How to plan a week of founder posts people actually read
Most founder posts are ads wearing a content costume. Here's a plan for five posts about your reader, not your product.
By the VIYA team · Updated
The short version
Pick one reader. Write down the questions they ask in their own words. Give each day one question and one shape of post. Make your product the author, not the subject. Write the whole week in one sitting, schedule it, and stop.
- 1
Pick one reader
Not a market. One person: their job, their week, the thing they're stuck on. If a post would help everyone, it helps no one.
- 2
Collect their questions in their words
Sales calls, DMs, support emails, comments on other people's posts. Write the question exactly how they'd type it. Their words are your hooks.
- 3
Give each post one shape
Five days, five shapes: a how-to, a common mistake, a take, a short story, a question back to them. Same reader, never the same post twice.
- 4
Make your product the author, not the subject
The reader is the subject. Your brand is the voice. Mention what you sell at most once a week, near the end, as the tool you use.
- 5
Run the stranger test
Read each first line as someone who has never heard of you. If it needs your company to make sense, rewrite it until it names their problem.
- 6
Batch it, schedule it, stop
Write all five in one sitting, schedule them, and close the tab. The week runs while you build the company.
Mistakes that make posts read like ads
- Opening with your company's name instead of the reader's problem.
- Five posts in a row about features.
- Assuming the reader already knows what you do.
- Waiting for inspiration every morning instead of planning the week once.
Questions founders ask
How many posts a week should a founder publish?
Enough that you can keep it up every week. Five short posts planned in one sitting beats one perfect post that takes all week.
Should I mention my product?
At most once a week, near the end of a post, as the tool you use. The rest of the week is about the reader.
Where do post ideas come from?
Your reader's questions, in their own words: sales calls, DMs, support emails and the comments on other people's posts.