Tom Schaeffer

Thomas Schaeffer & Co.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿 & 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 is a boutique agency providing ghostwriting and content strategy for executives who want to amplify their voice, sharpen their positioning, and expand their influence.

We work with leaders at pivotal moments—whether building thought leadership, leading a transition, or shaping a second act beyond corporate. Our services combine high-level ghostwriting, content systems, and selective coaching to help executives turn experience into leverage and build a presence that creates real opportunities.

Founder

Executive to Entrepreneur

𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿 is a coaching and content platform for midlife professionals ready to leave the corporate grind, clarify their next move, and build a business that fits their life. We offer 1:1 coaching, frameworks, and practical guidance for reinvention.

Float Left

Float Left Interactive was a pioneer in TV app development and the first company to build Roku apps for media brands.  For over 12 years, Float Left has enabled media brands to deliver and manage the next generation of TV experiences on every screen.

🏆 2022 Streaming Media 50
🏆 2021 Streaming Media 50
🏆 2017 Streaming Media 100
🏆 2016 CableFax -> Most Innovative People in Multiscreen
🏆 2015 Streaming Media 100

Co-Founder, CEO (acquired)

The Weiss Group, Inc.

Developed internal and external web applications in direct support of company’s marketing initiatives.

Senior Software Engineer

Teledata Inc.

Developed EPA compliance software, specifically targeted to address fuel tank leak detection.

Software Engineer

Bridgeway Benefit Technologies

Provided programmatic and logical fixes for technical problems on ISSI’s Benefit Fund Administration System.

Account Representative /  Programmer

Ghostwriter for Influential Executives and Entrepreneurs || Transforming Ideas into Influence Through High-Impact Writing || Former CEO, 2x Founder, 1x Exit

I’m a former CEO turned writer and coach. I help midlife professionals turn experience into leverage—through writing, clarity, and reinvention.

After scaling and selling a 7-figure software agency, I walked away from the startup grind to build a simpler, more intentional life.

Along the way, I discovered something powerful:
Most executives don’t need another job.
They need clarity—and a path that’s finally theirs.

Today, I work with high-achieving professionals in transition—those ready to move from corporate to consulting, from founder to writer, or from executive to entrepreneur.

Here’s how I help:

1. Executive Ghostwriting
For founders and CEOs who want thought leadership that drives inbound demand—without spending hours writing content. You bring the insight. I bring the structure, clarity, and voice that earns authority and attracts opportunity.

2. Executive to Entrepreneur Coaching
A 12-week 1:1 experience to help you reinvent your career, clarify your offer, build a simple content system, and land your first client.
It’s for professionals who are ready to turn experience into independence—building something of their own, on their own terms.

At the core of both is a simple idea:
Use your expertise to build leverage and freedom—because your next chapter should serve your life, not the other way around.

[Coaching: exectoentrepreneur.com]
[Substack: exectoentrepreneur.substack.com]
[About Me: thomasschaeffer.me]

Writer

A ghostwriting agency for founders, CEOs, and business leaders looking to build influential personal brands.

Most people on LinkedIn post to stay “active.”
But active doesn’t mean effective.

I work with CEOs, founders, and coaches who don’t just want likes — they want influence, engagement, and paying clients.

Here’s how I help:

- I ghostwrite content that actually sounds like you, not ChatGPT.
- I strategize so your profile isn’t just pretty, but positioned to attract the right people.
- I optimize engagement so your posts get seen, shared, and remembered.

And because results matter more than buzzwords:

+ Clients I worked with have gone from 0 to inbound leads in 90 days.
+ Coaches have closed high-ticket clients directly from their content.
+ Founders have grown authority strong enough to land press and speaking gigs.


If you want LinkedIn to actually work for you (instead of just being a posting platform you ignore), let’s talk.

DM me MAD and let the fun begin.

Madhu Sharma

Most people don’t have a personal brand problem.


They have a memory problem.

Not their memory other people’s.

People don’t remember you because you posted.
They remember you because something you said left an aftertaste.

