LinkedIn personal branding for VPs and C-level executives | CEO @ GrowedIn

Began writing at 16. Started freelancing at 18. Launched GrowedIn at 21. Built GrowedIn Digital at 24. Turned it all into a group of companies at 25.

The north star remains the same: focus on quality, happy customers, and treating people well.

Most of my time now goes into driving vision, operations, and growth. I focus on building systems that scale, teams that care, and client relationships that last.

Outside work, I spend my time strength training, cycling, exploring new food spots, watching good films & TV shows, and writing occasionally on my personal website: keyurkumbhare.com.

Keyur Kumbhare

About 6 months ago, when we published the very first State of LinkedIn Report, one theme stood out clearly.

Personal brands were outperforming company pages.

That observation has been already discussed a lot over the past few years. LinkedIn works best when people talk to people. Posts from individuals tend to spark more conversation and move through networks faster.

Over time, another pattern has become clearer.

The conversation is no longer really about personal brands vs company pages.

The companies doing LinkedIn well today are using both, and treating them as part of the same system.

They simply play different roles.

Personal profiles are where thinking shows up.
Ideas. Perspectives. Lessons from the field.

Company pages carry the enterprise side of the brand.
Announcements. Product launches. Hiring updates. Company milestones.

One starts conversations.
The other records what the company is building and shipping.

When these are connected, the same idea moves through different layers of the network.

A leader shares a point of view.
The company page adds the official update or context.
Employees reshare it and add their own perspective.

Over time this creates a much stronger presence than relying on one channel alone.

This is one of the shifts we are looking at as we prepare the Spring edition of the State of LinkedIn Report.

There are a few more patterns emerging on LinkedIn that were not as visible even a year ago.

More on that soon.

Our Spring report drops in April. Link in the comments if you'd like to sign up.

I came across a post yesterday claiming personal branding delivered massive ROI in the first month for a client.

And honestly, this is where things start going wrong.

At GrowedIn, we’ve been in personal branding and LinkedIn for over 5 years now, and one thing has always been clear to us. Personal branding is not a direct revenue channel. It is a trust layer. A reputation layer.

Can it lead to business? Of course. People discover you, trust you, and sometimes reach out. But that is a byproduct, not the promise.

The problem with posts that push “5x ROI” or quick returns is that they set the wrong expectations. People come in thinking this is a lead generation engine. It isn’t. And when that expectation breaks, trust in the entire space drops.

We’ve seen this firsthand. Prospects often come in expecting immediate returns because that is what they’ve been told online. In reality, what personal branding does is much slower and much deeper. It shapes how people perceive you. It builds familiarity. It compounds over time.

If your goal is predictable leads, there are clearer ways to do it. Outbound, ads, structured sales processes. Those are designed for that outcome.

Personal branding plays a different role. It makes the rest of your efforts work better. It builds credibility before the conversation even starts.

As founders and operators, it is important to be honest about what we are selling and what we are buying. Not everything needs to be positioned as high ROI to be valuable.

Some things are valuable because they build the foundation.

I ghostwrite Educational Email Courses for Content Agency Founders | Ghostwritten 5001+ SEO-optimized Articles in 5+ Years | LinkedIn Ghostwriter for 6-figure Founders |

🚀 $15K in sales for a client in less than 7 days (without ads or cold outreach)

A coach once told me:
"𝐼’𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠. 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡…
𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛’𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑."

You know your coaching delivers real transformation.

Still…

You’re stuck in a system that keeps you busy,
But never gets you booked.

→ You post consistently, but it doesn’t translate into leads
→ You’re getting likes, but your Stripe account isn’t moving
→ You’re doing everything right, but feel like nothing’s working
→ You’re spending hours following up manually instead of coaching

And all of it leads to:
𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗼𝘂𝘁. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵.

Now imagine this:

→ Your LinkedIn content positions you as the go-to expert
↳ without you ever writing a post.

→ Your ideal clients don’t just like your content 
↳ they enter your email funnel, learn from you, trust you, and convert.

→ You wake up to warm leads in your inbox
↳ without chasing or pushing.

That’s the power of a complete ecosystem.

This is exactly what I build for coaches like you:

→ A 𝐃𝐅𝐘 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 that builds visibility + authority
→ A 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 that nurtures silently and sells smart
→ A system that works in the background—while you coach, scale, and grow

If you're done guessing, posting, and hoping…
Let’s build a system that finally does the heavy lifting for you!

→ READY TO SCALE? → Book a discovery call (from the Featured Section)
OR
→ DM me “𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐌” and let’s turn your expertise into consistent, scalable results.

