Compound Content Studio

Founder & CEO

Bluecast

Co-Founder

Social Files

Founder

Triple Whale 🐳

Head of Social

Nutritional Coaching Institute

Content Strategist

T. Clark Nutrition

CEO @ Compound; Building a social media agency for B2B companies; Founder, Social Files

Scaling Compound Content Studio, a social agency for B2B companies who want to launch an organic social media presence that creates real community, generates product demand, and increases revenue (our personal fav).

We've helped 50+ early-stage SaaS and service founders launch and scale founder-led content in the past 1.5 years.

Also writing a weekly newsletter called Social Files that helps B2B companies generate product demand and get customers with social content.

Check my featured link to subscribe to Social File.

Tommy Clark

It's a damn shame that so many aspiring writers are getting nerfed hard by Chat GPT and other AI tools. They don't even realize it.

The most valuable part of the writing process *is* the struggle.

You learn the most when you have to think through how to form an argument. How to slot the pieces of a story together in a way that makes sense. Not to mention the discipline it takes to sit down in front of your laptop and chip away at a post, article, or book when you don't quite feel like it.

When you rely on AI to get you an OK draft that's "70% of the way there," you rob yourself of that mental training. The end product just also isn't that good.

The inefficiencies in the writing process make you a better writer.

Stop trying so hard to rid yourself of them.

CEO @ Compound | Co-founder @ Bluecast | Building a social media agency for B2B companies

Can I be real honest with you for a second?

Posting 5 times per week on LinkedIn is not hard. It’s just not. You are telling yourself it’s ‘hard’ because you are scared to put yourself out there on the internet. Which is insane because you literally started a company. You perceive pressing “post” on a piece of LinkedIn content to your 2700 followers as harder than leaving your comfortable job, managing a team of employees, raising VC money, etc etc.

Do you understand how ridiculous that sounds?

Do you??

Press publish. Who cares what your colleague from the job you quit thinks? That six-figure ACV contract you land from LinkedIn next month will wash the embarrassment away.

If this post convinces just one founder to PRESS PUBLISH, I can log off a happy man today.

Refusing to post daily on LinkedIn to maintain "quality" is such a cop out.

Posting 5 times per week is not hard. And no, you don't have to post slop to do it. Founders just get a bit too precious with their LinkedIn. They assume every post has to be a thoroughly researched, long-ass dissertation polished by some expensive PR firm. You know, you can just post your thoughts, right? And people want to hear those! Crazy. I know.

Quality is not determined by how long it took you to write a post. Some of my top-performing posts took minutes to write from idea to timeline.

Quality is not determined by the length of the post itself. Many short-form pieces do quite well.

Last thing: when you're just starting out on LinkedIn, nobody knows who you are. You get people to know who you are by showing up in their timeline often, with stuff they like. Your 1-2x per week cadence is not enough. It's just not.

So please, just publish.

AI slop has overrun the LinkedIn timeline.

This is good news, believe it or not.

Huh??

Yes. Good news. Hear me out.

When everyone and their mom is using Chat GPT, Claude, or one of the seventy-two LinkedIn content writing tools to one-shot content…it all sounds the same. There is no moat. Content is a commodity.

If you are willing to put just a liiiiittle effort into originality and prose, you will stand above the pile of dogsh*t AI-written content.

Their laziness is your opportunity.

I'd urge you to share more of your personal interests on LinkedIn going into 2026.

No...it's not "fluff." Sharing what you're into humanizes you, and is a helpful moat against soulless AI slop.

If you're a founder: you'll also be surprised by how many people in your ICP share the same interests and hobbies as you. 

I've been on several sales calls that have turned into conversations around books (deals closed, btw). I've met countless great candidates for the Compound Content Studio team who found me first through one of my posts about reading.

Plus, I find writing about this stuff a lot more fun than sharing the same "viral hook formulas" again and again and again (though those posts *do* have their place).

Try publishing a personal interest post this week.

I think you'll be surprised by the reception.

If I was a Content Writer on the job market in 2025 who wanted to land a new job, there’s ONE skill I’d put all of my focus into to attract A+ opportunities. Writing founder-led content for LinkedIn. Here’s a breakdown of why, what sub-skills you need to develop, and how I’d go about doing it:

I. Why founder-led content?

More and more B2B founders are realizing that LinkedIn is the most effective channel to get in front of their ideal buyers. Yet, they have NO time to create content on their own. I speak to 5-10 founders per week who report this. The demand is there. Yet the 'supply' of writers who are proficient in this skill is not.

