Jake Summerhayes

Working with founders and business Leaders to craft powerful and authentic personal brands. 

Why? Because reputation matters. 

- 82% of customers trust a company when their senior management members are active on social media

- Brand messages are shared 24x more on personal accounts compared to company accounts

- Customers are willing to pay 13.5x more for elite industry experts

Yet only 1% of LinkedIn's 700 million users share weekly content. 

Our mission at Kurogo is to solve that.

Kurogo is derived from the Japanese ‘Kuroko’ referring to the black clad stagehands in traditional Japanese theatre.

The convention of wearing black implying the invisibility of the wearer on stage. 

We are your Kurogo. 

Directing, driving and delivering your personal brand from the background. 

Giving you the spotlight to excel in what you do best.

Head Of Client Services

I routinely ask our team members to fuck off.

When they:

- Open client chats while on holiday
- Message me when they’re off
- Refuse to step away while being ill
- Go far beyond the scope when unnecessary
- Don’t take enough breaks
- Log on to do some “quick work” on weekends

I’ve far from mastered work-life balance, but I don’t buy into the hustle culture nonsense for one second.

Client Services Director @ Kurogo | We create thought leaders through Personal Branding

If I should die, make sure not to cancel the standups,
If I should die, finish off my client reports,
If I should die, activate my out of office.

Unable are the loved to die, for the value we build for shareholders is immortality.

Life before Bailey:

- Nail 4 Red Bulls a day
- Logging onto Slack at 9:15am
- Stay up till 1 am watching TikToks

Life after getting him:

- Up at 6am for morning walks
- Client retention is up 23% (coincidence? don’t think so)
- Team love me more when they see him chilling in my office on calls
- I have to get up and go outside multiple times a day to take him on walks
- More LinkedIn clout as a dog parent

If you’re struggling for routine/structure, get a dog 🐶❤️

P.S. Should I start building his personal brand or am I too late already?

"How do I get a job at Kurogo"?

We’re adding a new team member almost every month right now, and I get asked this question every week.

Here’s what you must believe to thrive at Kurogo 👇🏻

- Radical responsibility
If you say you will do something, you do it.
No blaming, no excuses, no “busy week mate”.
You own your work, your learning, and your tasks.
So you gotta pull your weight.

- Constant improvement
You look at your work and ask where you can push more.
You ask for feedback. You take it on the chin.
You give feedback with care.
You care about getting better every week.

- Client obsession
Clients are the lifeblood.
You think about them before you think about yourself.
You go beyond the scope when it is right.
You are more ambitious for their brand than they are.

- Equality
Titles aren't the most impressive thing to us.
Age does not matter.
Great ideas can come from any voice on the call.
You treat everyone with respect.
Above all, you are kind in a hard industry.

- Pride in the basics
You meet deadlines.
You keep your promises.
You communicate clearly and often.
You deliver work accurately the first time.
You take pride in things most people are lazy about.

At Kurogo, the people we hire are the foundation of our success.

I can say with utmost certainty right now that every person on the team is one of the best at what they do. 

Honestly, what more can you want as a leader?

More than half of our hires over the past year have discovered the company through one team member’s personal brand.

And this lad isn’t even a part of our senior team.

Now imagine how much top talent you can attract if everyone from your leadership team were building their personal brands.

If you want the best people to join your business, don’t sleep on EGC (employee-generated content).

Post through personal profile = good 👍
Post only through company profile = waste 👎
Don’t post anything ever = bad 👎👎

Optimise your profile and post = good 👍
Not optimise your profile and post = waste 👎
Not optimise your profile and no post = bad 👎👎

Post well written, formatted content to help people = good 👍
Post unoptimised random content to help people = waste 👎
Post motivational quotes with no value = bad 👎👎

Connect with targeted people and network = good 👍
Connect with random people and no talk = waste 👎
Connect with everyone and pitch = f*cking 👎👎

--

Download our full guide to personal branding (see comments) = good 👍

Kurogo - Personal Branding Agency Branding Agency turned 5 last month, so we asked our team why they love working here, this is what they said 👇🏻❤️

We asked our team what the best part of their job is 

The true cost of not building a personal brand is that:

Reputation compounds, but so does silence.

The market doesn’t reward hidden operators.

It rewards visible thinkers.

You don’t need to be an influencer.
You just need to be findable.

Because when recruiters, founders, or investors look you up and see nothing…

You’ve already lost half the battle.

