Spend ten minutes on LinkedIn, and you’ll notice something interesting.
Startup founders aren’t just announcing funding rounds anymore. They’re talking about hiring mistakes, difficult customers, books they’re reading, product decisions that didn’t work, and lessons from building a business.
Some of these posts attract tens of thousands of reactions. Business publications pick up many. Others become talking points on podcasts and WhatsApp groups.
A few years ago, most of this would never have left the boardroom.
So what changed?
The obvious answer is social media. The more interesting answer is trust.
For years, companies invested heavily in building brands that people could relate to. They ran campaigns around purpose, community and authenticity. At the same time, consumers became increasingly sceptical of corporate messaging. Brand pages started sounding the same. Every announcement was “exciting”, every partnership was “groundbreaking”, and every milestone was “a proud moment.”
Founders offered something different.
When Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath writes about regulations, mistakes, or the realities of running a company, the discussion often extends well beyond the trading community. In fact, Kamath recently questioned why successful entrepreneurs are increasingly expected to have opinions on everything, highlighting just how much public attention founders now receive beyond their businesses.
Aman Gupta has followed a different path. His visibility has grown through Shark Tank India, public appearances and an active social media presence. Over the past few years, he has become one of the country’s most recognisable startup founders, to the point where his personal brand often generates as much attention as boAt itself. In 2024, he was even recognised with a National Creators Award, a reminder of how blurred the line between entrepreneur and creator has become.
These aren’t isolated examples.
Nikhil Kamath has built one of India’s biggest business podcasts. Kunal Shah’s posts on consumer behaviour and startups regularly spark debate. Anupam Mittal’s LinkedIn posts frequently become news stories in their own right. Earlier this year, one of his posts arguing that founders need “a healthy dose of ego” was widely reported across business media.
Notice what’s happening here.
The founder is no longer just speaking to customers. They’re speaking to potential employees, investors, aspiring entrepreneurs and even policymakers, all at the same time.
That changes the role content plays inside a company.
For an early-stage startup, advertising budgets are usually limited. Hiring a celebrity isn’t an option. But a founder with a point of view can build an audience without spending crores on media.
That’s not to say founder-led content is replacing marketing. It isn’t.
Products still need advertising. Brands still need campaigns. PR still matters.
What founder content does is something different. It gives people a reason to care before they’re ready to buy.
There’s another reason this trend has accelerated.
Business itself has become entertainment.
Shows like Shark Tank India, business podcasts, and long-form interviews have made entrepreneurs far more visible than they were a decade ago. Audiences don’t just want to know what a company sells. They want to know who’s building it, why they started and what they’re thinking about next.
That visibility comes with risks, of course.
Not every startup founder has something meaningful to say every day. Scroll long enough, and you’ll find recycled leadership lessons, carefully manufactured stories, and posts that feel designed to satisfy an algorithm rather than say anything useful.
The founders who continue to attract loyal audiences usually do the opposite. They don’t try to sound like creators. They sound like founders who happen to share what they know.
Perhaps that’s the biggest shift of all.
Building a company used to be enough.
Today, many startup founders feel they also need to build an audience.
Not because it’s fashionable.
Because attention has become one of the most valuable assets a business can own.