At Compound, we’re always hiring Content Writers to join our team to support our demand.

II. What sub-skills do you need to develop to be a stellar writer for LinkedIn?

(1) Understand how to write compelling hooks and choose interesting topics. Packaging is the most impactful lever you can pull to improve post performance. Most writers I speak to coming from SEO background just don’t understand how to package content for social.

(2) Learn how to shape-shift your tone. Writing for founders requires the ability to ascertain their writing style. You need to be a chameleon. And you can’t let your own tone show too much in the final output.

(3) Write with clarity & logical flow. This is not specific to founder-led content, but it is worth highlighting here. Great writing is clear thinking. Can you pull nuggets from a content interview and weave them together in a cohesive narrative?

III. Practical ways to improve your writing skills

(a) Do 30 minutes of Copy Work per day. Literally take a piece of writing you admire, and hand copy it. Sounds silly, but it works. The practice helps you get a feel for ‘good writing.’

(b) Spend time each day scrolling the LinkedIn timeline. Study which posts grab your attention, and why. Reverse engineer winning content.

(c) Write 3 hook variations for every post you create. You’ll get more reps in…and you’ll find that your 2nd and 3rd tries are often the best hooks.

(d) Write. Every. Day. The most progress I’ve made as a writer & marketer came during the pandemic era when Gary Vee brainwashed me into posting 3x a day across 4+ social platforms. Insane output; but, nothing was more effective for my growth as a marketer & writer.

I’m running out of room here, but this should give you a good overview of how to start writing for LinkedIn. If you implement this blueprint, you will see your writing ability spike in the next month.

I hate the AI witch hunt posts as much as the next guy. I'm still going to use em dashes—watch me—and I'm still going to use the 'rule of three' in my writing. Sorry.

That said, we do need to have a chat, you and I. It is soooo painfully obvious when a founder hands over their content production to AI.

Anyone with more than two brain cells can tell.

You might fool a total beginner, but you are not fooling a sophisticated buyer.

And the moment your reader notices the not-so-subtle shift in writing style, you lose them.

Resist the false promises of the AI guru industrial complex.

Inefficiency and effort are a small price to pay for your reader's trust.

I’m convinced one of the best ways to stand out as a Content Writer as AI becomes more prominent in business content is to read more fiction. Read across multiple genres. Read books written in different POVs.

I see so many Content Writers confine themselves to non-fiction self help books or personal branding slop from the clone army of content gurus on LinkedIn. That’s a fine place to start. I began there!

But if you're only reading what everyone else is reading, your writing starts to sound like…everyone else. Your inputs influence your output. And you become a commodity.

In that case, you're **checks watch** 1-2 years away from your career being oneshotted by my new favorite coworker, Claude.

I’ve noticed my writing improve as I’ve read more for fun. I spend a lot of my time right now in the science fiction and fantasy genres. My prose has gotten stronger, and so has my ability to tell a compelling story. Writing is also fun again!

I’ll say it time and time again: great writing is built on a foundation of reading.

P.S. I’m currently reading Shadows Upon Time, book 7 of The Sun Eater series - phenomenal series. Coming up on the end of the series here, and looking for my next read. What would you recommend? Hit me in the comments.

"LinkedIn isn't working for me." Mhmm. Ok. Whenever I talk to a founder who's struggling to grow on LinkedIn, I can trace the problem with their posts back to 2 core elements.

(Good news: these are stupid simple to fix)

(1) Topic selection
(2) The hook

These two elements are related, but distinct.

Your topic has to be compelling to your ICP. Then, you have to use your hook to package that topic in a way that is most likely to stop the scroll.

All the hook tactics in the world won't make a bad topic work. Conversely, plenty of great topics get buried under a crap hook.

If you're struggling to see momentum on this platform, spend most of your time here. Trust me. Ok?

Side quest update: as of yesterday, I'm done with Act II of the first draft of my debut science fantasy novel. 115,336 in the Google Doc. In the home stretch now (of draft 1 💀).

