Elevate your start-up: The case for personal branding on LinkedIn

For founders, establishing a strong personal brand is no longer a ‘nice to have’ – it’s a necessity. With more than 80% of B2B leads coming through LinkedIn, this social network offers founders a platform to showcase their expertise, bolster their brand’s credibility, and attract new business. 

And Mischa Collins is one person who understands this better than most. As Codi’s resident Personal Branding and Community Expert, Mischa helps leaders and brands to grow their businesses, build online authority and position themselves as thought leaders through consistent storytelling and ‘showing up’ on LinkedIn. 

Whether you’re a founder wanting to get started with personal branding on LinkedIn, or looking to hire someone to help, we’ve got you covered. Through this article, Mischa explains the important role of personal branding for B2B start-ups, shares her well-earned wisdom and teaches you how to get going with it all today.

 

Why should you care about personal branding? 

Like it or loathe it, personal branding is here to stay. Here are just some of the reasons to integrate LinkedIn personal branding into your wider marketing strategy:

The human touch

“We’re now in an era where people are so bored of being sold to. We’re fatigued by it all. People prefer to buy from people.”

All too often, B2B marketing can feel impersonal, transactional and downright dull. But personal branding acts as the antidote to this, helping companies to tell their brand’s story and put human connection back at the centre of their communications.

“Building a personal brand is all about storytelling – tracking how someone went from the seed of an idea to a full-scale business.” 

Personal branding celebrates the story of how an individual got to where they are now, inspiring and educating others to do the same. And today’s consumer is investing in those stories – big time. 

 

Building trust in your brand 

According to Nielsen’s Trust in Advertising Study, 88% of consumers say they trust recommendations from people they know, which is why personal branding can be so effective. Putting a face to a B2B brand greatly improves trust in a company’s products and services.

“For example, I might follow someone on LinkedIn who started a business and grew it to X amount. Because I was on the journey with them, I trust them, I’m engaged with them, and this makes me more inclined to buy from them.”

This trust building becomes even more important when it comes to marketing high-cost SaaS products. As Mischa highlights, “you’re asking customers to hand over a lot of money.” 

But when you’ve invested in that founder’s story, the pain points they set out to solve and the process of creating their solution, “you’re naturally building that trust as you go.”

Will people be ready to buy from you at all times? Of course not. But personal branding helps you to stay top-of-mind meaning when that problem does arise, they naturally think of you.

 

A voice of authority

Another benefit of personal branding is its ability to position founders as experts in their respective fields, further bolstering trust.

“On LinkedIn, if a founder or CEO has a following of 20k, and you can see people within their industry commenting, engaging with their posts, it automatically positions them as an expert. You trust them.”

As a society, we are obsessed with reviews. From Google ratings for restaurants to TV series reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. LinkedIn followers act like a public rating, signaling to potential clients that this person is recognised, trusted and knows what they’re talking about. They’re a form of social proofing.

 

It’s what the algorithm wants

“Let’s not forget the visibility aspect too”, stresses Mischa.

It’s no secret that LinkedIn’s algorithm favours personal content over company pages, giving individual profiles significantly higher reach and engagement. This means that if you’re a B2B start-up looking to use the platform as a growth lever (which you should), and want your brand to show up on your customer’s LinkedIn feed, personal branding for founders, CEOs and employees is by far the best place to focus your attention.

Quick note: We don’t advise abandoning company pages altogether. Company pages still act as social proof and can be an extremely valuable tool in boosting a brand’s credibility and highlighting company culture. 

Looking for more advice on LinkedIn business profiles? Skip to our FAQs section at the bottom of this article. 

 

Who should think about personal branding? 

 

Founders and CEOs

Mischa urges founders and CEOs to add personal branding to their start-up’s wider marketing strategy to bring the company vision to life, pull it off the page and enhance its authenticity. 

“A founder’s personal brand is particularly powerful. After all, they’re the ones with the origin story, they understood the problems and wanted to fix them.” 

 

A company-wide initiative 

But personal branding isn’t just for executives. It’s a useful tool for everyone “from founders to the newest intern”, adds Mischa.

Savvy start-ups should encourage all employees to develop their LinkedIn presence. This form of employee-generated content not only supports career development and growth on an individual level, making personal branding a company-wide initiative puts more eyes on the brand and contributes to a richer, more human narrative overall. 

“Think about it. If every single person on your team is posting on LinkedIn, trying to develop their personal brand, that’s 20 people’s networks that are also being exposed to your company brand.”

 

Getting started: Mischa’s top tips for founders

Start with your ICP

“When you’re starting to build your personal brand, you should really focus on who fits into your ideal audience or ideal customer profile (ICP).” 

As with any solid marketing strategy, when you understand your ICP, you can tailor your content to address specific challenges and interests that resonate with your future customers. This targeted approach ensures that the messaging is relevant and engaging, allowing founders to establish themselves as a trusted expert while simultaneously driving interest in their brands products.

Before creating content, Mischa advises founders to identify the following:

• Who is your company’s ideal customer?
• What characteristics are they defined by?
• What are their pain points? 
• How can your LinkedIn content add value to their lives?

 

 

Don’t focus on follower count

“The ultimate aim shouldn’t be about getting loads of followers”, urges Mischa. Of course, more followers equate to your brand getting more exposure, but this shouldn’t be the focus at the beginning.

