Real talk from a technical founder building AI-powered businesses
Published November 07, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 40
Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube
For six years, I thought being public about my business meant sacrificing privacy and competitive advantage. I thought I needed VC funding to earn the right to talk. I thought my competitors were winning because they stayed stealth, so I should too.
I was wrong on all three counts. That mistake probably cost me 2-3 years of growth.
Today I want to share why using content as leverage—not becoming a content creator as a career—is one of the most important distribution channels you can build as a founder. Because in 2025, if you're not building content distribution, you're building on rented land.
The Stealth Mode Trap That Almost Killed My Growth
Back in 2019 when I started SimpleDirect, I looked around at successful competitors. Hearth Financing had raised $50M in Series B and operated completely stealth. Their founder preached: "We need to protect our competitive advantage. If competitors steal our ideas, we'll be at a disadvantage."
So I thought: "The way to win is build in silence and announce when you've made it."
I spent three years grinding in startup hell—sales, marketing, growth—while barely posting anything. LinkedIn account gathering dust. Twitter account with zero engagement. I was convinced I needed authority before I could post. I needed funding, customers, proof, revenue.
Who's going to listen to a bootstrapped founder with no unicorn story?
Meanwhile, I watched other founders with less experience build massive audiences just by talking about what they were doing and learning. They got ahead while I stayed silent.
The wake-up call came in April 2025. I realized the most successful people in our space aren't successful because they're polished—they're successful because they're authentic.
Look at the winners:
- Pieter Levels tweets like he texts his friends
- DHH is controversial and doesn't care what people think
- Other founders are saying what everyone else is thinking but won't say publicly
Nobody wants corporate accounts. Nobody wants perfectly polished thought leadership. Everyone wants to know: What are you building? What's working? What's breaking? What did you learn?
I had six years of expensive lessons sitting in my head, helping no one, creating no leverage.
Why Content Matters More in 2025 Than Ever Before
AI has changed everything. Back in the day, competitive advantage was simple:
- Can you code? Get a job at Amazon, climb the ladder
- Technical skills were differentiators
- Geographic competition was limited
Today? Anyone can build anything.
A self-taught engineer using AI can ace Amazon interview questions. Your competitor can be in any country, building the same features with similar quality. What's left is distribution.
Who knows you exist? Who trusts you? When 47 other people do the same thing, who will customers pick?
The answer: People who've been following your journey. People who trust your philosophy because you've shared genuine thoughts for months or years.
Content isn't optional—it's infrastructure.
The Compounding Problem Most Founders Miss
You can't turn on content like a button when your product is ready. Content takes time to compound.
Every post I make today gets 1,000-2,000 views on Twitter. Not huge, but those people remember. Some follow, engage, subscribe. In six months, that's a warm audience. In a year, that's authority. In three years, it's a moat.
If you wait until your product is perfect, you start from zero distribution when you launch. Then you're addicted to Facebook ads and Google ads—expensive and unreliable.
Versus: Talk about a problem for a year, build an audience who cares, launch with 500 people on day one.
That's the difference between a launch that dies and a launch that compounds.
We've been chasing customers who require sales calls for years. If we'd invested in content and founder brand earlier, we'd have caught more customers organically. That's a mistake we're still paying for.
Common Objections (And Why They're Wrong)
"I Don't Have Time for Content"
I run two companies—SimpleDirect and ANC. Customers, team, everything. How do I add "content creator" to my job description?
You don't add a new job. You document the job you're already doing.
Content creators have to think up new ideas. Mr. Beast needs $10M budgets for novel, mass-market content. You just share what you've built, learned, failed at.
I spend 3-4 hours per week on content, total. Not researching topics—extracting knowledge from what I'm already building and publishing it.
"My Competitors Are Stealth, So I Should Be Too"
I thought this for years. It's completely backwards. Those stealth competitors? They're struggling too. Turns out everyone has the same "secrets"—and keeping them secret doesn't create advantage.
"I Need to Be Everywhere"
No. Don't. I'm on Twitter. That's it. My podcast goes on Spotify/Apple. Blog on my site. Newsletter via email.
Pick one platform and go deep. For you it might be LinkedIn, YouTube, WeChat, WhatsApp—whatever your specific audience uses. You don't need omnipresence.