Not a tip.
Not a lesson.
Not “5 things.”

An aftertaste.
The kind of line that sits in someone’s head while they shower,
or when they’re frustrated at work,
or when they’re making a decision.

The kind of line that quietly nudges them:
“Go back to her profile.”

Here’s what most creators miss:

People will forget your post in 10 minutes.
They’ll remember your perspective for 10 months.

That’s the real personal branding advantage:
Be someone people can’t un-hear.

Not loud.
Not viral.
Just undeniable in the way you think.

You don’t need more content.
You need more lines that linger.

The kind that make your reader stop and go:
“Wait… that’s actually true.”

P.S.- A personal brand isn’t built from what you publish. It’s built from what people remember after you leave the screen.

Helping CEOs, Founders & Coaches Grow Influence, 3x Engagement + Win Clients | LinkedIn Consultant & Strategist | Ghostwriter

A founder’s pitch doesn’t expose them.
Their discomfort does.

One thing Shark Tank teaches you, very quietly, is how much people reveal when they’re uncomfortable.

Numbers can be rehearsed.
The pitch can be polished.
The deck can be perfect.

But the moment a shark asks something slightly unexpected something real shows up.

You see how fast they switch tones.
You hear the insecurity between their words.
You notice the parts of their story they rush through.
You catch the details they clearly haven’t thought about.
You feel the hesitation they didn’t prepare for.

And it reminded me of personal branding in a way I didn’t expect:

Most founders aren’t struggling because they lack content.
They’re struggling because they haven’t built the self-awareness to talk about their work without hiding behind structure.

You can always tell when someone hasn’t done the internal work, their voice changes, their narrative collapses, their confidence becomes conditional.
And the audience picks up on it the same way the sharks do instantly, and silently.

A strong personal brand isn’t loud or clever.
It comes from a founder who doesn’t panic when the script ends.

Someone who can talk about their work without needing a perfect setup.
Someone who isn’t scared of questions.
Someone who doesn’t dodge their own gaps.

That’s the founder people trust.

P.S. - You don’t need a perfect pitch. You just need to stop hiding in the parts of your story that make you uncomfortable.

People don’t remember good writing.
They remember feeling exposed.

Not in a dramatic way.
In a “shit… that’s actually me” way.

That’s the whole point of writing online.

People won’t save your perfect sentences.
They won’t care about how “well-structured” your post was.
They won’t remember your vocabulary.

They remember the moment you name something
they’ve felt 100 times but never said out loud.

That’s the line that hits.
That’s the line that gets shared.
That’s the line that makes people come back to your page.

Good writing isn’t about:
- sounding smart
- being well-read
- using clean metaphors
- having a framework

Good writing is about precision:
Calling out the quiet, hidden parts of people’s behaviour
with a level of honesty they haven’t given themselves yet.

When someone feels seen, they remember the writer.
When someone feels exposed, they remember the line.
And when someone feels understood, they remember you.

P.S.- Write the sentence that makes the reader pause, not the one that makes you look polished.

Your personal brand isn’t how you present yourself.


It’s how easy it is for people to explain you to someone else.

Most people overthink their content.
Very few think about their identity transfer.

Here’s the truth:
A strong personal brand isn’t built when you post.
It’s built when someone else tries to describe you in 10 seconds.

And most people can’t.
Not because they’re unclear but because their content is too scattered to create a clean summary.

If someone has to say things like:
She does… something with writing.
I think she consults… or strategises?
He’s into startups… I guess?

You haven’t built a personal brand, you’ve built noise.

Your brand becomes powerful when people can say:
He’s the guy who simplifies X.
She’s the person who helps founders with Y.
Her content always cuts through Z.

This is how opportunities spread.
Through transferable identity, not through viral content.

You don’t need to sound smarter.
You need to sound repeatable.

Because repeatability creates memory. 
Memory creates reputation.
Reputation creates opportunity.

P.S.- If people can’t introduce you to someone else, your personal brand isn’t working yet.

