#117 — Creating a content strategy for your startup
October 1, 2025•9 min read
Get actionable go-to-market insights delivered weekly. No fluff, no spam, just essentials.
Get actionable go-to-market insights delivered weekly. No fluff, no spam, just essentials.
Why it matters: Search is disrupted. AI answers are reshaping discovery. Paid channels hit diminishing returns. Content is the only growth lever that compounds over time instead of depleting your bank account.
The big picture: Most founders approach content backwards—chasing keywords and SEO tactics instead of understanding humans. The companies winning organic growth treat content as a system built on first principles, not a marketing checkbox.
Phase 1: Strategic Foundation
The Three-Circle Framework
How it works: Think Venn diagram. Your content strategy lives at the intersection of three circles :
1. Deep Audience Understanding
- Go beyond job titles. Map their psychology: top questions, daily concerns, work products, KPIs they own, what gets them fired vs. promoted.
- Build a knowledge graph. Document their context, environment, decision-making process, and information consumption habits.
- Interview existing customers. Extract patterns in their language, pain points, and transformation stories.
- Map their day-to-day. Understand when they consume content, what devices they use, what format they prefer.
- Identify their trusted sources. Who do they follow? What publications do they read? What communities do they participate in?.
Your goal: Understand them better than they understand themselves. When they consume your content, they should be nodding: "Yes, that's exactly me".
2. Mind Share Competitor Mapping
- Direct competitors: Companies offering similar solutions.
- Indirect competitors: Anyone competing for attention—associations, influencers, publications, communities, tools, newsletters.
- Content audit: Analyze their top-performing content across all platforms.
- Traffic analysis: Use tools like Ahrefs/SEMrush to identify their highest-traffic pages.
- Social listening: Track what topics generate engagement for them.
- Gap identification: Find topics they cover poorly or miss entirely.
Why it matters: They've done the market research. This shortcuts you to proven demand instead of guessing what might work.
3. Jobs-to-be-Done Mapping
- Not features, but outcomes: What does your product enable? What pain does it solve? What transformation does it create?.
- Customer journey mapping: Map every touchpoint from awareness to advocacy.
- Value story extraction: Extract specific stories of customer transformation.
- Use case documentation: Document every way your product creates value.
- Pain point hierarchy: Rank pain points by intensity and frequency.
The goal: Lead TO your product, not WITH your product. Content guides naturally without feeling like a sales pitch.
The bottom line: The best content opportunities live where all three circles overlap—your audience cares, there's proven demand with gaps, and it connects to value you deliver.
Phase 2: Content Architecture
The Organization System
Think like a course creator: Organize your universe of opportunities as if you're running a bootcamp for your audience.
Content Pillar Framework:
- 3-4 core themes maximum: Industry insights, behind-the-scenes building, customer success, thought leadership.
- Each pillar supports business objectives: Every piece should ladder up to at least one pillar.
- Topic clustering: Group related content opportunities under each pillar.
- Content hierarchy: Primary (pillar posts), secondary (supporting content), tertiary (social posts).
Content Types by Stage:
- Pre-seed: Founder personal stories, industry observations, behind-the-scenes building.
- Seed: Problem-focused content, early customer stories, solution explanations.
- Series A+: Thought leadership, industry reports, comprehensive guides, customer case studies.
Prioritization Framework:
- Relevance to your offering: How closely does this connect to what you deliver?
- Difficulty to own: How hard would it be to become the best answer?
- Internal knowledge: Do you have the expertise to create the definitive resource?
- Volume and interest: How much demand exists for this topic?
- Competition gaps: Where are current answers weakest?
Content Inventory and Gap Analysis
Audit existing content:
- Performance analysis: What's working? What's not?
- Content gaps: Where are opportunities based on your three-circles analysis?
- Repurposing opportunities: What can be updated, expanded, or reformatted?
- Competitive content gaps: What are competitors missing that you can own?
Phase 3: Systematic Execution
The Content Production System
Batch creation approach:
- Weekly/monthly batching: More effective than daily creation for consistency and quality.
- Content sprints: Dedicate 4-8 hours to create multiple pieces around one pillar.
- Template development: Create repeatable formats for different content types.
- Workflow documentation: Document every step from ideation to publication.
The Interview-Based Framework:
- Bi-weekly source interviews: 30-60 minute sessions to extract insights.
- Customer story extraction: Regular interviews with successful customers.
- Internal knowledge mining: Extract expertise from team members.
- Systematic documentation: Record and transcribe all interviews for content mining.
Content Calendar Structure:
- Editorial calendar: Plan 90 days ahead with flexibility for timely topics.
