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How I earn mentions
Previously guest posting, gaining backlinks and mentions was easy.
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LinkedIn personal branding · for founders
LinkedIn personal branding for founders who want to be known past the feed.
Investors, early hires and clients look you up on LinkedIn first. Then they Google you, and more of them ask ChatGPT. I make LinkedIn the front door to all three, so your story is the same wherever they look.
I'm Bhavik Sarkhedi: a 3x entrepreneur and best-selling author, featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, HuffPost and Entrepreneur.
Featured in
- 3x entrepreneur
- Best-selling author, 21 books
- Featured in The New York Times and Forbes
- 12+ years, 1,200+ clients
Why LinkedIn alone is not enough
LinkedIn is one room. Founders get checked in three.
LinkedIn, social media is not equal to personal branding.LinkedIn is not the whole brand · 2:12
- LinkedInWhere investors, early hires and clients check your story first. It is the one room where you control every word.
- GoogleWhere they go next. Your website, your press and a Knowledge Panel, if Google decides to show one.
- AI answersWhere more of them now ask. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini describe you from whatever the web already says.
I start with LinkedIn because it is the room you control most. I never stop there. The full method
Who reads a founder
Your buyers read founders, including the ones you never meet.
In a business deal there are the people you pitch and the people you never meet: finance, legal, the colleague who has to live with the decision. LinkedIn's research with Edelman says both groups read what founders publish, and both use it to decide.
Hidden buyers are the people in a buying decision you never meet. They read what founders publish almost as much as the people you pitch.
Source: LinkedIn, reporting the 2025 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report.
40%+
of B2B deals stall because the people inside the buying company disagree.
Source: 2025 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, via LinkedIn.
Authenticity matters a lot.
By the time a founder gets the meeting, the other side has already read the profile, watched a video and checked the website. Your LinkedIn is doing the first half of every sales call, whether you wrote it for that or not.
Try it now
Write the one line that follows you everywhere.
Your headline shows up next to every comment, every connection request and every search result. Fill in four boxes and you get three drafts, counted against LinkedIn's 220-character limit.
Your details
Plain words. Your drafts stay on this device.
- Straight0 / 220
- Outcome first0 / 220
- Proof first0 / 220
Opens your own email with the three drafts written in. I will tell you which one I would use, and why.
- Say what you do before your title.“Founder” tells a stranger nothing. What you build does.
- Name who it is for.The right reader should recognise themselves in the first few words.
- Add one piece of proof they can check.An exit, a number, a client, a publication. One is enough.
- Use the words a client would search.Your headline shows up in LinkedIn search and on Google, so write it in their words, not yours.
The feature founders skip
Start the LinkedIn newsletter nobody told you about.
LinkedIn has built Medium, Substack and Beehiiv into one feature, and most founders never switch it on. It works only if you write from what you have actually done. Four letters any founder can write this month:
- The decision you nearly got wrong, and what stopped you.
- A number from your own business, and what it taught you.
- What your last hire changed about how you run the company.
- The customer conversation you still think about.
Not ready to post at all?
Then start with the profile. If you are raising, hiring or selling to one big account, a one-time rebuild of every section may be all you need this quarter. I will tell you honestly if that is the case.
See every section I rebuildBeyond LinkedIn
Three recordings on getting named outside the feed.
Mentions on other people's sites are what Google and AI tools count. These are the three things I would tell a founder about earning them.
Two
Are people talking about you?
Are people talking about you or your product?
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Three
More AI, more value in being human
If you start doing it now, then maybe after a year or two you will become a brand in your respective niche.
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How we would work
Six steps, from a profile to a name people repeat.
| The moment | LinkedIn only | LinkedIn plus Google and AI answers |
|---|---|---|
| An investor looks you up | A good profile, then a thin Google result | The same story on LinkedIn, your website and the press |
| A senior hire asks ChatGPT about you | Often a thin or out-of-date answer | An answer built from pages you made sure were accurate |
| A client checks you before the call | Posts, but little proof | Posts, proof and press in one place |
| Six months of effort | Reach inside LinkedIn | Mentions that Google and AI tools also count |
| Verdict | Known on one platform | Known by name |
- Pick the one thingWe agree on what you want investors, hires and clients to remember you for. Everything after this points at it.
