Sean Kelly

Founder & Investor. Building companies at the intersection of health, media & founder performance.

Hey there, I’m Sean. I play at the intersection of investing, media and human performance.

I’m a three-time INC 500 founder & entrepreneur with businesses in eCommerce, SaaS, media and B2B services that have collectively generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

Right now, I serve as a General Partner at The Family Fund and am the CEO of Significant Publications, a B2B digital media holding company.

I'm particularly passionate about our brand FounderIV in support of today's founder-athletes. We help today's top entrepreneurs achieve breakout performance in their personal and professional lives.

I co-founded and led multiple other companies, including SnackNation, a health-centric foodservice and brand discovery platform that served 20,000 businesses across the US. 

Under my leadership, SnackNation was honored as one of the country’s Best Workplaces by Inc. Magazine, recognized for Top Company Culture by Entrepreneur Magazine, and certified as a Great Workplace by Great Place to Work®.

Forbes listed me as one of the top 30 leaders under 30 and one of America’s most promising CEOs under 35. Comparably also ranked me among the country’s top 50 small-to-medium sized business CEOs multiple years in a row. 

Outside of the business world, I’m a two-time national medalist in freestyle snowboarding, hold an advisory role at the growth capital firm, Meaningful Partners, have a degree in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University and am an avid sports fan of all Michigan sports teams (especially the Wolverines).

I currently live in Venice, CA with my wife and college sweetheart, Shannon, and our goldendoodle, Jameson.

Chairman

One of the oldest laws in markets that everyone forgets:

More capital → more competition → higher entry prices → lower returns.

Abundant capital is great for momentum, but it rarely produces the best long-term outcomes.

The most durable venture returns tend to come from non-obvious places—where fewer checks are being written, expectations are lower, and pricing resets ahead of fundamentals.

You can make money following the herd...

But differentiated returns usually accrue to investors willing to underwrite conviction when capital is scarce.

That’s why we at The Family Fund & Founder Community are bullish on Consumer NOW.

Not despite the pullback in capital—but because of it.

Josh Wand Christine Wang Colleen Kang

Evan Nierman

Founder & CEO, Red Banyan PR | Author of Top-Rated Newsletter on Communications Best Practices

I'm the Founder and CEO of Red Banyan, an international public relations and crisis management firm that exists to press the truth and deliver results. My team and I specialize in high-stakes PR, cancel culture response, litigation communications, and complex reputational challenges that require creative thinking, strategic clarity, and unshakable judgment.

For more than two decades, I’ve helped CEOs, public figures, law firms, and global brands navigate their most difficult moments. Whether it’s a viral controversy, a legal dispute, or a reputational crisis, I bring deep media experience and a relentless commitment to exceeding expectations.

I’m also the author of The Cancel Culture Curse and Crisis Averted, and I frequently appear on major news outlets like Fox News, CNN, BBC, and Newsmax to share insights on cancel culture, media strategy, and crisis communications.

🔹 Founder & CEO of Red Banyan
🔹 Author of The Cancel Culture Curse and Crisis Averted
🔹 Regular media commentator on PR and reputation issues
🔹 Trusted advisor to executives, attorneys, and public figures
🔹 Featured in Newsweek, PRWeek, The Washington Post, and Forbes

My mission is simple: help people and organizations tell their stories truthfully, strategically, and powerfully—especially when the stakes are highest.

📩 Learn more at www.redbanyan.com

Founder and CEO

Red Banyan Group is a strategic communications firm specializing in public relations, crisis management and marketing.  Red Banyan Group combines creative thinking, steady judgment shaped by experience and a relentless commitment to achieving results for its clients.  Red Banyan offers a wide array of services, including: media relations, crisis management, marketing, corporate communications, litigation support, social and digital media, copywriting and editing and media training.

Staying in a “good mood” isn’t the point.
Staying composed is.

In moments of pressure, leaders don’t earn trust by being upbeat.
They earn it by being steady.

When stress rises, people stop listening to explanations.

They start reading signals.

Your tone.

Your pace.

Your presence.

I’ve seen reputations damaged not by bad decisions
but by how pressure showed up in a leader’s voice.

Composure isn’t emotional detachment.

