so the product sells more easily at the official launch.

2. But I have experience with people who built the product, scaled it, and only then did we discover who was behind it.

Honestly, with the first approach, I'd be concerned that people invest more in me as a person than in the product. People would idealise the founder and overlook the product's flaws (which could hurt development and constructive feedback).

+ I noticed the most common mistake that many people who started building a personal brand first, connected their product to their personal accounts (emails, social media, etc.) and started having a problem selling these things, because they cannot "give someone keys" to their personal profiles.

Let me start from the creator s perspective:
I personally don t have a product (apart from hiring people for creative work or offering personal consultations).

But as a creator, I constantly share content, insights, and information, value that helps me build trust (for free). Based on that perceived expertise, people eventually decide to work with me (a paid service).