Cranking away at a ~1500-word-per-day pace. Should be typing "The End" by the time the new year hits.

Then, time to write it all over again in Draft 2.

After that, I'll hire an editor for a developmental edit (if anyone has recs, let me know).

I love writing. Grateful I get to run a company that does it for founders. It's been fun honing the craft in an entirely different medium over the past year. Writing a coherent book is so, so much harder than social content. Made me better at my 'day job' in many ways, too.

Excited to share the finished book with you all around this time next year.

All of the founders who pop off on LinkedIn fast have a dirty little secret.

Relevant industry experience. See, credibility is a multiplier. The formula is simple:

Performance = Content Best Practices x Credibility

When your reader views you as a credible authority, you play the content game on easy mode. Scrollers are more likely to stop and read your content...often despite you ignoring industry best practices.

I remember earlier on in Compound's journey, we worked with a fintech client. The CEO wanted to create posts "like Jamie Dimon's." I looked at Dimon's content and found walls of text that would scare off most readers were he not the CEO of JPMorgan. His content did well despite his formatting, not because of it.

You also see greener founders do everything 'right,' yet gain zero momentum. Every post flops. "But I followed this viral hook template!" Yeah. You're also selling into GTM leadership as a 22-year-old 'cracked' founder with zero experience in sales. Why should they listen to you?

Remember, credibility is a multiplier, and anything multiplied by zero is...zero.

When you zoom in on the startup founders who have 'blown up' on LinkedIn over the past 1-2 years -- think Austin Hughes, Gal Aga, etc -- you often see an overlap between what they write about and real, lived experience. Their posts hit stronger because of believable, specific examples and unique takes formed by real-world reps.

There isn't a hack to circumvent this.

The pinnacle of the content game is packed with "ten-year overnight success" stories. So you'd better start publishing now. 

___
***Disclaimer: I'm sure there are some edge cases here, so forgive me for using the absolute to make the hook punchier ;)

Every B2B startup founder should try their hand at LinkedIn content. It’s silly not to. Here’s why, what you should post about, and how to get started (in one simple guide).

Btw - I’ve helped 75+ founders & CEOs get started with social content and I’ve used content to grow my own company to $1M+ in revenue last year (2nd year in biz).

Ok, so why bother posting?

- You’ll get more inbound leads (duh)
- You’ll have an easier time sourcing A+ to join your company
- You’ll get more inbound investors wanting to give you money
- You’ll make your other marketing channels (outbound, paid media, etc) perform better

That’s really it.

WTF do you post about?

Simple framework - find Content-Market Fit.

- What does your ICP care about?
- What’s relevant to your product?
- What do you have the credibility to write about?

Once you’ve landed on one core focus…Not 5. Not 3. 1. Then you’ll build your Content Funnel.

- TOFU: broader “founder story” and company-building content that’s optimized for reach
- MOFU: industry-specific thought leadership that positions you as a go-to resource for your ICP
- BOFU: product content - case studies, feature highlights, all the stuff that pitches your software

For example - say you're selling a SaaS in the GTM tech category selling into founders and revenue leaders. And you were a former VP of Sales at a well-known company like Gong. Easy money.

You’d want to position yourself as a go-to resource in sales & GTM. Your top of funnel content would be ‘building in public’ updates showing the momentum you have as a company. Could get vulnerable too - but to be honest, you don’t have to. Middle of funnel content would be sales advice and frameworks that your ICP would find helpful. BOFU content is your feature demos.

How often should you post?

- 5x per week. No, it’s not too much. Nobody knows who you are. Get in the timeline more.
- Here’s your content mix - 1x TOFU, 3x MOFU, 1x BOFU (good starting point)

You’ll either write your own stuff (if you're bootstrapping or haven’t raised *yet*).

Or, if you've raised your seed or Series A, you could look to bring on an agency to help you produce content (I know a guy). Hiring in-house for content early on is doable, but hard. You're not gonna know what to look for.

Anyway. Follow this guide. Use the other stuff on my profile and in my newsletter as well. You have 100% of what you need to win with content.

It will change the course of your business if you commit to it for a quarter. GLHF!

