How I Grew My LinkedIn From 1,724 to 8,617 Followers in 1.5 years.

It's April 2023. I'm working 80-hour weeks with full focus on building my business. One day, I stumbled across this line in a book:

💡 "It's not about who you know. It's about who knows you."

These words resonated deeply with me.

While I wasn't chasing popularity, I knew my network needed to grow beyond my 1,724 LinkedIn connections. This wasn't about vanity metrics or fame—it was about unlocking opportunities with a stronger network.

When the right people know who you are, opportunities naturally emerge.

I made the decision to build my personal brand, beginning with LinkedIn.

My First Post

Here's the best (and worst) thing about starting out: "You have absolutely no idea what you're doing." As a founder, this resonates with my very core. You just have to go for it—so I did.

My first post was an attempt at "thought leadership" 👇

It was a start: 1,260 impressions, 13 likes, 2 comments from friends.

For the next 9 months, I posted consistently 3 times per week, searching for my authentic voice and style.

Writing quality content taught me something important:

💡 "Creating good content is productizing the ideas in your head."

This skill alone has proven invaluable to me as a founder. Through creating content, I've transformed the cloudy thoughts in my head into clear, punchy ideas that I could share with others—ideas that I would later become known for.

Iteration + Discovery = Better Content

As time went on and I kept experimenting, I learned how better hooks and attention-grabbing images make a difference in content performance:

I noticed that people respond strongly to human faces and positive energy. My best-performing posts combined high-quality images with introspective reflection—often using one-liner black boxes to summarize key insights. Sometimes, just a compelling picture with a strong hook was enough to capture attention.

Having experimented enough in 2023, I decided to double down on growth in 2024.

Content Is Expensive

One thing no one talks about is how much energy creating good content requires. Sticking with a simple discipline of posting 3 times per week, you'd create 156 pieces of content per year.

The reality is that most people don't have 156 genuinely valuable ideas worth sharing—I certainly didn't. While you could choose to post mediocre content, the internet simply won't engage with it or help it spread.

💡 "No one needs yet another post from you just because you have a checkbox to hit."

These are just 3 (of many) shots I missed 👇

Creating quality content three times per week took 10 hours out of my week: one hour for actual writing and two hours for context switching and productizing ideas in my head. And that’s just to produce 3 pieces of 10-liner posts for LinkedIn. Creating high-quality content takes time.

Consistency Doesn’t Matter

The most common advice you get about content is that consistency is the name of the game. The best Creators post daily, or multiple times a day. No breaks, no days off, no vacations. And while that's advantageous, it's not necessarily the right thing to do.

I’ve tried posting 3 times/week, then I tried posting 3 times/month. Here’s what happened 👇

Looking at the chart above, you'll notice I gained followers faster when I posted less frequently. The reason is quite simple: it takes time and space to make good content (to be creative).

The internet doesn't reward mindless volume—it really doesn't. With so much noise everywhere, the only way to build a following is to stand out. To do that, you need to give yourself time and space to be creative.

It's tempting to fall into the consistency trap, churning out mediocre content while depleting your energy. Writing 3 posts a week consumed 10 hours of my time. But when I flipped the script and focused on creating content that's truly unique, authentic to you, and carefully crafted for your audience—that's when it spread.

💡"People don't follow you because you post a lot. They follow you because your posts are good."

What Makes a Viral Post

The best content brings outsized results. Dan Koe, one of my favorite Creators, shared his story of growing his YouTube channel as we walked along Venice Beach in LA:

"I've been posting on YouTube for five years and building up to 20,000 subscribers. Then I made three videos that went viral and gained 100,000 subscribers in two weeks."

We joked about how overnight success truly happens overnight—but only after years of hard work leading up to that decisive moment.

Great content pays off big time:

This chart shows how two posts I made in November brought in more followers than the previous three months of consistent posting.

Quality trumps consistency. To truly stand out, you need to cut through the noise.

Here are my best posts of 2024:

These posts reached between 20,000 and 100,000 viewers, engaging five times my follower count. My message resonated and spread.

Notice what's common:

• Creative, inspiring image with uplifting energy
• Enticing, attention-grabbing hook that inspires your curiosity
• Remarkable storytelling (these posts are highly emotional)

Notice how these posts are authentically human. They share the unique story of me and the moments I'm proud of. Whether it's my skydiving journey when I was 15, reading 52 books in 2024, or crying out for help in my desperate search for a designer.

Making this content was not only impactful, it was incredibly fun to make and helped me connect with my audience at a deep, human level—which is the very reason why this content spread.

In Conclusion

As a founder, having a following is your unfair advantage. In constant battle for attention, a strong personal brand sets you apart.

💡 "It's not about who you know. It's about who knows you."

Tell your unique, authentic story to help people discover you. Don't get caught up in posting consistently. The world doesn't need another voice saying the same things.

Live a life worth writing about, and share your authentic story.