Hi,
If a reporter from the Wall Street Journal called you today and asked to feature your business in tomorrow’s edition, what would you say?
You’d say yes. Obviously.
You’d call your mom. Your friends would text you about it. When the story was published, you probably reshare the clip on — wait for it — LinkedIn.
Your team would be pumped. And no one — not your college friends, not your old coworkers, not that one person from high school who watches everything but never likes anything — would think twice about it.
Nobody would say you were "trying too hard." Nobody would judge you for putting yourself out there. They'd say, "That's amazing. You deserve it."
Now let me ask you something else.
What if, instead of waiting for that reporter to call, you just… showed up on your own? Posted something thoughtful on LinkedIn twice a week. Shared a lesson you learned the hard way. Talked about what you're building and why it matters.
Suddenly, it feels completely different.
Now, you're thinking about who might see it and what they might think. Not your customers. Not your investors. But your fraternity brothers and former roommates — the ones whose opinions have nothing to do with your business.
I have this conversation with founders way too often. They’re wondering how they can get local business coverage, or chasing that TechCrunch feature.
But when you ask them when the last time they posted on LinkedIn was, they balk. It feels “awkward” or “cringey.”
Here's what I want you to notice: the visibility is the same. You're putting your face, your name, and your ideas out into the world. That's true whether a journalist puts you on camera or you write 200 words on LinkedIn.
The only difference is permission.
When a journalist features you, someone else decided you were worth paying attention to. It feels earned. Validated. Safe. You didn't ask for the spotlight — it came to you.
When you post on LinkedIn, you’re the one deciding you're worth paying attention to. And for a lot of founders, that feels uncomfortable. Self-promotional. Like you're overstepping somehow.
But if you're serious about building thought leadership — and you should be — you can't wait for permission from a journalist, a conference organizer, or a podcast host.
I'm not saying earned media doesn't matter. It absolutely does. But it’s also unpredictable. You don't control the timing, the angle, or whether a journalist picks up the phone.
Your own platform? You control all of it.
Founders who build real authority — the ones people think of first — aren't choosing one or the other. They're doing both.
So if you'd say yes to a TV interview tomorrow but you haven't posted on LinkedIn this week, sit with that for a second.
You’re not afraid of visibility. You're just afraid to own it.
And once you name your fear, it’s a lot easier to get past it.
See you next week,
Megan