Scroll through your social feed for five minutes and you’ll see it. The same advice repeated like a mantra:
“If you want your brand to grow, you need to be the face of it.”
Every founder is being told to show up more. Film themselves talking to camera. Share the journey. Show the behind-the-scenes. And while that playbook has worked for some, it’s quietly become a default setting rather than a strategic decision.
And here is where the problem begins.
Because despite what the internet wants you to believe (and every brand guru for that matter) being the face of your brand isn’t a non-negotiable. It’s an option. One that only works if it’s built on something more solid underneath. Because what your brand really needs before you ever think about putting your face to it, is a personality of its own.
Take Innocent Smoothies. The brand has existed for decades with barely a trace of its founders visible in the public eye and yet they have a voice and a tone so distinct you could guess it’s them from a transcript of an ad alone. A distinct, lovable personality that made the side of a smoothie bottle feel like a conversation with a friend. You bought into the brand because it made you smile. Not because you followed someone’s LinkedIn updates or ‘a day in the life of’ reel.
Want another one? Surreal. One of the most culturally aware and clever DTC brands to pop up in the last few years IMO. From fake testimonials to celebrity-name legal dodging, they’ve made copywriting their face. Their voice is the personality. It’s what people connect to. And again, most people couldn’t name a founder if they tried.
There is something really powerful about a brand that shows up in bold, ownable, unforgettable ways without needing a frontman or frontwoman to validate them. Their brand world does the talking. And that isn’t easy. Subject to what you may read.
And for those who don’t think it’s scalable globally. Do not even get me started on Redbull.
On the other side of the coin, there’s no denying that founder-led brands can be incredibly powerful. Trust me, I’ve been in the room with some of them and it’s inspiring to see.
Grace Beverley built Tala with purpose. Hailey Bieber turned Rhode into a beauty movement. Gary Vee? Everything he touches becomes a brand (huge fan, by the way). Marcus Milione transformed Minted New York into something cultural by anchoring it in his own story.
And that’s the distinction.
The founder-led play works best when it’s natural and done alongside a strong core brand DNA and purpose.
From where I’m sitting, there’s nothing more painful than watching a founder reluctantly churn out content, hoping it’ll somehow bridge the gap left by a lack of clear brand thinking. Visibility becomes a mask for a lack of identity work. The face is doing all the lifting because the brand itself doesn’t stand for anything solo.
That’s a messy place to build from.
I’m not anti-founder content. Far from it. In fact, I think founder visibility can supercharge a brand, if the brand already knows what it is. But when visibility becomes a safety blanket for weak positioning or vague messaging, that’s when it needs to be looked at.
Start with the personality. Build a brand that can walk into a room on its own. One that feels like it belongs somewhere. One that people want to spend time with, even if they don’t know who made it.
A face might help people discover you. But a personality is what makes them stay around.
And if you’ve got both? Even better. Just don’t let the pressure to “show up” overshadow the real work that needs to happen underneath.
You don’t have to be the face of your brand. But your brand does need to feel like someone people want to be around when you can’t bring a plus one to the party.
That’s what matters.
Shot of the good stuff