It’s emotional discipline.

It’s the ability to remain clear
when others are reacting.

That steadiness doesn’t just calm the room.

It restores credibility.

In a crisis, your emotional control becomes public leadership.

Follow for weekly insights on leadership, reputation, and crisis communication.

Kindness is often misunderstood in leadership.
Especially in moments of pressure.

In a crisis, many leaders believe strength means distance.

Control. Silence. Authority.

But the moments people remember most
are rarely the loud ones.

They remember who stayed human
when it was easier not to.

Over the years, I’ve watched reputations rise and fall under stress.

Not based on decisions alone
but on how those decisions were delivered.

Kindness is not softness.

It’s clarity without cruelty.

Accountability without humiliation.

Leadership without ego.

People do not expect perfection from leaders.

They expect fairness.

And long after the headlines fade,
what remains is how people felt working with you
when things were hard.

That memory outlasts any press cycle.

Leadership is not about being liked.

It is about being respected
even when the pressure is high.

Follow for weekly insights on leadership, reputation, and crisis communication.

Integrity is not measured when everything is calm.
It is measured when there is risk.

In a crisis, everyone claims to have values.

Very few actually demonstrate them.

Over years of working with leaders under pressure, a clear pattern emerges.

People with real integrity do not behave ideally.

They take responsibility when it is most costly.

This is what it looks like in practice:

They do not say what sounds best first.
They take ownership before they are forced to.
They do not trade truth for short-term peace.
They think in terms of long-term reputation, not today’s headline.
They protect people, even when it is unpopular.
They admit mistakes without drama or excuses.

These are not motivational traits.

They are reputational decisions.

The difference between a good leader and a trusted one
is not charisma.

It is behavior when there is no perfect option.

Integrity does not build image.

It determines whether image survives a crisis.

Follow for weekly insights on reputation, crisis PR, and leadership under pressure.

Many experienced entrepreneurs don’t stumble because they lack knowledge. They stumble because they rely too heavily on themselves.

As a company grows, a leader who doesn’t delegate,
doesn’t build a culture of trust,
and doesn’t surround themselves with people stronger than them
eventually becomes the constraint to growth.

True leadership doesn’t come from control.

It comes from self-awareness, trust, and the willingness to let others lead.

Experience doesn’t eliminate blind spots. It often hides them.

In this article, I share five leadership mistakes even seasoned entrepreneurs make

and how they quietly limit growth if left unaddressed.

Grateful to Entrepreneurs'​ Organization’ for the opportunity to explore this topic with their community.

The leaders who scale the furthest are the ones willing to examine what success can make easy to miss.

Read the full article here:

https://lnkd.in/gqD5W4HT

People won’t remember what happened.
They’ll remember how you handled it.

Years after a crisis ends, most people won't recall the details.

The timeline. The investigation findings. The resolution.

What they remember is simpler—and more powerful.

How you showed up.

Whether you seemed scared or steady.

If you told the truth or hid behind lawyers.

Whether you cared more about protecting yourself or doing what was right.

Here's what outlasts the crisis:

1.) Your tone.
Did you sound human or like a press release?
Did you show empathy or just manage liability?

2.) Your presence.

Did you show up when it was hard or disappear until it was safe?
Leaders who face the moment earn respect.
Leaders who vanish lose it permanently.

3.) Your honesty.
Did you own the mistake or spin it?

People can forgive failure. 
They don't forgive dishonesty.
One moment of raw accountability outlasts a dozen polished statements.

4.) Your composure.

Crisis reveals character.

If you panicked, people saw it. If you stayed calm, they felt it.

Composure doesn't mean hiding emotion. It means showing strength when everyone else is looking for it.

I've watched crises fade from headlines within weeks.

But the leaders who handled them well—or poorly—are still defined by those moments years later.

Because facts blur. Emotions stick.

People remember how you carried yourself when everything was falling apart.

Not what the official statement said.

Not what the settlement amount was.

But whether you showed up with integrity, empathy, and courage—or didn't.
The crisis will end.

What you do during it lasts forever.

What people think about you often matters more
than what you actually do.

This might sound surprising, but in reality, perception drives everything.

