Founder vs. Company Page: Where Should You Focus Your Content Efforts?

One of the most common questions founders ask me is whether they should invest in building their personal brand or focus on their company page.

With limited time and resources, it's a critical decision that can significantly impact your business growth trajectory.

After helping dozens of founders navigate this decision, I've found that the answer isn't as straightforward as many marketing experts make it seem.

Let's break down the pros and cons of each approach and create a framework for deciding where your content efforts should go.

The Personal Brand Advantage

When founders ask me where to focus, I typically lean toward building the founder's personal brand first. Here's why:

Trust Forms Faster with People, Not Logos

Humans are wired to connect with other humans, not corporate entities. We trust faces, stories, and individual journeys. Your personal journey as a founder—with all its challenges, insights, and victories—creates a connection that a company page simply cannot replicate.

The data backs this up: LinkedIn posts from personal profiles receive an average of 3x more engagement than identical content posted from company pages.

Lower Competition, Higher Engagement

The competition for attention on personal profiles is significantly lower than for company pages. While every business is fighting for visibility, relatively few founders are consistently showing up with valuable content.

This creates an opportunity gap. The founder who consistently shares valuable insights can quickly stand out, even in crowded markets where company differentiation is challenging.

Flexibility in Voice and Content Range

Your personal profile allows for a wider range of content types than your company page. You can:

• Share personal victories and setbacks

• Discuss industry trends beyond your specific offering

• Take positions on controversial topics

• Show the human side of entrepreneurship
  
  

This flexibility allows you to attract a broader audience, some of whom will naturally become interested in your company.

The Results Reality (As of March 2025)

The performance gap between personal profiles and company pages is significant and widening. Based on what I'm seeing across dozens of clients:

Personal profiles consistently outperform company pages on every metric that matters:

• Impressions are typically 5-10x higher for identical content

• Engagement rates often exceed company pages by 300-500%

• Conversion actions (profile visits, link clicks, connection requests) show similar disparities
  
  

My hypothesis is that LinkedIn deliberately prioritizes personal content in their algorithm. They want more people posting as individuals and growing personal accounts, which creates a more engaging ecosystem. Meanwhile, they incentivize companies to use paid promotion for visibility.

One founder I work with ran a simple experiment: posting identical content on both channels. His personal posts averaged 15,000 impressions while company posts struggled to reach 2,000 - despite having similar follower counts on both.

When the Company Page Makes Sense

Despite these advantages, there are specific scenarios where prioritizing your company page makes strategic sense:

Large Enterprises (5,000+ Employees)

For established enterprises, company pages can be effective for PR-type content, company announcements, and maintaining an official presence. These organizations typically have dedicated teams and budgets for social media management and paid promotion.

Multiple Founders or Key Team Members

If your company has several founders or key team members who all create content, a company page can serve as the central hub that aggregates everyone's insights. This prevents market confusion and creates a unified brand presence.

LinkedIn Advertising at Scale

Company pages make sense if you're planning to heavily invest in LinkedIn ads. While the organic reach is limited, a well-maintained company page becomes essential when running significant ad campaigns on the platform.

However, LinkedIn advertising requires specialized knowledge—it's not like Facebook or Google ads. The targeting options, conversion tracking, and optimization strategies are unique, and costs per click can be significantly higher. Only invest here if you have the expertise and budget to do it properly.

The Investor Reality Check

There's a common misconception that investors prefer to see strong company pages over founder brands when considering acquisitions or investments. In reality, investors invest in people first, companies second.

Even if you're building to exit, investors want to see that you, as the founder, have influence and authority in your space. A strong personal brand signals thought leadership, industry connections, and the ability to generate visibility—all valuable assets during fundraising.

Several VCs I've spoken with explicitly look at founders' personal brands during due diligence, considering it an indicator of market influence and potential.

The Hybrid Approach: Best of Both Worlds

In most cases, the most effective strategy is a thoughtful hybrid approach:

1. Start with your personal brand to generate initial traction and visibility

2. Cross-post strategic content to your company page (with slight modifications)

3. Gradually shift the balance as your company grows
   
   

Think of your personal brand as the "top of funnel" that attracts people to your broader message, while your company page serves as the conversion point once they're interested in specific solutions.

A Decision Framework

To determine where to focus your efforts, answer these questions:

1. What's your time constraint? If you can only focus on one channel, your personal brand typically delivers higher ROI initially.

2. What's your business model? B2B sales with long cycles benefit tremendously from founder visibility, while high-volume B2C businesses might need stronger brand recognition.

3. What's your natural strength? Some founders are natural storytellers and relationship builders, while others prefer to stay behind the scenes. Play to your strengths.

4. What's your company size and maturity? Early-stage startups typically benefit most from founder-led content, while established enterprises can leverage company pages effectively.
   
   

Implementation Strategy

Whichever direction you choose, implementation follows similar principles:

1. Consistency trumps frequency. Better to post high-quality content twice weekly than mediocre content daily.

2. Content pillars work for both. Develop 3-5 core themes that you'll consistently address, whether on your personal or company page.

3. Start with a 90-day test. Commit to one approach for 90 days, measure the results, and then adjust your strategy based on data rather than assumptions.

4. Build systems for both. Whether you're focusing on personal or company content, create systems that make production sustainable.
   
   

The Long Game

Remember that both your personal brand and company presence are long-term assets. The question isn't really "either/or" but "which first?"

My recommendation to founders is almost always to start with their personal profile. The reach advantage is too significant to ignore, especially when you're just beginning to build visibility.

Most successful founders I've worked with start by building their personal brand, generating initial traction and visibility, then gradually strengthen their company presence as they grow.

The key is making a strategic choice rather than splitting your limited resources ineffectively across both channels from the beginning.

Thanks for reading! I've seen too many founders struggle with this decision and end up with mediocre results on both fronts. If you found this helpful, I share more practical strategies like this every week in my newsletter. You can subscribe at oscarhoole.com to get these delivered straight to your inbox.

If you're a founder looking to build a systematic approach to content that drives real business outcomes, book a direct call with me here.

– Oscar