- Rebuild the profileHeadline, About, banner, Featured and services, in your words, so the first look already works.
- Start the newsletterA steady newsletter built on your own decisions, numbers and lessons. Subscribers get it without fighting the feed.
- Post from conversationsI turn our calls into first drafts in your voice. AI helps with editing and checking, never the first draft.
- Point it all homeYour website becomes the centre that LinkedIn, press coverage and search all point back to.
- Get named elsewherePodcasts, publications and expert quotes, so Google and AI tools hear about you from someone other than you.
Who you would be talking to
I am a founder too. That is why this is not a posting plan.
I'm Bhavik Sarkhedi: a 3x entrepreneur and best-selling author, featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, HuffPost and Entrepreneur.
My first paid work was content and SEO, in 2014. I have built and sold companies since, and personal branding came after that, with more than 1,200 clients across twelve years. Founders usually arrive with a busy LinkedIn and a thin search result, and the job is to make the two tell the same story.
12+years in content, SEO and branding, since 2014
1,200+clients
21books, best-selling author
3xentrepreneur
- Named by Forbes among the top global personal branding experts, 2025.
- Published twice in The New York Times.
- Verified Google Knowledge Panel for my own name.
Off camera
Between the calls, this is the week.
Real photos, the same ones on my homepage. No studio and no stock. You would be talking to this person, not an account manager.
Check me first
Clients, reviews and press, all public.
Founders should check whoever is about to shape their name. Start here, then write to me if it holds up.
ClientsFounders and experts I have worked withNames, what changed for them, and links so you can see the result for yourself.TestimonialsIn their words, not mineRecommendations and reviews collected across twelve years of client work.Featured inWhere my work has runBylines and interviews, from The New York Times and Forbes to Fast Company and HuffPost.Media proofEvery quote, with its sourceArticles I wrote or was quoted in, each one linked back to the publication.Knowledge PanelsLive panels you can openGoogle Knowledge Panels on client names. Search them yourself.BooksMy booksPlaybooks on branding and writing, plus fiction, published since 2015.
Questions founders ask me
LinkedIn for founders, answered plainly.
Should founders build a personal brand on LinkedIn?
Yes, if your name is part of how the company wins: raising money, hiring early people, selling to other businesses. The people deciding look you up before they reply. The 2025 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B study found 64% of buyers spend more than an hour a week reading thought leadership, and 56% use it to judge a vendor.
How often should a founder post on LinkedIn?
Often enough that you never go quiet for a month, and never so often that you post filler. One real piece a week, from something you actually did, beats five generic ones. A newsletter at a steady rhythm counts, and for many founders it is the better format.
Can someone ghostwrite my LinkedIn posts?
Yes, and plenty of founders' posts are shaped by someone else. What matters is whose thinking it is. I work from our conversations, so the ideas and the stories are yours and the drafting is shared. A post written from nothing by a stranger, or by AI, reads exactly like that.
What should a founder post on LinkedIn?
What you have actually done: decisions, numbers from your own business, lessons from hires and customers, and what you think about your market. People follow founders to learn how you got where you are. Generic advice is the one thing they can get anywhere.
Is LinkedIn enough for a founder's personal brand?
No. LinkedIn makes you known on LinkedIn. Search a name on Google or ask ChatGPT who someone is, and the reply is assembled from their website, their press coverage and what other sites say. LinkedIn is the room you control most, so it is where I start, never where I stop.
Do LinkedIn newsletters help a personal brand?
Yes, and most founders never start one. LinkedIn folded the best of Medium, Substack and Beehiiv into one feature, and your subscribers get each edition without competing with the feed. It only works if you write from real experience.
How does LinkedIn help a founder raise money or hire?
Investors and senior hires look you up before the first meeting. A clear headline, proof in the Featured section and a record of thinking in public make that first look work for you. It will not raise the round on its own, and nobody honest will tell you it does.
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