Dhruv Parmar

"Why should I worry about LinkedIn?" This investor had 17+ companies, 3 exits, and millions in bank.

I was on a call with him last week.
(and I know how long it took to just make that call happen 😪)

Just 5 minutes in the call, and he asked me this:

"Why should I worry about building a brand on LinkedIn when I have nothing to sell or want any money?"

He has a point, right?

It's true that you don't need money
You don't need to make new sales

But when you show up on LinkedIn, you're actually becoming a guide.

Even your raw stories are an inspiration for people who are still working their way through the ropes.

→ You can post your raw experiences as a founder or investor
→ You can post about WHY you did WHAT you did
→ You can post the latest strategies that you see around

There are literally 100s of things you can talk about, and it's going to build you up for real.

Plus, there are definitely the benefits that roll in:

→ You get invited for speaking gigs & events
→ You get exposed to networks you didn't know existed
→ The right founders see you posting & they pitch to you

So, that's the add-on to give you that adrenaline rush.

Let's be real...

You might not need the money.
But everyone needs that adrenaline rush, right?

This is how you get it.

And that's why I help investors build a solid personal brand to get those opportunities they deserve!

Why do you think an investor should build their personal brand?

PS - How long have you been building your personal brand?

I don’t generate LEADS. I build TRUST for Founders & Coaches with Content + Email Ecosystem | Served 75+ clients in the last 7 years | Building my one-person ghostwriting biz to $10k/month |

Don't hire me if you can't handle my obsession.

I've literally said this on a sales call.

Because I don't just come in as a ghostwriter or email strategist, but I come in as an obsessed freak that wants to know everything about you and your business.

What it looks like working with me:

(And boy, my client was actually shocked and asked, "Wait, you'll do all of this?")

When you hire me, you're not hiring a ghostwriter.

You're actually hiring someone who treats your brand like a business, not a content calendar.

And that's why clients like working with me.

As soon as I onboard a client, here's what I do:

Week 1-2: I become obsessed with your business

My first call with the client is never about LinkedIn. It's about:

→ Your revenue goals
→ Your ideal client (the specific ones you actually want)
→ Your offers (and how they're positioned now vs. how they should be)

I audit your entire brand. Profile. Content. Offers. Funnel.

Then I'll build you a strategy. Not just "post ideas." A full positioning + conversion system.

3rd Week onwards: I run your LinkedIn like it's mine, and you get:

→ 12 posts/month (written in your voice, not AI slop)
→ Strategic engagement (I'm not just commenting "great post!")
→ Monthly performance reviews (what's driving DMs, what's not working)
→ Email funnel optimization (because LinkedIn content without nurture = wasted attention)

And that's not even all...

Every month, we go on a deep dive together, and I show you:

Which posts drove the most DMs (and WHY)
What's happening in your email funnel (statistics)
Where we're pivoting next month

And I'm not just reporting the metrics, but I explain where we can double down to make money.

Plus, the stuff you don't see (but I'm doing):

→ I'm tracking your competitors' content (what's working for them) 
→ I'm testing different CTAs (to see what converts better) 
→ I'm optimizing your profile every month (based on what's shifting in the algorithm) 

So, you're not hiring a ghostwriter.
You're hiring a CMO for your personal brand.

And that's the difference between a $300/month and a $1200/month ghostwriter!

You choose your growth engine.

Want to get a sneak peek at what my starting audits for founders look like? DM me "AUDIT"

PS - I'm opening up 2 new slots for March. Want IN? DM me now!

I ghostwrite for 2 founders making $100k-$120k/ year and 2 of them making $250k+. And we've found 3 topics that actually close deals for them (but feel too risky)

1. The expensive mistakes their clients made BEFORE hiring them

One of my clients works with SaaS founders scaling to $1M+.

You know what his best-performing post is?

"3 founders lost $50k+ trying to scale before fixing this one thing." 

This wasn't really a brag or a lesson. It was a warning for founders.

And this works because:

→ It positions him as the person who sees what others miss.
→ It makes the reader think: "Wait, am I making that mistake right now?"
→ It creates urgency without being salesy.

Premium buyers don't hire you because you're successful.
They hire you because you can predict their failure before it happens.

2. The contrarian belief that makes their method work

Another client is a leadership coach.

Her most viral post:

"Your team isn't underperforming because they lack motivation. They're underperforming because you're over-managing. Here's what I do instead."

She didn't try to just teach a framework. She clearly challenged the belief.

