← The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan
The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan
622: (Solo) The Truth About Founder-Led Content in 2026
00:08:26
Founder-led branding isn’t dead — but it is evolving fast. Showing your face and posting “day in the life” content is no longer enough to stand out. The bar has risen, audiences have matured, and what worked in 2020 doesn’t cut through in 2026.
Loading summary
Transcript5 lines
- [00:02]
Nathan Chan
Hey, founder fam.
- [00:03]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Host
I want to talk to you about something super exciting. We're officially partnered with Omnisend, the email marketing and SMS platform built specifically for e commerce founders. We've been recommending Omnisend to founder students for a while now because it just works. Whether you're launching your first store or you're scaling to seven figures, it really helps you automate your marketing and get real results. Did you know on average, OMNISEND customers make $68 for every one, one dollar they spend, which is an insanely good return on investment. And because you're part of the founder community, you get 50% off your first three months with the code. Founder50. Just head to omnisend.com founder without the.
- [00:44]
Nathan Chan
E to get started. All right, now let's jump back into the show. Hey, guys. Welcome back to another solo episode of the Founder Founder Podcast. One of the most common questions we get from our students in the Founder plus community and our coaching programs is when they're just starting a brand, what kind of content should I actually be creating? And if you're in the early stages, you know, maybe you don't have a product yet or maybe you've just launched, you probably heard the advice or you probably see all these founders, like, document your journey, be the face of your brand. You know, personal brand is where it's at. And for a while, like, you know, the founder led content strategy was gold. It cut through the noise, it helped you build trust and gave your audience something real to connect with. And it's something I wish I knew to invest in. You know, when starting my own e commerce brand, healthish, or even with founder, really building my own personal brand, putting myself out there. But things are shaking, things are shifting. And today I wanna talk about a bigger question that really affects every brand, whether you're just starting out or you're already scaling. So is the idea of having a founder led brand dying or is it evolving into something even more powerful? So I wanna unpack what's changing, what content is actually working right now, and how to build a brand presence that people actually want to follow.
- [02:00]
Podcast Intro Narrator
Here are the stories. Learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. Welcome to the founder podcast with Nathan Chan.
- [02:14]
Nathan Chan
So let's be honest, being the face is no longer enough. You know, you could be a founder on TikTok, and it was novel. You showed up, shared your story, maybe documented the grind of building a business. Now that's the standard, right? In many ways, that's the standard. The bar is way Higher Consumers want more than just explaining how I started this brand. They want entertainment, they want aspiration, they want depth. So it's not enough just to show your face, right? And that's why we're seeing like even more docu style storytelling. Almost like little mini Netflix series where founders are sharing behind the scenes of their lives, not just their products, and really taking people on a journey and just following Storytelling 101 on showing how this product or brand is being brought to life. So I want you to think less around how I pack orders and more about here's what it's like pitching buyers while raising two kids. So if you're gonna show up, you can't just show your product and show your face. You have to show your world. So a great example, the guys from Kinzo K I N S O Kinzo AI they're building this software company, the two brothers, one of them's Frank and another one is Jax. They sold this real estate software company for $180 million. I know the story off by heart. And now they have taken on this massive, massive problem that they're trying to solve. Merging all your conversations into one, one home for your business. And they're documenting every step of the journey. And even like their interns that they hired and they gave them a goal to get a 10,000 person wait list for the launch of, and they did it. And they said they were going to pay them $10,000 each. And then they said, do you want $10,000 in cash or you do want equity? And they all took equity. And they're just taking you on the journey of how they're launching this product. It is exceptional, but it's storytelling 101, right? So founders are evolving into narrative architects. I just talked you through a whole narrative, right? And you want to keep following along. And the brand is an ecosystem and the founders just one part of it. Like if you look at Chamberlain Coffee or Strawberry Milk Mob, right? Like, these aren't just businesses, they're worlds that people want to be a part of. And even if the founder is front and center, the storytelling is broader. It's about the lifestyles, it's about the values, it's about the movement. And what you need to take from this is the founder is just the entry point, not the entire brand. So, you know, some people say personal branding is dead. That's. That's not true. I believe it's just maturing. So everyone now is trying to get in front of their brand, and people more than ever still want to know who's behind the business, but they also don't want another person selling to them 24 7. They want relatability, they want depth, and they want authenticity over polish. And that's why we're seeing raw docu style founder content outperform anything. And this shift really mirrors what kind of influencers went through. Like, first it was about being pretty, then it was about being real deal, and now it's about being meaningful. And the same goes for founders. If I think about one of our students, Tori Gill, she's a member of Founder Plus. She has an exceptional story. We interviewed her on the podcast earlier this year. She launched late last year. You know, she's telling a story how she got scammed for $70,000 in her business, right? What does that have to do with sunscreen for kids? You know what I mean? But she's taking us on a journey of how she's building this brand. The trials, the tribulations. And it's like, you know her, right, and you believe in her and you want to see her win. This is where it's going, guys, is what you need to focus on. And here's the thing as well. I want to be really clear though. I want to address the elephant in the room. Not every founder wants to be the face of their brand. And that is okay too, right? The good news is you do not have to be. There are plenty of successful brands today that are either faceless, but they are community led, like Drunk Elephant or Soul de Janeiro, right? Or they're driven by founder energy. Even if the founder isn't front and center like Oatley, you know, while their founder isn't front and center, their brand voice is wildly distinct, self aware, almost punk. It has this attitude without ever seeing their face. So if you're not going to show your face, that's okay, but you better show something compelling. And I think the best brands are getting smart. They're blending founder led moments with deeper storytelling and team built content. So that might mean, you know, a founder documentary series instead of daily TikToks. Like how they got into a retailer right alongside what they're eating for breakfast. You know, user, user generated content alongside polished brand shoots. You know, a mix of founder story, customer story, product story. Being a founder today, it really means curating a world where people want to enter and follow along, not just a story they want to hear once. So is the founder led, brand dead? Not exactly. But the role of the founder has changed. And if you want to stand out in 2026 and beyond. It's not enough just to be the face. You have to be a storyteller. You have to be a world builder. You have to be a curator of culture. And you have to take people on a journey. Because people want more than just a product. They want to buy into a movement, they want to follow along, they want to back you. But more importantly, they want to be entertained. And storytelling is an age old thing that is not going anywhere when it comes to marketing and getting attention. I want you to ask yourself, when you're thinking about 2026, what world are you building? I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you are, shoot me a message on Instagram at Nathan Chan. I'll speak to you soon.