Your content is not supposed to attract everyone.


It’s supposed to filter the wrong people out.

Most people treat personal branding like a magnet.
How do I attract more people?
More views?
More leads?

But if you’re building something long-term, your content shouldn’t behave like a magnet.

It should behave like a sieve.

Good content doesn’t just pull the right people in; it quietly pushes the wrong people out.

Because not every audience member is a potential client.
Not every follower is a good fit.
Not every “lead” is worth your time.

Your content should make things obvious:
who you can help, who you can’t
what you stand for, what you won’t tolerate
how you think, how you make decisions

The clearer this gets, the fewer mismatched conversations you’ll have.

Founders waste the most time not on content but on managing the wrong expectations from the wrong audience.

Your job isn’t to impress everyone.
 It’s to help the right people identify you instantly and help the wrong people exit just as quickly.

This is how a personal brand becomes powerful:
Not by adding more people but by subtracting the noise.

P.S.- The right people don’t need hype. They just need clarity on whether you’re for them or not.

Your personal brand is built in rooms where no one is watching.

This is the part founders almost never think about when they ask,
 “Why isn’t my content landing?”
 or
 “Why don’t people understand what I do?”

Because your brand isn’t shaped when you hit post it’s shaped in the moments where you’re not trying to “be” anything.

Like the way you explain your work to someone casually.
The way you handle a difficult conversation.
The way you respond when something goes wrong.
The way you talk when you’re not performing professionalism.
The way your judgment shows up without a script.

When I ghostwrite for someone, I get more insight from a 10-minute unscripted call than from any document they send me.

Because people reveal who they are in the spaces they don’t think matter.
And that’s exactly what transfers online.

If you’re sharp offline, you’ll sound sharp online.
If you’re scattered offline, your content will reflect that.
If you’re trying to be three different people depending on the room, your brand never stabilises.

People underestimate how much their offline identity shapes their online perception. But your audience can feel when your content isn’t matching who you are in reality even if they’ve never met you.

A personal brand isn’t built through good writing.
It’s built through aligned behaviour.

P.S.- If you want your online brand to feel stronger, start by fixing the version of you that shows up when no one is taking notes.

Your online identity is leaking and that’s why people don’t trust your brand.


You can have good content, good ideas, even good results and still feel like people don’t “get you.”

It took me a long time to realise this, but most founders don’t struggle with content. They struggle with the small things they reveal without noticing.

Sometimes it’s the way you switch tones every week.
Sometimes it’s how your opinions change depending on your mood.
Sometimes it’s how you soften your voice when you’re unsure.
Sometimes it’s how you suddenly sound like someone else you were consuming that week.

Nothing dramatic just tiny shifts.
But people pick up on those shifts faster than you think.

They may not be able to articulate it, but they can feel when your identity isn’t sitting firmly.

When you don’t sound like the same person across your posts.
When your voice doesn’t match your behaviour.
When your content doesn’t match the way you actually operate offline.

That’s what I mean by “identity leaks.”

Your audience senses hesitation even when you don’t type a single uncertain word. And once they sense that, the trust drops not because you’re not good enough, but because your brand feels hard to read.

The founders who grow are not the ones with the best content.
They’re the ones who show up with a voice that doesn’t shift every time their mood does.

P.S. - People don’t need you to be perfect. They just need you to sound like the same person every time they see you.

Your visibility isn’t the problem.
Your credibility is.

Everyone wants more reach, more impressions, more eyes.
But reach doesn’t build a personal brand credibility does.

And credibility has very little to do with posting often, sounding smart, or adding value every day.
It comes from the way you make people feel when they read your content.

Some founders show up with a voice that feels grounded, certain, and lived.
You can sense their experience even when they’re not trying to prove it.

Others show up with a voice that feels like they’re still trying to convince themselves.

A founder with true credibility doesn’t force expertise.
They speak in a way that makes you trust their judgment not their vocabulary.

It’s the difference between someone who’s lived the work vs someone who’s trying to look like they have.

