Founders, You Only Need to Be an Expert in Your Own Product!

Unsure what to post on social media as a founder? Avoid the pressure to comment on industry trends or give your hot take on the latest tech chit-chat. Instead, focus on your product or service — the solution you’ve built and know inside-out. By sharing authentic insights into how it works and the value it brings, you create meaningful content that builds trust with your audience. And trust, more than reach or virality, is what converts attention into real interest.

Hey, founders, let’s put this to bed. You only need to be an expert in one thing: the product or solution you’ve built. And I’m saying this because every founder we’ve worked with — literally every one — has asked the same question: What should I talk about online? They wonder if they need to weigh in on industry trends, throw out some controversial takes, or just stay visible by having a constant stream of opinions on what’s hot in tech.

I guess I'm also writing this because I know that feeling myself — the pull of imposter syndrome and tall poppy syndrome. The constant internal debate about what, when, and why to post online. It often comes with a sense of obligation, like showing up online is just something society now expects of us — especially if you're building something you want people to notice. But that pressure, left unchecked, pushes us toward inauthenticity. We end up posting what we think we should, instead of what we actually feel confident — or even qualified — to share.

So, here’s the short sermon: You only need to talk about the one thing you truly know inside and out — your own product.

Think about it. How many things in life are you genuinely an expert in? No offense, but probably not many. (Most of us aren’t.) But the business you’ve grown from scratch, the solution you’ve designed, the product you’ve invested years building? That’s your thing. That’s where your expertise lives. And that’s what’s worth talking about.

We all know there’s a lot of noise out there. Too much, honestly. And if you’re just adding another take to the echo chamber — even if it’s smart — you’ll end up sounding like everyone else trying to go viral. You’ve seen the posts: bold statement, buzzword sandwich, half-baked advice wrapped in a neatly cropped headshot.

Some fictional examples to illustrate…

If you want to have a voice on social media (and there are plenty of good reasons to), you don’t need to be a thought leader in everything. You only need to be a thought leader in your own product. That’s where your insights are the most grounded — and the most valuable. You don’t need to weigh in on someone else’s hiring strategy, product roadmap, or growth philosophy. Just because it’s 2024 and LinkedIn is overflowing with hot takes doesn’t mean you need to add yours to the pile.

Instead, focus on your product. Talk about what it does. Why it matters. How it solves the problem it was built for. Share the updates you’ve shipped. The design decisions you’re excited about. The challenges that made you rethink something. Even the last demo you ran — what worked, what didn’t, and what you learned from it.

These are the things that matter. And more importantly, they’re the things you know best. When you speak from that place, your content becomes authentic, thoughtful, and accurate — qualities that will always help you stand out more than a borrowed opinion piece you don’t fully believe in.

Also, you don’t have to give people a play-by-play of your entire business or personal journey. It’s easy to feel like you need to spill every high and low, every success and failure, but there’s no rulebook saying you must. And let’s be real: there’s nothing you can post that will be universally useful to everyone. If you want to offer a behind-the-scenes view, do it. But don’t feel obligated to turn every experience into a teachable moment or every lesson into a LinkedIn anecdote.

Just focus on your thing. Talk about how it helps. Why it matters. What you’re learning. That’s the message that cuts through — because that’s where you truly are the expert.