📷 - me when Sam G. Winsbury asks me to post more InDuStRy InSiGhTs

We’re a team of 21 people in 3 continents.

These 5 tools stop us from going insane having meetings all day ⬇️

1. Slack: every time I have to use Teams I almost cry
2. Loom: NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS A 60 MINS MEETING
3. Fathom: so that I don’t have to rely on my brain to remember stuff
4. Notion: makes complicated shit easier, also makes everything look good
5. Canva: makes creativity easy for artistically challenged people 🙋🏻‍♂️

When your content is so dangerously good, LinkedIn decides to keep it a secret.

We’ve packaged the system we use to build personal brands that actually drive revenue into one  guide:

🚨 How To Become The Authority, Sign More Clients and Grow Your Business In 2026.

Growing a business in 2026 is a bit of a minefield.
What worked a few years ago doesn’t work the same anymore.

Cold outreach gets ignored.
Ads get more expensive.
Buyers take longer to decide.

And the most frustrating bit…
You’ll often see competitors who aren’t even as good doing better than you.

It’s not luck.
The market has changed.
People don’t buy like they did in 2016 anymore.

Back then, it was simple:
Ad → Click → Buy.

Now the journey is messy.

Prospects research you.
Check your profile.
Look at your content.
Ask their network.
Watch you for months before reaching out.

So when you consistently share your thinking, ideas and expertise online:

- Prospects trust you before the first call
- Sales cycles shorten
- Your content becomes a 24/7 salesperson
- Opportunities come to you instead of the other way around

That’s exactly what this guide breaks down.

Inside you’ll find:

→ The 9-step Authority Engine we use with clients
→ How to position yourself so people actually listen
→ The G-A-C content system that drives growth, trust and clients
→ How to social sell without being a LinkedIn knobhead
→ The lead capture and conversion ecosystem that turns attention into revenue

If you’re a founder or marketing leader trying to grow in 2026, this is the system that’s working right now.

To get free access:

1. Like this post
2. Comment “AUTHORITY”
3. Make sure you’re following me so I can share ✅

“I don’t want to be one of those LinkedIn people.” Fair.

But the issue is… 

You’re already being judged.

By:

- Prospective hires.
- Agencies pitching you.
- Founders considering you.
- Recruiters building lists.

And if the only thing they see is:
“Head of Marketing at X” (company name, not platform)

You look like everyone else.

Your thinking is your edge.
But if you never publish it, it has zero market value.

I’m not saying go the random selfies and hustle posts route.

But in 2026, documented perspective matters more than ever, because:

If you don’t shape your narrative, someone else will (usually poorly).

So with that in mind, what impression do you get of me from this work setup?

This is who you’re talking to when you say you’re ‘taking it in-house’ btw

Right here's the truth with LinkedIn content:

Your first two lines decide everything. Fuck them up and your post is invisible.

You can spend an hour on a post.
Pour your soul into it.
Share your best framework.

But if the hook is weak, nobody sees it.
You are shouting into the void.

I like big views.
I love leads more.

We use a simple way to write posts that both grow and sell:

1️⃣ First: find the right angle

Same idea.
Two options:

- “5 tips to write content”
- “How I pulled 100,000 views from one post”

One is homework.
One is clicks 💷

Good angles:

- Create curiosity
- Feel unexpected
- Go against the crowd
- Sound a bit extreme

“Good and bad” dies.
“Best and worst” wins.

2️⃣ Channel your inner psycho editor

You only get one or two lines before the reader has to click “see more”.
Miss that and nothing else matters.

Two ways our elite writing team writes hooks:

- Cliffhangers for stories
- Promising value for how-to posts

Then we stack the posts with:

→ Personal proof
→ Clear payoff
→ Numbers
→ Key pain points of one clear person we're speaking to

“I got 187,392 views with this hook framework. Here is how you steal it.”

That gets clicks from the right people.

3️⃣ Deliver or get called clickbait

Once they click, we owe them.
We keep the body:

- Stupid simple (grade 8 level)
- Full of white space
- Built around a clear process or framework

High perceived value + low effort to read = holy grail.

Your hook wins attention.
Your post's body earns trust.
Both together build authority 🤝🏻

I'm in a generous mood today, so here are 228 of our best hooks:

https://lnkd.in/e5fX5YKT

P.S.

Join our waitlist for free personal branding workshops (no pitches ever, I promise)

https://lnkd.in/exVYf5Pc

If your leaders are invisible online, your company might already be losing the trust game.