Visibility gets you seen.
Credibility gets you chosen.
And if you want your brand to compound, start building trust, not noise.

P.S. Your personal brand grows the moment people start believing you not the moment they start noticing you.

The biggest personal branding mistake smart people make:
They communicate like experts… but read like strangers.

Let me explain.

Most founders and operators create content that makes sense to them because they already know:

their product, their industry, their language, their intent, their thought process
But your audience doesn’t.

So here’s the part nobody talks about:

You don’t grow because you write well.
You grow because you reduce the “interpretation gap.”

The gap between:
What you meant vs what they understood
And this gap quietly kills reach, trust, and relevance.

I call it the “stranger test.”

It means:
Could a complete stranger land on your post and instantly understand:

Why it matters
What it reveals about you
What lens do you operate from
How do you see the world differently
Why should they return tomorrow

If the answer is no, your content isn’t bad; it’s just not readable by strangers.

And strangers become followers.
Followers become leads.
Leads become opportunities.

This is the single biggest shift I’ve made for clients who are already good communicators:

Write for the person who doesn’t know your world yet, not the one who’s already in it.

Most people write from expertise.
Very few write from accessibility.
And accessible thinkers always win.

P.S.- If your content only makes sense to people who already know you, it’s not a personal brand, it’s a private diary.

People think personal branding is about writing.


It’s actually about how well you understand your own patterns.

When I work with a founder, I’m not looking for content ideas.
They already have plenty of those.

What they don’t have is the ability to see what actually matters in what they’re saying.

Every founder has patterns in the way they think, make decisions, solve problems, and respond under pressure.

But most of these patterns are invisible to them; they only show up when someone else points them out.

You can usually see it in tiny things:
what they repeat without realising,
what they skip because it feels obvious,
what frustrates them most,
what they avoid talking about,
and what they naturally explain better than anyone else.

Those patterns are where their personal brand lives.

Not in the big stories.
Not in the how I did it moments.

In small, consistent ways, they operate without thinking.
That’s the part audiences trust.

Because people don’t follow you for your highlights, they follow you for the way you process the world.

If your content doesn’t reveal your patterns, your audience can’t form an identity for you. And if they can’t form an identity for you, they can’t choose you.

The moment your thinking becomes recognisable, your content stops blending in with everyone else’s.

P.S.- You don’t need a louder online voice. You just need to show people how you think when no one is watching.

The internet loves originality. 
Clients don’t.

People online chase the “unique angle,” the “fresh take,” the “never-seen-before idea.”
That’s great for engagement.

But clients don’t hire you for originality alone.

They hire you because:
you show up when you say you will
your work sounds the same on good and bad days
your thinking doesn’t collapse under pressure
your messaging doesn’t shift every week
your voice feels stable

Originality can get someone’s attention once.
Reliability is what makes them stay.

Most people underestimate how much trust comes from simply:
saying the same thing consistently
taking the same stand every time
having a predictable level of quality
not reinventing your identity every 10 posts

You don’t need to be the smartest.
You just need to be the safest choice.

That’s how founders get inbound.

Not from being impressive but from being dependable.

P.S.- Online, originality is a strategy. Offline, reliability is a reputation.

Client relationships don’t fall apart in calls.
They fall apart in what never gets written down.

Most people underestimate how much clarity is lost in verbal conversations.

A client call can feel aligned, smooth, energising and then a week later, both of you are referencing two entirely different memories of the same discussion.

That’s where most problems begin.

The truth is the strongest client relationships I’ve built didn’t happen because I did more. They happened because both sides knew exactly what was decided, and exactly what wasn’t.

Every time I finish a call, I send a recap email.
Not because something will go wrong but because it keeps everyone on the same page when life gets busy.

It saves the “I thought you meant…”
It saves the backtracking.
It saves the small misunderstandings that eventually snowball into tension.
And most importantly, it saves the relationship.

Clear emails don’t make you rigid.
They make you reliable.

Clients trust the people who remove confusion before it turns into a problem. And honestly, that’s half the job.

