Issue #25: The complexity of the founder-influencer

There's good and there's bad when your personal brand becomes a big part of your company.

Sorry this is sending out late! I’m in Atlanta for work this week and have been running around.

In this week’s issue, we’re discussing the founder-influencer: founders who create content about their entrepreneurship journeys. Let’s take a look at some founder-influencers and dive into the potential benefits of founder-influencers for brands, as well as the challenges that come with the dual role.

I follow several founder-influencers (or FIs, for brevity’s sake from here on out), and I have always enjoyed their content. As someone who would like to start my own company someday, I really appreciate a look into the lives of founders. At the same time, I realize that they’re not always honest – much like regular influencers, they’re just trying to sell us something. And on top of that, the reality of entrepreneurship is a far cry from fun brand trips and fancy PR packages and glamorous events all the time. The founder-influencers who I like the most are the ones who provide a seemingly authentic lens into their day-to-day lives, showcasing the challenges of entrepreneurship alongside their wins.

One of my favorite FIs is Ali Bonar. Ali runs Oat Haus, a granola butter company. I can’t remember how I originally found Ali, but she’s been featured on Shark Tank and has 59K followers on Instagram. I love Ali’s content because she keeps it real. Yes, a lot of her content is really fun and compelling and aspirational, but a lot of it is also honest and raw and blunt. For instance, her Instagram Story at the time of writing features her cute-ass puppies, her outfit of the day, and then a heart-to-heart about asking for what you want. It’s a great balance, if I do say so myself. I’m aware that she’s still aiming to sell granola butter to her followers, but I also trust her (and her product is pretty damn good, so I’m sold!).  

alibonar

A post shared by @alibonar

There’s no doubt that FIs have a lot of value. They basically function as always-on, unpaid influencers, and they have the utmost investment in the brand. By closely aligning themselves to the brand, FIs have the unique opportunity to craft a personal identity around their brand, giving the brand a sense of humanity and authenticity. In some cases, the founder becomes the brand. Emily Weiss is one of the OG examples. Back in the early days of Glossier, Emily’s background at Vogue, and then Into the Gloss, and even her prior stint on The Hills was such a massive asset to her own brand. Her aesthetic became synonymous with Glossier. 

emilyweiss

A post shared by @emilyweiss

This dynamic makes the most sense in certain DTC areas like makeup and fashion, where the product can be naturally and routinely worn or displayed through the founder’s own life. In software, for instance, I think it would be kind of challenging for a founder to demonstrate the product in a natural way in his or her own life. 

It makes sense why influencers and FIs have such value. People connect to other people, not products or companies, so founders and influencers have the ability to create uniquely authentic connections to their audiences. However, founders are a particularly strange subset of influencers because they’re so invested in their own brand that it can be even more difficult to trust them than regular influencers. That’s why I like Ali – she’s honest, and she talk about the challenges at Oat Haus, but she’s also optimistic and passionate. But I think a lot of FIs struggle with hitting the right balance, and may lose trust with their audiences if they’re overly positive or sugarcoating the challenges of entrepreneurship. On the other hand, if they’re too negative and end up painting a sad picture of the business, then they risk facing investor concerns and poor public perception. 

This recent Digiday article takes a deep look at an anonymous DTC investor’s take on the FI. It was interesting to see the speculation that some FIs may be using their roles as influencers as a sort of back-up plan in case their company doesn’t work out. Plus, content creation is super time-consuming, and as the anonymous investor said:

“If you’re spending a lot of time creating content, that’s time you’re not spending doing something else.”

Of course, if content creation is driving growth for the brand, then by all means, it makes sense to continue doing it. But when the founder isn’t seeing a lot of growth and still investing a lot of time into content creation, that’s when things get questionable. Founders are tasked with striking the right balance of investing in their personal brands and their professional brands, but when the two are so connected, I imagine that it might be challenging to know when to hit the brakes on one or the other.

So I’m curious: do you follow any founder-influencers? And do you think they’re painting an authentic picture of their businesses? Let me know in the comments, and have a great rest of your week!