- Publishing frequency: Start with 1-2 quality pieces weekly, scale based on capacity.
- Platform strategy: Master one platform (LinkedIn) before expanding.
- Promotion schedule: Plan content promotion across all channels.
Distribution and Amplification
Platform-Specific Strategy:
- LinkedIn: Primary platform for B2B founders
- Email newsletter: Owned audience development
- Company blog: SEO and owned media
- Industry publications: Guest posting for authority building
The 90-10 Value Rule:
- 90% value: Educational, insightful, actionable content
- 10% promotion: Subtle product mentions and calls-to-action
- Trust building: Value-first approach builds authority that makes promotion more effective
Engagement Strategy:
- Community participation: Active participation in industry discussions
- Relationship building: Direct engagement with key industry figures
- Thought leadership: Consistent sharing of unique perspectives
Phase 4: Measurement and Optimization
Success Metrics by Stage
Pre-seed/Seed Metrics:
- Engagement rates: Comments, shares, saves on social content
- Website traffic: Organic traffic growth and time on page
- Email subscribers: List growth and open rates
- Demo requests: Direct conversion from content
Series A+ Metrics:
- Pipeline influence: Content attribution to sales opportunities
- Sales cycle impact: Shortened cycles due to pre-education
- Deal size: Higher ACV from educated prospects
- Customer acquisition cost: Reduced CAC through organic channels
Long-term Success Indicators:
- Organic search rankings: Dominating key industry topics
- Industry recognition: Speaking opportunities, media mentions
- Inbound opportunities: Quality leads finding you first
- Brand authority: Being cited as an industry expert
The Compound Learning System
Weekly optimization cycle:
- Performance analysis: What content performed best and why?
- Audience feedback: Comments, DMs, and direct feedback analysis
- Competitive monitoring: What's working for competitors?
- Content iteration: Apply learnings to upcoming content
Monthly strategy review:
- Pillar performance: Which topics are gaining traction?
- Channel effectiveness: Where is your audience most engaged?
- Resource allocation: Where should you invest more time/effort?
- Strategy pivots: What needs to change based on data?
Quarterly strategic assessment:
- Business impact: How is content affecting business metrics?
- Competitive position: How has your market position evolved?
- Resource scaling: When to hire, outsource, or invest in tools?
- Channel expansion: When and where to expand platform presence?
Phase 5: Scaling and Systematization
Team Structure by Stage
Solo founder stage:
- Time allocation: 2-4 hours weekly for content activities
- Tool stack: Minimal—scheduling tools, basic analytics
- Focus areas: LinkedIn + email newsletter
Small team stage:
- First hire: Marketing generalist who can execute content strategy
- Delegation options: Internal team member vs. external agency
- Founder role: Strategic direction and thought leadership
Growth stage:
- Specialized roles: Content manager, social media manager, SEO specialist
- Process documentation: Complete playbooks for each content type
- Quality control: Review processes and brand consistency
Technology and Tool Stack
Content Creation:
- Writing tools: Grammarly, Hemingway Editor
- Design tools: Canva, Figma for visual content
- Video tools: Loom for quick videos, professional editing software
- Audio tools: Podcast recording and editing software
Content Management:
- Editorial calendar: Notion, Airtable, or dedicated content calendar tools
- Asset management: Cloud storage with organized folder structure
- Workflow management: Project management tools for content production
Distribution and Analytics:
- Social media scheduling: Buffer, Hootsuite, or native platform schedulers
- Email marketing: ConvertKit, Mailchimp, or similar platforms
- Analytics tools: Google Analytics, social platform analytics, UTM tracking
- SEO tools: Ahrefs, SEMrush for keyword and competitive research
Implementation Checklist
Week 1-2: Foundation
- Complete three-circles analysis (audience, competitors, jobs-to-be-done)
- Interview 5-10 existing customers for insights
- Audit competitor content strategies
- Document current content performance
- Define 3-4 content pillars
Week 3-4: Planning
- Create content calendar template
- Develop content briefs for each pillar
- Set up measurement systems
- Choose primary distribution platform
- Create content creation workflow
Week 5-6: Launch
- Publish first piece of pillar content
- Begin consistent publishing schedule
- Start engagement and community building
- Set up analytics tracking
- Document learnings from first publications
Ongoing Optimization
- Weekly performance review
- Monthly strategy adjustment
- Quarterly business impact assessment
- Continuous competitor monitoring
- Regular audience feedback collection
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Pitfall 1: Trying to be everywhere at once
- Solution: Master one platform before expanding
- Focus: LinkedIn for B2B founders, then email, then blog
Pitfall 2: Leading with product instead of value
- Solution: Follow the 90-10 rule—90% value, 10% promotion
- Focus: Solve problems first, mention solutions second
Pitfall 3: Inconsistent publishing
- Solution: Batch creation and editorial calendar discipline
- Focus: Better to publish weekly consistently than daily sporadically
Pitfall 4: Creating content in a vacuum
- Solution: Regular customer interviews and feedback loops
- Focus: Create for one person, not everyone
Pitfall 5: Ignoring the compound effect
- Solution: Commit to 90-day minimum before judging results
- Focus: Consistency and learning over perfectionism
The Reality Check
Time investment: Expect 10-15 hours weekly for systematic execution. This isn't a side project—it's a growth engine that requires founder commitment.