Your board think “brand” is logos.
Your execs think “visibility” is speaking at one conference a year.
Your marketing team post safe beige nonsense from the company page.

Meanwhile, your buyers stalk people, not PDFs.

They check who runs the place.
What they believe.
How they think.

82% of customers trust a company more when senior leaders show up on social.

Leaders who:

- Share how they make decisions
- Admit when they got it wrong
- Talk like a human, not a press release

When a CEO posts every week, three things happen:

1. Trust goes up.
People see a real person, not a logo, behind the promise.

2. Influence goes up.
Decision makers think “I know how this person thinks, I can bet on them.”

3. Alignment goes up.
Teams stop guessing the strategy, because they can read it in plain sight.

—

Personal branding for leaders is not vanity.

It is how you export your judgement at scale.

It is how you turn “our values” from poster fluff into visible behaviour.

💬 If you don’t know where to start, grab our free guide from the link in the comments, it’s a new resource we built to help you leverage LinkedIn to scale your business, reputation, and audience.

LinkedIn is a lot like dating.

And there are two types of people on LinkedIn.
(Both are doing it wrong).

- First type:

They propose on the first date.
They connect with you and immediately hit you with:
“Hey mate. Loved your profile. Want to jump on a quick call to discuss how we can 10x synergies?”

Instant ick.

- Second type:

They never propose at all.
They post for months.
They get followers.
They get DMs like “this is really good”.
They get profile views.

And they do absolutely nothing with it because they’re scared of being “salesy”.

So they stay in the talking stage forever. Neither wins.

The sweet spot is what we call hand raises 🙋🏻‍♂️

That’s when someone is basically telling you:
“I’m interested in what you do.”

Examples of hand raises:

• They view your profile
• They like and comment regularly
• They follow you after a strong post
• They join your newsletter
• They DM you with an actual question
• They keep showing up

These are hot prospects.
Not because they’re ready to buy today.

But because you’re already on their radar.
So your job is not to pitch them.

Your job is to start a normal conversation and nudge.

➡️ Here’s the simple play:

1. Spot the hand raise

Profile views. Repeat engagers. New followers.

2. Send a normal message

No pitch. No calendar link. No “just circling back”.
Something like:
“Alright mate. Seen you’ve been engaging on a few posts. What side of marketing are you focused on this year?”

3. Listen, then help

If they mention a problem, you can share something useful.

4. Only then offer a next step

If they keep asking questions, they’re basically inviting it.

—

If you want the full breakdown of how to sell effectively on LinkedIn, we put the blueprint in this ultimate guide. I’ll leave a link to it in the comments for you.

As a kid, I’d watch people on TV and think:

“You’re a doughnut. Who let you on camera?”

What I realise today though, is that this was the OG personal branding.

You were handed visibility and opportunities that others didn’t get because you had the skills, sure, but also a strong brand.

Personal branding isn’t new.
We just gave it a name.

What’s changed is not the concept.
It’s access.

PR used to be for the top 5-10%.
Now, reputation building is democratised because social media exists.

Personal branding isn’t a trend.
It’s a core distribution channel that can’t be ignored anymore.

Leaders are forced to be visible, whether they like it or not, so you might as well control the narrative.

—

We’ve built 350+ personal brands. Join the waitlist to learn all our personal branding knowledge for free (no pitches I promise) 👊🏻

https://lnkd.in/exVYf5Pc

It does my head in how many marketing execs think the problem is still demand gen.

When what they really have is a visibility problem.

If you’re hitting pipeline targets, running paid, got the CRM dialled in.

But no one knows who you are or what you do…

I hate to break it to you mate 😶

When budgets tighten, attention shifts.
Boards don’t double down on anonymous operators.

They double down on visible leaders.

The uncomfortable truth:

If your CEO is invisible, and you’re invisible, your company feels invisible.

Company pages don’t build authority. People do.

And yet most marketing leaders still treat personal branding like a side quest.

Here’s what actually happens when leadership shows up consistently:

✅ Sales cycles shorten.
✅ Inbound quality improves.
✅ Recruitment gets easier.
✅Pricing pressure drops.
✅ Category authority compounds.

This isn’t about ego.

It’s about risk and reputation management (which I know a thing or two about)

Reputation is insurance.

Ignore it now, pay for it later - upto you.

Most founders post for likes. 
Smart founders post for leads.