Your reputation isn't built just on the actions you take.

It's shaped by how the public perceives those actions.

In a world where information spreads faster than ever, perception is often reality.

So, why does your reputation matter more than anything else?

Because in business, trust is the foundation of everything.

From customers to partners, employees to investors, how people feel about your brand influences their decisions, loyalty, and engagement.

Here’s the truth:

When people trust you, they listen to your message, engage with your brand, and stand by you even when times are tough.

But when trust is broken, no amount of good work can fix it.

In a crisis, managing perception can mean the difference between a minor setback and a business-ending scandal.

Reputation is your most valuable asset because it directly impacts:

1.) Customer loyalty
2.) Brand perception
3.) Growth opportunities
4.) Crisis resilience
5.) Leadership influence

To build and protect your reputation, you have to be consistent, transparent, and always in tune with how your actions are perceived especially in moments when you’re under pressure.

When perception is managed well, it doesn’t just protect your business; it propels it forward.

Your reputation isn't just what you've done. 

It's what others believe you've done.

And that belief drives success.

In a crisis, people don’t hear facts first.
They feel.

It’s a critical lesson that many leaders realize too late.

In the heat of the moment, emotions are high. 

Explanations struggle to stick. 

Details blur, and timelines become difficult to follow.

Not because the truth doesn’t matter — but because people’s emotions are overpowering their ability to process information.

Emotion shapes attention. 

It creates the lens through which everything is viewed.

The most effective leaders know that facts alone won’t carry them through a crisis.

They recognize that addressing how people feel is just as important as providing the truth. 

They lead by creating an emotional foundation first, building trust and clarity before moving into the facts.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Acknowledge feelings. 
You can’t move forward until people feel heard.

Speak with clarity, not defensiveness. 
A calm, composed message sets the tone.

Give space before precision. 
Sometimes, presence matters more than perfect facts.

Empathy in these moments isn’t a sign of weakness.

It’s a strategic move that helps ground the conversation and brings people back to a place of understanding, even in the chaos.

In uncertain times, being heard can be just as powerful as being right.

Leading with empathy allows you to regain control of the narrative and build the trust needed to move forward.

Before you say anything publicly,
ask yourself one question:

"Would I say this if I knew it would be quoted out of context?"

Because it will be.

Every statement you make can be clipped, screenshotted, and reshared without the nuance you intended.

The careful explanation gets reduced to a soundbite.

The context disappears.

And what's left is whatever fits in a headline or a tweet.

Here's what this question forces you to consider:
Can this be misunderstood?

If your statement requires explanation to be accurate, it's vulnerable.

Simplify it. Clarify it. 

Make it stand on its own.

Does this sound defensive without the full context?

Tone matters more than intent.

If a single sentence sounds evasive or dismissive when isolated, rewrite it.
Would I stand by this if it were the only thing people remembered?

Your most quotable line will become your legacy from that moment.

Make sure it's one you can live with.

Am I saying this for me—or for them?

If your statement is about protecting your ego or winning an argument, it will backfire.

If it's about clarity, accountability, and truth, it will hold.

The best leaders assume every word will be taken out of context.

And they speak in a way that still holds up when it is.

Because you don't control how your words get used.

You only control whether they can survive on their own.

You can’t build credibility in the middle of an attack.
By then, the narrative has already chosen sides.

The internet has changed how reputations are attacked — and how they’re lost.

Today, you don’t need facts to win a narrative.

You need speed, volume, and emotion.

I’ve seen baseless claims turn into “truth” simply because they were repeated often enough, by enough people, in the right corners of the internet.

Once that happens, accuracy becomes secondary to belief.

That’s how bad actors win online.

A few hard realities leaders underestimate:

False narratives spread faster than the truth. 

Research consistently shows misinformation outperforms facts, especially when outrage is involved.

Debunking can backfire. 

Repeating a lie, even to correct it, often amplifies it further.

Belief drives damage. 

Once enough people accept a story, whether it’s true stops mattering. 

Reputations suffer anyway.

Online collectives magnify this effect.

Volume creates legitimacy. 

Repetition creates confidence.

And suddenly, a fringe claim feels mainstream.