Whenever a founder’s LinkedIn post flops, I can trace it back to one cause: the hook. The good news is, hooks are a formula. Here are 6 ways to write better LinkedIn hooks (without relying on cringe templates that make you want to delete your profile to preserve your honor):

Quick credibility blurb: I’ve spent the past 7 years writing on LinkedIn, and have helped over 100 B2B founders launch their presence on the platform. Probably written or edited over 10,000 posts. Concerning! 😆

(1) Negativity bias.

Human brains are wired to focus on the negative (like it or not). You can fight against this, or you can tastefully use it to your advantage. Try framing your next post around something your customer wants to get away from. Notice how I got you with this in the post you're reading…you don’t want your next hook to flop, do you?

(2) Specific numbers.

Ideally, monetary figures. This is why sharing revenue numbers works so well, and why green-screen-talking-head short-form creators often write hooks like “[Popular Brand]’s $75M Marketing Playbook.” Don’t hate the player…just do it tastefully.

(3) Narrative.

Stop with the stale, sterile “how-to hooks.” Package the same idea as a story. Stories are the preferred way for humans to consume information. Use this in your hooks.

(4) Credibility-jacking.

Use popular names and figures in your hooks. You’re essentially “borrowing” credibility from the subject.

Funny story about this one. One time, another ghostwriting agency CEO did one of these hooks using one of OUR clients. The audacity! To his credit, it went viral.

(5) Lists.

David Ogilvy is one of the greatest advertising minds in history; he’s also a great writer. And in his work, you’ll find a ton of lists. Lists are such an easy way to package information. They also create an information gap. If I say I’m giving you 6 ways to avoid bad hooks, you need to read the rest of the post to learn all 6.

(6) Visuals.

This one’s sneaky. The hook isn’t just what appears before the “See More” line. You can also use your media as a hook. You should. Right now, I’m finding that IRL photos perform better than overly branded graphics. Don’t force media when you don’t have to (I didn’t here), but when you do, treat it like MrBeast treats his thumbnails.

Can you make me a promise?

Next time you write a post, before you press publish, run your hook through this checklist. If you don’t see at least 2-3 of the above levers in the copy…you should rework it.

Hope this helps. Save this, and follow along for more ways to improve your founder-led LinkedIn content.

“I don’t know what to post about” is no longer an excuse not to publish founder-led content.

At least, not after you read this post. Here are 20 content prompts pulled directly from the bank of questions we ask clients on content interviews. Save this. Bookmark it. Pick one today to use as the starting point for your next post.

Tell me about the origin story of [company]. What was the lightbulb moment for you?

What’s one company-building belief you have that others disagree with you on?

What's one [category] belief you have that others disagree with you on?

How do you think about hiring at [company]? How are some recent hires?

What were the top 3 wins from the past month? Top 3 learnings? What’s next for [company] in [next month]?

How do you think about building culture at [company]? What are the core values of your culture?

Tell me about a recent conversation you've had with a customer or prospect that stood out to you.

What has been the biggest 'oh shit' moment in growing [company] so far? How did you overcome it? How has it influenced the way you continue to grow [company] going forward?

Can you get us a list of *every* feature you've shipped in the past X months? Of these, which are *most* compelling to your ICP?

What’s one book that impacted the way you view company-building?

Run me through a detailed checklist of how to [category-related task]. What are the specific steps required to achieve [desired outcome]?

What are 3-5 things you wish you knew before you got into [category]?

What are the top 3-5 mistakes that keep [ICP] from [ideal outcome]?

Run me through all the tech and tools a [ICP] needs in their tech stack.

Tell me about a time when you had a difficult customer and made it work. Bonus points if we can find an example where you or your team went above and beyond for the customer. How did this experience influence the way you run [company] now?

Tell me about one hire you've made at [company] who has blown away your expectations.

During your time as [ICP], what was one template or framework you found yourself relying on?

What's one thing you wish more people knew about [product]? Any anecdotes or case studies we can cite in this post that would make it more compelling?

What made you decide to take the jump from [previous role] to starting your own business? At what point did you know you were ‘ready?’

What do you think the [ICP] role will look like in [category] in the year 2030? Give me at least 3 specific predictions (each will be its own post).

What is the right way to [industry-related task]? What is the wrong way to [industry-related task]? Contrasting the two in a post tends to do well.

What [category] news has caught your attention lately? Is there a new release or development that [ICP] should be aware of? What is your take on this?

Fin.

taplio