Here is how I think about content when we build accounts at Kurogo:

This is based on: 

→ building 350 accounts
→ Writing over 40,000 posts 
→ hundreds of millions of views)

Your content has 3 jobs, not 1:

- Growth content → pull new people into your world
- Authority content → prove you are the safe, obvious choice
- Conversion content → move buyers from “interested” to “where do I pay?”

Miss one of these and you’re wasting your time. 

Every post should look like this:

- Hook that stops the scroll
- Clear point of view
- Proof you’re not chatting nonsense
- Takeaway or CTA
- Ideally, a complementary image

Not viral cringe fluff.
Not vague “authentic” nonsense.
Not oversharing for your dopamine fix.

Just ideas/opinions from lived experience.

Hope this helps ✌️

80% of businesses fall into one of two marketing camps. Both are shite.

➡️ Camp 1: No marketing

These are the people who say:
“We just focus on doing great work. It speaks for itself.”

Lovely sentiment.
But in 2026, great work is table stakes.
There are thousands of people doing good work in every industry.
If nobody knows about yours, congratulations.
You’ve become the best-kept secret in your industry.

➡️ Camp 2: Send and spend

These are the people who say:

“Just send more emails.”
“Run more ads.”
“Book more cold calls.”

So they:

- Blast cold emails
- Hammer the phones
- Spend a fortune on ads

And yeah… they convert 0.1% of people.
Which technically works.

But the moment they stop sending or spending, the pipeline disappears overnight.

It’s basically marketing on life support.

—

What if I told you there’s a third option?

➡️ Authority Positioning

Instead of chasing attention every day,
You build a reputation that brings people to you through:

- Content
- Ideas
- Perspective
- Proof

Suddenly, prospects show up already knowing you.
Already trusting you.
Already halfway sold.

We see it every week.
Someone messages our clients saying:
“Been seeing your posts for months. Can we talk?”

That’s not magic.
That’s what happens when trust is built before the sales call.

—

If you want the full breakdown of how this works, we’ve just put it into a step-by-step system called:

💡 The Authority Engine.

It covers:

- Positioning
- Content strategy
- Profile optimisation
- Social selling
- Lead capture

Basically, it teaches you how to stop chasing leads and start attracting them.

I’m not selling you anything, just drop me a DM saying “TAE” and I’ll share free access 😊

📷 - How the team used this exact system to get these insane results for Shan Hanif

MattressTek

MattressTek excels at developing and producing innovative mattress making machines improving
our customers productivity, profitability and compliance.
All our machines are British-made, in-house and are built on rock-solid foundations using our own manufacturing facilities and the latest state-of-the-art machinery equipment (Amada). Our in-house CAD designers know how important it is to understand good design and build quality in the mattress making industry, using their 30 years of experience.
Our current mattress machinery products include Tape Edge and Tufting machines and Conveyors but we’re developing a full portfolio of mattress making machinery including Border, Panel Cutting and Slitting machines.

mattresstek.co.uk

● Full-suite marketing strategy to take the business forward and enable the development of business and growth through existing contacts and capitalisation of opportunities within the bed industry and beyond, through international growth, trade, awards, trade shows, grant funding and widespread awareness..
● Exploration and analysis of partnership and networking opportunities, promoting the pride to be a British manufacturer status and developing of links around export and international relations, utilising social media, industry and trade press and email marketing.
● Facilitation and management of marketing activities and operations for sister company (Tek-Dry Systems), as well as a sub-brand (AutomateTek), US distributor (AtoZ Automation) and a subsidiary (MPC Tek - Machined Precision Components).

Marketing Coordinator

All of the tasks under Marketing Coordinator, as well as further Operational, Servicing and Sales support and coordination.
As well as designated driver of the fleet.

Marketing, Servicing and Sales Coordinator

The Jenna Wilkins Foundation

The Foundation was set up in memory of Jenna who was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after her 21st birthday. She was studying to be a teacher and working with those with special educational and emotional needs (SEND). She lost her battle with cancer when we was just 25 years old.

Marketing (Digital) Advisor

AUTOMATE TEK

Our presence online and at trade shows like Foam Expo and interzum has meant that we have also received enquiries from all across the world to use our machines, in an adapted form, in other industries of manufacturing, far beyond beds and mattresses, to serve the automotive, interiors, furniture, industrial and fulfilment and logistics sectors.

As a result, we are introducing AUTOMATE TEK to differentiate the machines that can be made bespoke and modified to your tailored requirements and specifications.