And it worked because:

→ It separates her from every other leadership coach saying "empower your team."
→ It positions her as someone who thinks differently.
→ It makes the reader question everything they've been doing.

Premium clients don't pay for best practices.
They pay for proprietary thinking.

3. A case study with the REAL numbers

I created a high-converting post for a growth strategist for B2B SaaS.

"This SaaS founder was stuck at $100k ARR for 18 months. We changed one thing in their sales process. They hit $500k+ in 6 months. Here's the breakdown."

Then he exactly talked about what was broken, what he changed, and what happened.

No fluff. No hypothetical talks. Only exact numbers with clear focus on the outcome.

This works every single time because:

→ Proof > promises.
→ Specificity = credibility.
→ It gives the reader a mental model for what's possible.

This is the content premium buyers screenshot and send to their co-founders with:
"We should talk to this person."

I just want to say that founders and businesses at this level need to understand what to chase.

You can't just share insights. You have to actually sell outcomes.

Start posting what makes your ideal client think:

"If I don't hire this person, I'm going to lose money."

That's the kind of content these high-value founders should be creating.

Which of these 3 topics have you been avoiding because it felt too risky to post?

'Make AI Mediocre Again' (MAMA, I want this campaign back)

Cadbury 5Star launched this over a year ago, but I think it makes the most sense right now.

The way people are obsessed with AI in everything, I feel like we're already in this time that this ad talks about.

AI isn't helping us do less. Instead, it's making everyone do more in the name of doing things faster.

What if there are tens of thousands of confusing and stupid info websites that start feeding info to AI?

AI starts picking up nonsense from these websites and spreading it.

(I know this is just for fun, but just imagine what this reality would look like 😂)

PS - On a serious note, do you think AI is taking over everything and losing that real touch in so many places?

Money flows where attention goes. That's the reality for B2B businesses (which they are missing out on)

I have a habit of listening to a podcast while hitting the gym.

And I swear that I love this way of consumption.
Easy 3-4 podcasts consumed every week with audio notes lying in my Keep app.

Last week, I was listening to an interesting marketing podcast between Rajiv Talreja and Raj Shamani.

Rajiv talked about content marketing.

And B2B is missing out on this for real.

I'll say this once (okay, I might say it again tomorrow, lol!!!)

Decision-makers don't buy from you because your product is better. They buy because they've been reading you for 3 months.

There's a simple thing happening behind this.

Your best clients refer you to their peers.
That peer Googles your name.
Finds nothing.
Then Googles the problem.
Finds your competitor's content everywhere.

Now you can take a guess who they're going to call.

Word-of-mouth used to build businesses.

Now it just opens the door.

But when that door opens, the buyer doesn't call you first.

They research.

And if your content isn't part of that research, you've already lost.

Money flows where attention goes.

This is true for every industry and every freaking business.

But I see this being true a lot more for B2B businesses with long sales cycles.

They aren't making impulse buying decisions.

They are reading your posts, articles, newsletters, press releases, and everything that your ambassadors are talking about.

And they make that decision in the 29 pieces of content they consumed before they ever contacted anyone.

Content creation isn't marketing anymore.

It's distribution.

If buyers can't find your perspective when they're researching, you don't get considered.

You just get outcompeted by someone who showed up in their feed.

Whose content is your next client reading right now?

PS - Which company's content marketing strategies always leave you in awe?

They said carousels are DEAD in 2023.
Then they said it again in 2025.
Now it's again in 2026.

Actually, they're dominating harder than ever. And 2026 data backs it up for real.

Carousels achieve a 6.60% engagement rate, which is 278% higher than video, 303% higher than images, and 596% higher than text-only posts. 

I'm not saying that I want a wave of carousels, just like we saw in 2024.

And it definitely doesn't mean that I'm not going to do more text-only posts.

I'm still bullish on text-posts (just like my pal, Ryan Musselman, high-five!!!)

But this data clearly shows that carousels are important as well.

They're increasing the dwell time.

And that 2-3 minutes a reader spends on your post is boosting it like crazy.

The LinkedIn algorithm in 2026 rewards substance over frequency, depth over virality, and expertise over engagement hacking. 

So are you still going to sit on the fence?

What's the last carousel you saved because you actually learned something? 

PS - Tag some creators whose carousels you like the most, coz I want to check out more of them!

Carousels Are DEAD in 2026

"AI is going to take all our jobs."

I've been seeing the same panic for 2 years now, but I don't support this.

It's not going to take my job.

It's actually going to do something way more interesting.

Back in 2015, you needed 100 people to run a $10M company.

