Building in Public on LinkedIn (without the cringe)

Let’s talk LinkedIn. Yep, the place where humble brags roam free, and thought leadership can sometimes feel... well, a little forced. But what if we told you it doesn’t have to be that way?

Over the past few months, we’ve been “quietly” (jokes, certainly loudly ) experimenting with how we show up on LinkedIn. 

Not for vanity metrics, but to better educate, connect, build in public and grow our business. 

And, dare we say, it’s actually been fun.

Here’s how we’ve been approaching it - and what we’ve learned so far (and what may be helpful to think about for your content strategy).

Our LinkedIn Content strategy (at a high-level)

Why LinkedIn? And why now?

We built our brand on the back of LinkedIn in a big way over the years. However, we also tried numerous other channels for growth, but haven’t seen the pace in terms of yield of efforts (just yet). 

Other channels contribute to growth, but LinkedIn in particular is a strong channel for us.

Plus, it’s one of the better channels for us which is low-cost and has quality audience distribution.

Then in terms of content strategy, we knew we needed to try new things… especially in a LinkedIn world flooded with pitch decks, founder FOMO, and algorithmic hot takes… 

We wanted to show up a bit differently.

With a clear voice.

With purpose.

With actual helpful content (especially around debt funding, and funding for growth in general).

So we built a content system. And not just for the sake of it - the strategy has contributed to millions in pipeline (yes, with real dollar signs ), stronger brand awareness, and better founder conversations.

 Our (Not-So-Secret) Strategy

Monthly Zooms

Dan Siepen (our growth guy) and I jump on a monthly content jam - record it, riff, extract gold. These convos fuel a pipeline of post ideas for weeks to come.

Central Content Spreadsheet

We capture everything in one doc, tagging ideas under key categories:

• Leadership (thought pieces)

• Startups (real talk + tactics)

• Health & Wellness (because burnout’s real)

• Debt Funding (education is everything)

Weekly Content Map

Each week we sketch out what’s going live and when — with plenty of white space for those shower thoughts that need to be posted.

Post, Track, Repeat

Posts go live. We wait 48-72 hours, check engagement, and ask: Did it resonate? Was it helpful? Did it spark connection?

 If yes → we amplify. If not → we tweak and learn.

Organic Reach Is Tightening - So We Got Smarter about Distribution

We’ve all felt it - LinkedIn organic reach is getting tighter, especially for company pages and even personal profiles.

That’s why we doubled down on utilising an ads feature that’s been a game-changer for us: Thought Leadership Ads.

Instead of running ads ‘purely’ cold, we only amplify posts that have already proven themselves organically. 

These are the ones that hit our performance benchmarks, spark real engagement, and get founders talking.

The result? Massive amplification of the right content - and a big contributor to the millions in pipeline we’ve seen so far.

It’s simple: → Don’t guess. → Let the data choose the winners. → Use ads to put rocket fuel behind them.

This approach keeps our voice consistent, protects authenticity, and ensures our ad dollars are being spent in a way that’s smart, not spammy.

What’s Actually Working in Terms of Content

 Helpful information sharing

Whether it’s demystifying debt or talking through startup mental health, we aim to be useful - not 'sales-y'.

 Authenticity 

No facades. No jargon overload. Just real talk from real people (us or founders we're interviewing) about building real things.

 Vulnerability

The wins are fun to share, but the hard stuff connects people too. (And let’s be honest, there’s a lot of hard stuff running a business.)

Celebrating others

From Tractor portfolio companies to founders doing cool things - if we see it and love it, we share it.

Working in public

Whether it's our EOS scorecards, new partnerships, or just sharing what we’re experimenting with - we're letting you in on the process.

Tools We Love (and Actually Use) for our LinkedIn Content Strategy

Here’s the tech stack that powers it all:

Zoom – for recording our monthly content riff

Google Sheets – to track every idea + category

Notion – to map weekly posts + content flow Shield – for performance data + tracking (see below)

Slack – to review + iterate on winning content

HubSpot – where leads and insights get tracked long-term

Shield - for tracking performance across our personal profiles

The "Success Framework" We Swear By (and What You Can Learn and Apply):

Be Helpful

Be Human

Be Consistent

 That’s it. That’s the magic formula.

 We’re not aiming to be influencers.

 We’re aiming to be useful. 

 To build trust. 

 And to make LinkedIn a bit more real, one post at a time.

 If you’ve been thinking of sharing more of your journey (but the blank page is winning), let this be your sign to start. 

 We’ll be cheering you on - in the comments or with the reactions.