"I Need to Be Polished and Professional"
Generational divide here. Older founders think you need PR firms and polished images. Younger founders know authenticity IS your brand.
I record with a basic mic, quick edit, post videos talking to camera. No fancy production. That's what people like—raw, unpolished, real.
Too polished early = loss of authenticity. People prefer podcasts over CNN for a reason.
"I Need an Audience Before It's Valuable"
Backwards. You don't build audience then sell. You sell first, audience compounds alongside.
Starting from day one with few followers, posting about problems you're solving—it's like shouting into mountains. No one hears you. That's okay.
By day 180 you have 300-1,000 followers. Launch a feature, 30 people try it, 5 become customers. Audience is byproduct of useful content, not prerequisite.
Content-Enabled Founder vs. Content Creator
Don't become a content creator. Content creators build audiences to monetize through ads and sponsorships. When Twitter changed algorithms recently, accounts with 100K-500K+ followers saw 70-90% reach drops overnight. People panicked, desperately tried new content styles.
That's what happens when your business IS your content. Algorithm changes become existential threats.
Be a content-enabled founder instead. Build distribution to sell your actual products and services. SaaS, consulting, real businesses. Much lower risk.
Email newsletters are end-to-end owned. Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube are rented platforms. Good to start there, but eventually move audiences to owned platforms.
How to Start (My Framework)
- Pick One Platform
For me: Twitter. For you: whatever your audience uses. Go deep on one.
- Post 3-5 Times Per Week Consistently
Not 20, not once monthly. Consistency matters more than perfection. Quality matters more than quantity.
- Share What You're Building and Learning
Don't have a product? Share what you're learning. Read this podcast? Share key takeaways with followers. Read a book? Share insights.
Every time you learn something, there's content. Always something to share.
- Create One Long-Form Piece Weekly
For me: podcast episodes. For you: blog posts, videos, threads. Start small, build up.
- Engage Like a Human
Reply to comments. DM people with insights. Build actual relationships. Don't just broadcast—converse.
Key Principles
Stay in your lane. If you're not a lifestyle influencer, don't post lifestyle content. If you don't care about morning routines, don't post about them.
Focus over breadth. B2B SaaS founder? Don't dance on TikTok. Building AI tools? Skip the crypto posts.
90% value, 10% promotion. If every post is "check out my product," people tune out. Build trust first—trust compounds. Selling in every post breaks trust.
Don't Check Results Too Often
When starting out, checking metrics can be demotivating. I recommend: first 3-4 months, don't look. Just keep posting consistently.
I check maybe once weekly. That's it.
The Cost of Waiting
I wasted six years being afraid to share because I thought I wasn't "there yet." Thought I needed permission, authority, to be someone I'm not.
If you're sitting on knowledge, lessons, frameworks—if you're building something real and not talking about it—you're making my mistake.
Start now. Start small. Pick one platform, post 3-5 times weekly, share one thing you learned.
Six months from now, you'll have distribution, leverage, people who care about what you're doing.
Or you can wait. Six months from now, you'll still be at zero.
The Infrastructure Investment
Content isn't just marketing—it's infrastructure. Like hiring your first engineer or setting up proper accounting, it's foundational work that pays dividends for years.
Every founder who succeeds today has some form of content distribution. Even if they're not "content creators," they're sharing their journey, lessons, insights. Building trust at scale.
In an AI-first world where anyone can build anything, the only sustainable moat is people knowing and trusting you.
That only happens when you consistently share what you're learning, building, and discovering. When you help others avoid your mistakes. When you document the messy, imperfect reality of building something from nothing.
Your Next Step
Start today. Not tomorrow, not when your product is perfect, not when you have more experience.
Share one thing you learned this week. One insight from your business journey. One mistake you made and what it taught you.
The founders winning in 2025 won't be the ones with the best initial ideas or the most polished content. They'll be the ones who started sharing their journey earliest and most authentically.
The best time to start was six years ago. The second best time is today.
What will you share first?
Want the frameworks I wish I'd known six years ago? Get my free ebook "The Anti-Unicorn" at founderreality.com and join the weekly newsletter where I share the real numbers and decisions behind building SimpleDirect and ANC.
