Read Time: 1 min 45 sec
Hey — Ryan To here.
In today's edition:
Why ‘build in public’ is dead
Founder checklist
+ Real-life examples (what I’d do instead)
In 2024–2025 we saw a big uptick in "building in public."
Beverages. Supplements. Beef jerky.
Documenting your journey was sexy.
Now I don't see them on my feed anymore.
Where did these founders go?
They didn't disappear. They didn’t quit.
And no they didn’t go bankrupt.
Their business is doing better than ever.
They learned:
Attention does NOT equal customers.
My hot take is founder-led content is dead.
It attracts other aspiring entrepreneurs.
How ironic.
If you're a founder sitting between 5,000 and 50,000 followers…
this is a reminder to assess why you're doing it.
→ Brand equity?
→ Influencer outreach?
→ Investors?
If you’re selling any type of product here's the exact framework I'd put you through to see if founder-led content is worth the squeeze.
1. Experiment Phase
Most founders post like one big audience is the dream.
Get big enough, sell to the people watching.
That's building a house on quicksand: the algorithm.
Founder-led content is your lab, not your engine.
Let me explain.
You're not paying a creator per video.
You're not burning spend on a format nobody's validated.
You're free to make and test whatever you want.
→ Which angles get a reaction
→ Which formats hold attention
→ What your customers say in the comments
You’re ‘talking’ to customers
You don’t need a big audience for this
Just curate your niche in public and keep the build in private
When you reach a point where your business is worth talking about?
That’s when you build in public.
Don’t be the founder with 30 day in the life’s, 0 customers, and a cheap audience.
2. Incentives
Here’s how to figure out why you’re doing it
Start with your budget
Under $50k?
Well you have no choice, suck it up and be the UGC creator for your brand
Above $50k?
Follow this checklist: YES/NO
Are you selling to small businesses/founders? (does your product represent aspiration, entrepreneurship, etc.)
Are you raising money from investors?
Is your customer on this platform?
Do your competitors have a weak organic presence?
If you answered YES to any of these it’s worth it.
It’s worth it when your competitors are sleeping on it
but a a waste when 3 brands in your category with better-looking founders (sorry) are posting daily.
And if you’re awkward on camera or lack the skills to hit the ‘standard’ of what you want your content to look like
The answer isn’t ever to be on camera
Give yourself a 6-12 month timeline. Do you have enough time to get good at it or would your business slow down if you focused on getting the reps to get good at content?
Build in silence until you're ready for showtime.
Because once you're out in public, it's non stop scaling from there.
Have a great day ❤️
Ryan
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Ryan To
Creator (120K+)
@itsryanto
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