Results timeline: Initial traction in 30-60 days. Meaningful business impact in 90-180 days. Compound growth begins after 6-12 months of consistent execution.
Resource requirements: Can start solo but requires team support to scale. Budget for tools, potentially outsourced help, and opportunity cost of founder time.
Success prerequisites: Clear positioning, repeatable value delivery, and founder commitment to being a public educator, not just a private builder.
The compound reality: This approach creates content that gets better over time, builds cumulative authority, generates lasting trust, and drives business outcomes—not vanity metrics. Companies that execute this systematically see 3-5x ROI within 6-12 months.
Your choice: Build a content system that compounds, or keep burning budget on paid channels with diminishing returns.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose which competitor content gaps to target first?
Focus on high-traffic topics your competitors neglect or where existing answers are thin, outdated, or generic. For example, Zapier built SEO dominance by creating detailed, actionable guides for popular software integrations that no one else covered thoroughly—becoming the go-to resource for automation workflows.
What’s the fastest way to validate my audience’s content preferences before investing heavily?
Use LinkedIn and live customer interviews to test short-form post ideas, questions, and value stories. See which pain points and topics drive DMs, comments, and engagement. Example: Superhuman founder Rahul Vohra personally interviewed hundreds of users to document email habits before doubling down on product-led content.
How do I measure organic ROI from a founder-led content strategy?
Track inbound demo requests, sales cycle reduction, organic lead volume, and engagement metrics (comments, shares, time on site). Benchmark against paid acquisition CPA. Case study: Auth0’s founders attributed 40% of their early qualified leads to technical blog posts built from user interviews and community feedback—resulting in a $1B+ exit.
What content types should SaaS founders prioritize pre-product/market fit?
Focus on personal stories, learning out loud, and educational content about broader industry problems—not product features. Example: Notion built a cult following early by sharing their messy journey, design process, and productivity hacks long before pitching templates or paid plans.
How much time should a solo founder spend on content vs. product early on?
Allocate 15-20% of weekly time (usually 5-8 hours/week) for systematic content creation, interviews, and engagement. In early stages, founder stories and authentic posts outperform polished material that takes longer to produce. Example: Buffer's CEO spent mornings answering questions and blogging, which drove organic growth faster than paid ads.
What’s the best way to repurpose high-performing content for multiple platforms?
Break down pillar articles into LinkedIn posts, Medium stories, email newsletters, and podcast scripts. Real-world example: Gong.io repackages insights from original sales data research into LinkedIn carousels, webinars, newsletter tips, and guest podcast spots—maximizing reach from one research sprint.
How do I prevent ‘content fatigue’ while keeping publishing frequency high?
Batch content creation, reuse interviews, and build a 90-day editorial calendar that includes customer quotes, FAQs, and commentary on industry news. Case study: Drift’s founders used recurring podcast interviews and customer feedback to fuel both blog, audio, and personal social posts weekly with minimal burnout.
What metrics signal my founder-led content is earning trust and authority?
Look for rising search rankings for key pain points, increasing backlinks, unsolicited invitations to speak or partner, positive sentiment in communities, and prospects referencing your content in discovery calls. Example: Segment’s technical founders earned early trust by publishing open-source code walkthroughs, which were cited in top forums and led to partnerships and eventual acquisition.
How do I decide when to hire a content marketer vs. continue as a founder-creator?
Hire when your calendar is full with product and founder duties, but you have a repeatable content system and want faster scaling. Founders should stay involved in strategy and thought leadership. Example: Ahrefs’ CEO Tim Soulo created the first 100+ guides and videos before scaling with a team, preserving founder voice and expertise.
What’s a scalable way to source ongoing ideas for impactful founder content?