P.S. -  A clean email today saves you 20 messy conversations three weeks later. Your future self will thank you.

The first 5 days of this year have been throwing yorkers at me.


I know building anything of your own is hard.
When you have no experience, no baap ka paisa, and no power standing behind you, the world can feel unforgiving.

But the city I’m in is giving me more than I asked for.
The people we’ve met, the places we’ve been to, they’ve all been so kind, generous, and giving that it makes the building process feel a little easier.

I can honestly say that in these 5 days,
I’ve experienced more life and more people than I did in the entire last year.

And I love it.
I’ve always wanted this.

I can say, without exaggeration, that I’m living a life that little me would be in awe of.

What this phase is teaching me is something I didn’t expect:
Building doesn’t just test how much you can struggle.

It tests how much you can stay open.
Open to people.
Open to places.
Open to moments that remind you why you started building at all.

The work is still hard.
The uncertainty is still there.

But when life shows up with generosity in the middle of the grind, it doesn’t remove the weight; it gives you a reason to keep carrying it.

PS: Sometimes progress isn’t loud wins. It’s realizing you’re exactly where you once hoped you’d be.

People think ghostwriting is about writing.
It isn’t.

It’s about removing contradictions in a founder’s story.

Every founder has them not because they’re inconsistent, but because they operate in different modes throughout the day.

They speak one way to their team.
Another way to their customers.
Another way to investors.
Another way to themselves at 2 a.m.

Offline, this is normal.
Online, it looks confusing.
That’s where ghostwriting actually starts.

When I work with a founder, I’m not looking for “their tone.”

I’m looking for the gaps:
- the opinions they say privately but never share publicly
- the beliefs they stand on but never articulate
- the moments where their story breaks its own logic
- the parts of their journey that don’t match their current identity

Once those contradictions are cleaned up, the founder suddenly feels,clearer,
 more stable, more recognisable, and far more trustworthy.

Because a strong personal brand isn’t built from the things you say it’s built from the things you stop contradicting.

Ghostwriting is basically identity alignment in disguise.

P.S. - Your story doesn’t need to sound bigger. It just needs to stop fighting with itself.

We’re almost at the end of the 3rd week of January, and I can already see people losing steam.


The gym is quieter.
The planners look less aesthetic.
The “new year, new me” energy is slowly dissolving.

And honestly? I get it.

January has this pressure to be the month where everything magically resets.
But real life rarely respects the calendar.

My “1st January” didn’t come on 1st January.
It came on 25th August last year.

That was the day I finally decided I was done being inconsistent on LinkedIn.
Done posting in phases.
Done disappearing because life got busy.
Done treating my work like it didn’t deserve commitment.

I’ve been on LinkedIn for more than 3 years, but nothing shifted until I decided to show up with intent, not motivation.

And the change wasn’t dramatic.
It was just steady.
Ideas flowed better.
Writing felt easier.

People finally understood what I do.
Opportunities started showing up without me trying so hard.
And I felt like I was living a little more of my potential every month.

So if January is already exhausting you, here’s a simple reminder:

Your year doesn’t fall apart because you lost momentum in Week 3.
And it doesn’t begin just because the calendar says so.

Your “new year” starts the day you choose it will.

P.S.- Don’t give up on your goals because the month feels heavy. Start again on any random Tuesday. It counts.

Shark Tank proves one uncomfortable thing

Confidence beats competence.

If you watch enough pitches, you start noticing a pattern.

Some founders walk in with average products and still walk out with deals. Others walk in with solid businesses and get rejected within minutes.

The difference is rarely just numbers. It’s how much they believe in what they’re building.

The confident founders don’t over-explain. They don’t panic when questioned. They don’t dilute their story to please everyone. They stay steady, even when pushed.

And the sharks respond to that.
The same thing happens on LinkedIn.

People don’t spend time analysing how good you actually are. They go by signals. Your tone. Your certainty. Your consistency. Your ability to stand by what you say.

If you sound unsure, people hesitate. If you sound grounded, people listen.
Competence matters. But confidence is what makes others notice it.