A new offering that will help manufacturers and processors to find our machines and provide a solution that fits their needs, no matter what their industry. We are experts in problem solving and preventative solutions that fit into existing and new production lines to automate and streamline facilities and plant operations and make them more efficient, reducing time wastage, downtime, increasing productivity, capacity and volume of output.

automatetek.co.uk

Marketing

Phoenix Dryers & Engineering

Marketing Support

Plus Importance Project

As the UK’s first registered charity with a focus on the + of LGBT+, we aim to create a world where those who identify fully or partly in the + of LGBT+ experience equal rights, respect and representation.
LGBT+ defined as sexualities, gender identities, relationship orientations and sex characteristics including, but not limited to; POC, asexual, genderfluid, genderqueer, intersex, non-binary, pansexual, polyamorous, queer and neurodiverse, etc.

Our identities are valid and should be recognised, understood and celebrated.

As Marketing Lead, I work with the founder and chair, as well as other trustees and volunteers, and oversee the management and administration of the marketing, brand and awareness of the charity, ensuring we keep to our values, and contribute to our strategic direction.

Marketing Lead

Clothing Collective

Outreach to support organisations across the North West of England to provide them with pre-paid gift cards to distribute to those in need to spend on clothes in charity shops listed with the Charity Retail Association.

We partner with charity shops who accept our gift cards in return for clothing stock held at their shops. We also partner with charities such as food banks and shelters who distribute our gift cards to those people in need to redeem them at one of our ‘charity shop partners’. 

It’s a win-win scenario: those in need get access to warm comfortable clothing in a humane and dignified way, our ‘gift card distributing partners’ are able to support their beneficiaries in an additional way, and our ‘charity shop partners’ are able to turn around more stock from their stores, generating additional revenue for their charity cause.

A helping hand for those in need and those who help them.

clothingcollective.org

Outreach (users and partners)

Rescue Partners

Guidance around marketing, strategy and fundraising, as well as outreach to shelters to be listed (semi-automatically) onto a national directory.

For the shelters, we offer a free to use, national platform, on which to publicise their animals. We've built it to be quick and easy to use, and offer the option to link with their own website and social media - ultimatly reducing the time and effort they spend on trying to keep their online presence updated.

For those looking for their next furry friend our site offers a unique search function, allowing you to look for animals up and down the country whilst offering a range of filters such as age, breed, good with pets, and many more... all to make your search that little bit easier.

We exist to help match animals with their forever homes, as quickly as possible.

www.rescue.partners

Marketing Strategy and Development Advisor

HAPHE

Strategic communication to enhance HAPHE’s public image and reach more individuals in need of mental health support and playing a key role in educating the community and stakeholders about the importance of mental health prevention. Also in anticipation of a film launch involving post-trauma struggles and experiences of university students.

Public Relations Specialist / PR Advisor

Fearless Adventures

Community Member

The Spiritual Arts Foundation

Marketing (strategic) team member

Marketing & Communications💡| Manufacturing👨‍🏭 | Hospitality🎩 | Mental Health🧠 | Media📣 | 🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ Equality & Diversity

"Sometimes it is the people noone imagines anything of who do the things that noone can imagine" ~ Alan Turing

Multi-award-winning marketer with over a decade of cross-industry experience who has been referred for roles and managed a whole spectrum of projects.

A highly-motivated creative professional with extensive experience in many aspects of public relations, communications, media, customer service and strategy, I am constantly focussed to ensuring efficiency, innovation and best utilisation of resources and maximum return on investment (ROI), putting customer experience at the forefront of my thought-processes, and decision-making. 

Ensuring the highest standards in all work undertaken, my excellent communication and interpersonal skills and intuitive approach to communication and collaborative working, along with a friendly, enthusiastic yet approachable personality, have proven effective in establishing strong working relationships with clients, suppliers and colleagues, among other critical stakeholders.

Having undertaken a variety of responsibility- and authority-driven roles, working on contracts and projects of varying scale, my diverse background has spanned a whole decade;  embracing sectors covering construction, legal and FMCG, recruitment, hospitality and leisure, and more recently returning to the manufacturing sector, always ensuring the improvement of processes, maintenance of quality service and product delivery, and adherence to compliance regulations.

I am a true people person with an infectious thirst for continuous improvement, development and empowering others to succeed.

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The Battle

Jake Summerhayes

Chris O👨‍💼 ~ Serial Networker and Connector of People 🤝

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The Battle

Jake Summerhayes

Chris O👨‍💼 ~ Serial Networker and Connector of People 🤝

Followers

Posts

Engagements

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jake Summerhayes's LinkedIn Performance

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