14 questions every founder should answer before building a personal brand
Most founders start their personal brand with content. The ones who last start with questions. Here are 14 to answer before you write your next post.
By Christopher Sorg and Piero Delgado Arce, co-founders of Merkion.
Most founders start their personal brand by asking "what should I post?" That is the wrong first question. If you don't know who you are publicly, every topic is a guess, and guessing is exhausting.
Answer these 14 questions first. Write the answers down, honestly and in your own words. It takes about an hour, and it will save you hundreds.
Positioning: who are you here?
1. What do you want to be known for in one sentence?
Not your job title. The thing people should say about you when you are not in the room.
2. What do you know that most people in your industry don't?
This is usually something you learned the hard way. It is also your most valuable content.
3. Why should anyone listen to you on this topic?
Experience, results, scars or a unique vantage point. Be specific.
Audience: who is it for?
4. Who is the one person you most want to read your posts?
A customer, an investor, a future hire? Describe them as a real person, not a segment.
5. What does that person struggle with right now?
Write it in their words, not yours.
6. What do you want them to do after following you for six months?
Book a call, buy, apply, invest, introduce you. If you don't know, your content won't either.
Values and voice: how do you show up?
7. Which three values guide how you build your company?
Pick the ones you would defend in an argument, not the ones on every company website.
8. How would a close colleague describe the way you talk?
Direct, dry, warm, nerdy, blunt? Your posts should sound like that, not like LinkedIn.
9. Which story from your life explains why you do what you do?
Every founder has one. It is usually the post that gets the most messages.
Point of view: what do you believe?
10. What is a common belief in your industry that you think is wrong?
Opinions build brands. Agreeing with everyone builds nothing.
11. What do you stand against?
Knowing what you oppose makes your message sharper than any list of what you support.
Content: what will you talk about?
12. Which three to five topics will you own?
Your content pillars. Everything you post should connect to one of them.
13. What will you never post?
Topics, formats and phrases that don't fit you. Guardrails protect your voice as much as pillars do.
14. What rhythm can you keep on your busiest month?
Not your best month. Your busiest. That is your real posting schedule.
What to do with your answers
Put them in one short document and reread it every time you sit down to write. When a draft does not fit your answers, rewrite it or drop it. Over time, this document becomes the reason your content sounds like one person instead of whatever the algorithm rewarded last week.
For the full process, read our guide to personal branding for founders.
Let Merkion turn your answers into a Brand Map
Merkion's Brand Map is built from 14 branding questions like these. It turns your answers into a documented brand identity with positioning, voice, pillars and guardrails, then scores every post you write against it. It never writes your posts. Build your Brand Map.
Build a founder brand that sounds like you.
Start with your Brand Map. Merkion never writes your posts.