P.S.- You don’t need to sound loud. You need to sound sure.

Your content isn’t underperforming.
You’re telling the wrong parts of your story.

Most founders assume their content is “boring” or “not strong enough.”
It’s usually neither.

The real issue is prioritisation.

Founders pick:
the safest stories
the most polished insights
the parts of their journey that feel “acceptable”
the versions of themselves that won’t attract questions

And they leave out:
the decisions that actually shaped them
the things they notice faster than others
the mistakes that changed how they operate
the patterns they see in people
the frustrations that give them an edge

That’s why their content feels flat.

Not because the writing is weak, but because the signal is weak.

Every founder has 100 stories inside them.
The problem is that they choose the ones that are easiest to explain, instead of the ones that are actually meaningful.

You don’t need more content.
You need to rank your experiences properly.

Ask yourself:
 “What is the most important thing about how I think… that nobody knows yet?”

That’s the story your audience is waiting for.

PS: Personal brands don’t grow from information. They grow from the parts of your story you’ve been avoiding without realising it.

Most people aren’t scared of posting.


They’re scared of being read the wrong way.

Not judged.
Not roasted.
Just interpreted in a way they didn’t mean.

Because the moment you show up online, you don’t get to control how people receive your words.

And that bothers people more than they admit.

You write something honest → someone thinks you’re showing off.
You write something vulnerable → someone thinks you’re weak.
You share an opinion → someone thinks you’re attacking them.
You stay neutral → someone thinks you lack depth.

It’s funny how quickly people build a version of you in their head and run with it.
That’s the part most people are scared of.

Not posting.
Not writing.
Being misunderstood.

But here’s what I’ve learned from writing for so many people:
The right people understand you even on your off days.
And the wrong people misunderstand you even on your best days.

So, trying to manage perception is a losing game.

Just write what feels true to you today.
Let people interpret however they want.

That part isn’t in your control anyway.

P.S.- If you try to avoid every misinterpretation, you’ll end up avoiding your real voice too.

Some weeks feel loud even when nothing big is happening.

It’s like the older I get, the more aware I am of everything around me my habits, my reactions, the people I talk to, the people I no longer talk to, the way work feels on certain days, the way life feels different than it did a year ago.

I’ve felt that a lot this month.
Nothing dramatic is happening.

But I can feel myself becoming more honest about what I want, who I am around, what drains me, and what I don’t want to carry anymore.

And honestly, adulthood isn’t as “big moment” driven as I imagined.

It’s mostly quiet shifts you only notice when you pause for a second.
The way you outgrow certain behaviours.
The way you stop forcing conversations.
The way you start choosing peace over proving a point.
The way you stop entertaining things that confuse you.

Some days I feel like I’m figuring things out.
Some days I feel like I’m just moving through the day.
But it still feels like I’m becoming a better version of myself, slowly.

No big breakthroughs.
Just small adjustments that make life feel a little lighter.

P.S. - If your year feels slow right now, it’s okay. Not every month is meant to be loud. Some are meant to help you understand yourself better.

Most founders are building an audience that will never buy from them.

I see this a lot with smart, hardworking people.

They show up consistently. They share useful things. They get decent engagement. On paper, everything looks “right.”

But when it comes to real opportunities, nothing moves.

No serious inbound.
No strong referrals.
No meaningful conversations.

Because over time, they’ve trained their audience to see them as “interesting” instead of “reliable.”

They post what performs. They avoid what might polarise. They follow formats that already work. Slowly, their positioning gets diluted.

So they attract people who enjoy reading them, but would never trust them with money.

Building an audience is easy. Shaping the right one takes intention.

And most founders realise this too late.

P.S.-  If people like your content but never ask about your work, it’s worth rethinking who you’re really building for.

taplio

The Battle

Tom Schaeffer

Madhu Sharma

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taplio

The Battle

Tom Schaeffer

Madhu Sharma

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);}Madhu Sharma's LinkedIn Performance

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