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Founder-led marketing is having a moment. From Dharmesh Shah’s thought leadership driving HubSpot’s growth to Melanie Perkins building Canva’s brand through personal storytelling, and PayPal posting a $200k Head of CEO Content role, companies are realising the power of founder-led content.
At SaaStock USA, we heard from one of the masters: Adam Robinson of RB2B, who used LinkedIn to scale from $0 to $5M ARR in just 12 months, with five people. Within 2 years of posting on LinkedIn, he’s reached 125k followers, 400+ reactions per post, and it’s become RB2B’s sole distribution channel.
Here’s his playbook.
Why LinkedIn works
“Building a personal brand on LinkedIn is the fastest, most efficient, and highest leverage way to grow a startup that has ever existed.”
The quote above is bold but RB2B is the proof.
Marketers have known for a long time that “people buy from people.” In the past, creating a human brand required massive resources and traditional media relationships. But platforms like LinkedIn and advances brought by interest-based algorithms (pioneered by TikTok in 2017) have made it easy for founders to build their own tangential brand online.
LinkedIn specifically allows founders to test content organically and then amplify the winners with ad spend (known as thought leadership ads). You know what’s working before you put money behind it.
According to Adam, connecting with people and sharing the journey in detail is the future of B2B marketing. A bit like B2B reality TV.
Benefits beyond revenue
“Anyone you’re recruiting is going to look at your LinkedIn page… you can communicate what you’re all about in this passive way.”
While LinkedIn drives RB2B’s revenue, the benefits extend further because it “automates trust building”:
- Recruiting becomes a pull operation: Candidates research your content and understand your business before applying.
- Investors feel like they know you before meetings.
- Partnerships accelerate through elevated brand recognition.
Finding content/market fit
“I sat down at 6:30 to write, walked out at 7:30 and was like, man, I think I just wrote three total bangers.”
After a period of trial and error, Adam’s “a-ha moment” came during a vacation in Santa Fe. He’d been writing content about e-commerce problems (not his own experience), but when he switched to sharing his authentic B2B SaaS struggles, everything changed.
He sat and wrote three posts about his personal experiences aimed at SaaS and revenue leaders. Together they got 1.8M impressions.
Since then, he’s been openly sharing his perspective on the RB2B journey online. Both the ups and the downs.
7 elements of LinkedIn success
1. Authenticity cuts through the noise
“If you’re just willing to be human it will cut through the noise.”
Being vulnerable sounds easy but it’s difficult in practice.
Last year, RB2B was down four months in a row. Adam wrote about it then shared how they turned it around. The posts were some of his most popular.
2. Your perspective is valuable
Adam bootstrapped Retention.com to $25M ARR, his perspective proves valuable to founders who aren’t quite there.
Everyone has their own unique perspective to share and it’s that angle that gives weight to your words.
3. Not just working in public
Adam advises going beyond sharing your work in public. For him, this involves speaking on different topics like VC vs bootstrapping for growing SaaS.
4. Amplify your humanity
While being authentic, there will be opportunities to amplify your humanity and experience in your role.
For example, Adam received negative Glassdoor reviews after making layoffs, so shared a video reading through them.
5. Never sell directly
“Nobody wants to read that shit.”
Instead of creating content that sells your product, create content that there is genuine demand for. Then, use the “visit my website” profile link and let your website do the selling. This approach drives almost 100% of RB2B’s traffic.
6. Clarity, consistency, constancy
The hardest part of posting on LinkedIn is reinforcing your narrative in ways that are relevant to your audience and tangential to your product.
For Adam, it took time but his content now sits under three pillars: build in public, the future of GTM, and bootstrapping vs VC funding.
7. Find your prolific zone
Your prolific zone is the sweet spot: content that’s authentic to you, not mainstream (noise), but not so crazy that people dismiss you. When you hit it, some people love you, others hate you. It’s perfect for algorithm engagement.
Getting started
The MVP
Regardless of whether or not your audience lives on LinkedIn, Adam recommends building a minimum viable presence (MVP) on there – for all of the recruiting, investment, and brand building benefits listed above.
This MVP includes:
- Posting every day.
- Building momentum by either hosting a podcast or doing guest slots.
- Sending up to 10 connection requests per day to your ICP.
- Messaging those new connections 60 days after they accept the invitation.
Finding your ‘great’
Next, refine your content by understanding what “great” looks like. Adam recommends taking someone else’s posts and going deep on their content and analysing the topics.
Adam used Chris Walker.
He created a spreadsheet and discovered Walker focused on a handful of core topics – Adam mapped things he could say that would fit into those areas… those became his content pillars.
You don’t have to develop entirely new topics, you just need to find where you fit.
Spend 25% of your time on the hook
“If nobody clicks ‘see more’, you’ve wasted your time writing that post.”
Adam emphasised the importance of hooks – recommending that you spend 25% of your time on them.
Here’s his checklist:
- Did you maximise your professional credibility?
- Did you use numbers and data?
- Did you say something provocative?
- Is the content in your prolific zone?
- Are you brokering valuable information?
Hit all of these, and you should have yourself a solid hook.
It’s over to you…
“You don’t start posting for likes, comments, and deals …You start posting to be one step closer to finding your voice.”
The message for founders is clear, just start posting.
The proof is in the success stories. Adam is just one of many founders building through LinkedIn, and his results speak for themselves:
- 125k followers in 2 years
- RB2B scaled to $5M ARR in 12 months
- 100% of traffic from LinkedIn
- Executive hires, partnerships, and speaking opportunities flowing inbound