Set up continuous customer interviews, leverage sales/support transcripts, and monitor competitor gaps monthly. Use Notion or Airtable to centralize and tag content ideas. Case study: Intercom built an idea pipeline from weekly sales/support calls, inspiring blog posts, help docs, and email sequences that drove exponential organic growth.
What are the most important SEO elements for founder-led content to rank highly in Google Search?
Critical SEO elements for founder-led content are: (1) targeting specific keywords and long-tail phrases that your audience actually searches; (2) structuring content with clear H1 and H2 tags, bulleted lists, and concise answers; (3) incorporating FAQs addressing search intent; (4) using internal and external links to reputable sites; and (5) optimizing meta descriptions. For example, Olivier from Activity Messenger grew organic clicks 1,700% by combining authentic founder stories with strategic on-page SEO—a real founder-led SEO success story.
How can early-stage startups use content marketing to outperform larger, better-funded competitors?
Early-stage startups can win by being more specific and personal: publish founder stories, reveal behind-the-scenes lessons, respond directly to audience questions, and tackle overlooked content gaps. GrooveHQ grew to $5M ARR by sharing authentic founder blog posts and transparent progress updates that large competitors ignored. Focus on niche value and rapid iteration instead of competing on volume alone.
What’s the difference between founder-led content and traditional corporate marketing content?
Founder-led content is authentic, personal, and filled with real-world experiences, whereas traditional corporate marketing tends to be impersonal and overly polished. Customers trust founder-led content because it’s grounded in lived expertise and storytelling—not buzzwords. Activity Messenger, for example, attributes over 65% of leads to content written by their founder, not a marketing team.
How long does it take to see impact from organic content marketing versus paid channels?
Organic content, especially founder-led, compounds over months—not days. Expect to see the first signs of traction (like organic traffic and early leads) within 60–90 days, with major impact and rankings typically growing after 6–12 months of consistent execution. Paid channels may drive faster clicks, but content provides exponential, persistent ROI over time.
What are some proven content distribution strategies for startups to increase organic reach?
Leverage multiple channels: repurpose pillar blog posts into LinkedIn content, email newsletters, podcast episodes, and industry guest posts. Promote through founder’s personal accounts for authenticity and authority. For example, Gong.io uses research-backed articles repurposed as LinkedIn carousels, webinars, and guest podcasts—maximizing visibility from each original insight.
How do I identify the best keywords and topics to target as a tech/SaaS founder?
Start with customer interviews, sales/support transcripts, and competitor content analysis. Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to discover high-volume, low-competition keywords and trending questions. Test post ideas on LinkedIn to quickly validate resonance before full production. GrooveHQ and Buffer built content calendars directly from real customer problems and SaaS community discourse.
Why is a content calendar and batching strategy important for SEO and scaling organic growth?
A content calendar ensures consistent publishing and addresses SEO topics with intent—not random ideas. Batching content creation reduces burnout and increases efficiency, helping you capture more ranking opportunities. Drift’s founders used batching and editorial planning to maintain a high publishing cadence without sacrificing quality.
How should I measure the ROI of my startup’s organic content strategy?
Measure traffic growth, lead quality, keyword rankings, engagement (comments, shares, replies), and attribution to pipeline/revenue. Segment’s founders tracked open-source downloads, referral traffic, and mentions in community forums to link content to bottom-line outcomes—leading to major partnerships and an acquisition.
When should a founder shift from DIY content to hiring marketing help?
Make the switch when you’ve achieved repeatability in your content system, are running out of capacity, or need expertise to scale faster. Maintain founder involvement in strategy and vision. Tim Soulo (Ahrefs) produced 100+ pieces himself to set the bar, then scaled with a team while retaining founder voice.
What KPIs should I monitor monthly to ensure my SEO-driven content strategy is working?
Key monthly KPIs: (1) organic search traffic and growth rate; (2) rankings for priority keywords; (3) number of backlinks and referral domains; (4) engaged sessions, comment volume; (5) qualified lead count attributed to content; (6) content shares and mentions; and (7) conversion rates by content path. Use Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and CRM attribution models to track and optimize.
Keep reading
#116 — Coca-Cola’s 70/20/10 Formula
Allocates resources across different types of marketing activities and content creation in a way to optimize what works, pilot what’s promising, and bet on the future.
#115 — Code Mode: Your MCP Doesn’t Need 30 Tools
Today, most AI agents still fumble with "tool call". They're slow, brittle & embarrassingly limited. Code Mode offers a better way.
#114 — Pricing for AI
The rise of AI is reshaping the old rules of tech pricing. Startups are now blending the software and labor markets—selling not just products, but real outcomes.