The brands and leaders who fare best don’t wait for attacks to peak.

They build credibility early, communicate consistently, and understand that narrative control is proactive, not reactive.

In a digital environment that rewards outrage, the goal isn’t to win every argument.

It’s to make sure your truth is present, clear, and credible before misinformation fills the vacuum.

Because once a false story hardens, reversing it takes exponentially more effort.

And by then, the damage is already done.

The fastest way to lose control in a crisis
is to let others explain your silence.

In a crisis, social media is a weapon.

The question is: are you wielding it—or is it being used against you?

I've seen brands navigate crises brilliantly on social media.

And I've seen them implode because of one careless post.

The difference isn't luck.

It's strategy.

Social media moves fast. Too fast for most crisis teams to keep up.

But when used correctly, it can protect your reputation, control the narrative, and keep your audience engaged.

When used poorly, it amplifies the damage and gives critics ammunition.

Here's how to make social media work for you—not against you—during a crisis:

1. Stay silent if the source is unreliable.
Not every fire needs your attention.

Sometimes, responding to a baseless claim just gives it oxygen.

Ask yourself: Is this credible? 

Is it spreading? 

Does it require our response?

If the answer is no, let it pass.

Reacting to noise can turn nothing into something.

2. Share with care.

Every post during a crisis should be intentional.
Helpful. Relevant. Clear.

Before you post, ask: Could this be misunderstood? 

Could this make things worse?

Because once it's out there, you can't take it back.

And in a crisis, one poorly worded post can undo weeks of damage control.

3. Post with purpose.

Random updates create confusion.

Every message should align with your overall crisis communication strategy.
Ask: What does our audience need to know right now? How does this help clarify the situation?

If you can't answer that, don't post it.

4. Be human.

Corporate-speak kills trust during a crisis.

People want to know there's a real person—who cares—on the other side of the screen.

If someone criticizes you unfairly, don't get defensive.

Address it with empathy.

If the complaint is valid, own it and explain what you're doing to fix it.

Authenticity defuses tension. 

Deflection escalates it.

5. Monitor constantly.

You can't manage what you don't see.

Set up alerts. Track mentions. Watch for patterns.

If misinformation is spreading, you need to know immediately—before it becomes the dominant narrative.

6. Control your channels.

Don't rely on the media or third parties to tell your story.

Use your own platforms—your website, your social accounts, your spokespeople—to communicate directly.

Own the narrative. Don't let someone else shape it for you.

Social media in a crisis is high-risk, high-reward.

It can save you—or sink you.

The brands that survive are the ones that move fast, communicate clearly, and stay relentlessly strategic.

The ones that fail are the ones that react emotionally, post impulsively, or go silent when they should be present.

In crisis, social media doesn't give you time to think.

So you better have a plan before you need one.

A television interview can repair credibility — or permanently redefine it.



I’ve seen leaders accept TV appearances thinking the facts alone would carry them through. They rarely do.

Television amplifies everything — confidence, hesitation, emotion, and missteps — all at once.

Before agreeing to a televised interview, leaders should assess the risk as carefully as the reach.

And if the decision is yes, preparation becomes the strategy.

Here’s what consistently separates strong performances from damaging ones:

1. Preparation beats explanation.

Knowing the facts isn’t enough. You need to anticipate the pressure points and rehearse how you’ll handle them.

2. Visuals matter as much as language.

Tone, posture, and composure often communicate more than the words themselves — especially when clips travel far beyond the original broadcast.

3. Persuasion isn’t about critics.

The audience that matters most is undecided. Messaging should be built for them, not for detractors or loyal supporters.

4. Discipline prevents headlines.

One emotional reaction can overshadow everything else you say.

Handled well, a TV interview reinforces trust and authority.

Handled poorly, it becomes the crisis.

Media doesn’t reward improvisation under pressure.

It rewards clarity, discipline, and leaders who understand the stakes before the cameras turn on.

Brand strength today is measured by how quickly and clearly you respond when expectations change.

In my new piece for Fast Company, I share why responsiveness has become a defining trait of leadership and brand trust.

Read the full article here:

Open article: A new era defined by brand responsiveness by fastcompany.com

A new era defined by brand responsiveness

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