Instead Mischa encourages founders to focus on her previous point – How can I help our ICP with my content? It’s only then, when you focus on adding real value, that the followers will naturally come.

Consistency is key 

“I’m often asked by leaders how often they should be posting on LinkedIn. If you’re doing it yourself, it’s crucial to start small and focus on consistency to avoid burnout.”

Mischa recommends aiming for two high-quality posts per week as a good starting point. This level of frequency allows founders to establish a regular presence, and should be manageable for time-poor leaders.

“As you find your voice and become more comfortable with the platform, you can gradually increase the number of posts. But remember, quality always trumps quantity.” 

Each post should provide value to your network, whether it’s sharing industry insights, discussing your brand’s journey, or offering expert advice on leadership. In this case, more isn’t always ‘more’. 

 

Engage with your network

But it’s not all about posting your own content. Engagement is key to building a compelling personal brand on LinkedIn. 

“When I work with founders and CEOs, I ask them to focus their time on 15 minutes of commenting before and after posting. I take care of the posts, but they are still responsible for engaging with their networks, and contributing to conversations in a meaningful way. After all, they’re the experts.”

By consistently commenting on posts and taking part in nuanced industry discussions, founders increase their visibility, satisfy LinkedIn’s algorithm and create meaningful connections with potential clients, investors and partners. The results will speak for themselves.

 

Don’t forget your profile

Mischa’s next top tip is to ensure your LinkedIn profile is fully optimised. There’s little point spending hours crafting high quality content, only to leave your profile empty and outdated -“I tell my clients to treat their profile like they would a landing page or CV.” 

Your profile should include:

• A professional headshot
• A clear LinkedIn banner that shows what you do
• A bio that clearly articulates your unique value proposition
• A ‘Book a Call’ button to help convert your LI audience into sales leads 

The profile should tell a cohesive story about your professional journey, highlighting key achievements, industry expertise, and the problem your start-up solves. 

“Remember, your competitors are always watching, scrutinising every detail of your online presence.” A well-optimized profile not only attracts potential clients but also positions you as a credible thought leader and voice of authority.  

Be yourself, don’t lose yourself  

Mischa’s final tip is to stay true to yourself. Authenticity is key when building your personal brand on LinkedIn. Remember, people want to buy from real people, not robots.

“Don’t worry about sounding overly professional or formal. This means writing as you speak, and allowing your genuine personality to shine through in your content. For example, my content is pretty chatty, and I’m not afraid to crack a joke. If this feels like you, embrace it.” 

If you’re still stuck and would benefit from some expert help putting your unique voice into words, ghostwriting might be for you.

 

Short on time? Hire a ghostwriter

LinkedIn ghostwriting is a great option for time-strapped founders who recognise the importance of personal branding, but struggle to find time for consistent content creation. Let’s not forget that running a business is a demanding job (we’re sure you haven’t), and often leaves little time for crafting regular LinkedIn posts. 

“If you’re a founder whose business is just getting off the ground, you don’t have time to be focusing on LinkedIn. That’s where a ghostwriter can help.”

Mischa explains that ghostwriting services can bridge this gap, helping founders to share their voice, maintain an online presence and post regular insights, all without running themselves into the ground. By outsourcing ghostwriting to a team like Codi, founders don’t have to think about content creation and can instead allocate their limited time more efficiently.

 

Get started with personal branding on LinkedIn

We hope by now the case for personal branding on LinkedIn is loud and clear. As Mischa has skillfully articulated throughout, in 2025, personal branding is no longer a ‘luxury’, but an integral part of any robust marketing strategy. 

Personal branding on LinkedIn provides a unique opportunity for founders and employees to tell the story of their brand, humanise their marketing efforts and position themselves as thought leaders in their industry. And Codi can help you to get started with it all.

Working primarily with early-stage B2B SaaS businesses, our handpicked team of social media marketing experts and personal branding specialists, like Mischa, work alongside your internal team to devise and implement a results-based social media marketing strategy to drive revenue and hit your growth goals.

So, if you’re looking to get the most out of your LinkedIn and social channels in 2025 and begin your personal branding journey without delay, speak to an expert today. 

 

 

Personal branding FAQs

Wait, what about company pages? 

It’s well known that the LinkedIn algorithm has changed, while a company page may have held a prominent place on your feed a few years ago, now personal brands are pushed. But according to Mischa, that doesn’t mean you should stop bothering with them altogether. 

“LinkedIn company pages are all about credibility. If your business page has five followers and no posts, you’re not going to look very legit”.

Mischa goes on to add the driver for posting on company pages shouldn’t be about vanity metrics like lots of new followers. Instead, it’s more about proving your authority and building trust in your product. Remember, “many people will still turn to those pages before purchasing your product.”

 

What should companies be posting on their LinkedIn?

B2B start-ups should focus on posting quality content, twice a week. This could be industry guides, blogs highlighting product use cases, case studies and customer success stories. Ultimately, content that drives people to your website and positions you as an expert in your given niche.

Company pages are also a great place to showcase company culture. It’s important to let people meet your team and add that human element – something that can get lost in B2B marketing.

Mischa goes on to add, “a lot of the company pages I see doing well now are reposting content from their CEO, their founder, their employees, and this in turn is driving the growth of their business page”.

“There are plenty of opportunities to be playful too – personal brands shouldn’t have all the fun! Take Monzo, for example, their company page is a great example of a business cutting through the noise and creating fun content that resonates. They’re always popping up on my feed.”