Marketing team. Sales team. Operations team. Support team.

But in 2026?
You can hit $10M with 8 people. 

Because AI didn't steal the jobs. It redistributed the leverage.

Before: 10 companies. 100 employees each. 1,000 total jobs.
After: 1,000 companies. 10 employees each. 10,000 total jobs. 

The companies just got smaller, but there are way more of them.

That's because the entry barrier to building has never been lower than this.

You used to need:

→ A developer to build your product 
→ A designer to make it look good 
→ A writer to explain what it does 
→ A marketer to get people to see it 
→ A salesperson to close deals

But now?

One founder + AI can do all of that. 

This might sound like "AI took 5 jobs." But what it actually means is:

5 people who were stuck working FOR someone else can now build their OWN thing.

The people who used to need $2M in funding and a 20-person team to start a company? They can now start with $0 and a laptop.

I'm talking with founders who are using AI to build MVPs, design landing pages, and even create rough drafts for the first 100 blog posts.

All this for less than $250.

The company size is surely shrinking.
But the number of companies is actually exploding.

This is why I'm not worried about AI taking jobs.

I'm worried about people not realizing the opportunity.

Because the next decade isn't about "getting hired."

It's about "building something."

And smart founders are documenting their journey, going bullish on content systems, and developing personal brands!

That's the shift I'm betting on!

If you can build anything with AI, then what would you build today?

PS - What shift are you seeing the most with AI right now?

you're spending $2500/month on content where the only focus is on the company page (and i was shocked with what i saw)

the last post was 2 weeks ago with 127 impressions and 4 likes (and one of them was from his own account. lollll)

and this was while running a SaaS business, where the founder's name matters a lot.

then I showed him his competitor's CEO.

he posted 3x a week, averaging 5k impressions and 80-90 comments.

dude, that money is just being spent and not turning into an investment.

CEO content generates 4x more engagement than company posts. but it's not just about engagement. it is about buyer behavior now.

what used to happen:
buyer has problem → Googles solution → finds your website → books demo 

what happens now:
buyer has problem → asks chatgpt → gets 5 names → Googles each founder → reads their content for 2 weeks → picks the one they trust 

your personal brand is doing the heavy lifting now.

and they trust your CEO content more than those company pages (on any damn day)

that's because company pages sound like marketing. 
but CEO content sounds like wisdom from experience.

CEO content builds that pre-call trust to make the sale happen even before the call starts.

and founders need to get this straight through their heads that CEO content ≠ thought leadership.

that's just bullshit.

CEOs need to put out raw, specific, and real content
(the kind of content that your marketing team wouldn't approve)

but you definitely don't need to spend $30k per year for this kind of content.

and you definitely don't have to write it yourself.

you just need a system that:

→ pulls insights from your brain (your actual experiences, not generic advice)
→ translates them into content that sounds like YOU (by a ghostwriter)
→ shows up consistently without you spending 5 hours a week writing

and that's how CEO content actually closes B2B deals!

a lot faster than your sales teams.

are you using your founder profiles only to post announcements or actually getting customers for your business?

ps - tag a founder or ceo who you think is nailing it with content.

Last Saturday, I was crafting posts for a dating industry client. And honestly, it's been way more fun than I expected.

The more I write for him, the more I see the double standards people live with.

The content is about connection, vulnerability, and finding someone real.

But when I look around at how people actually date now... It's the opposite.

Love isn't taken seriously anymore.

People swipe through humans like they're scrolling a feed.

I'm not really judging, but I'm just noticing.

Because when you write for someone in an industry, you start seeing the gap. The gap between what people say they want and what they actually do.

My client's audience wants a real connection.
But they're treating people like they're disposable.

This is what I love about writing for different industries. Each one teaches me something new about how people think.

Finance clients show me how people relate to money.
Healthcare clients show me how people avoid hard truths.
Dating clients show me how people protect themselves from getting hurt by never actually trying.

I've written for tech founders, real estate agents, coaches, SaaS companies, wellness brands, and more...

And every single industry gives me a new lens. A new way to see the same human patterns playing out in different contexts.

That's what keeps this work interesting.

What's the best part of your job that you always love the most?

PS - If money wasn't a question, would you still do what you're doing right now?

taplio

The Battle

Keyur Kumbhare

Dhruv Parmar

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreKeyur Kumbhare's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDhruv Parmar's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Keyur Kumbhare

Dhruv Parmar

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Keyur Kumbhare's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDhruv Parmar's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreKeyur Kumbhare's LinkedIn Performance