This memo sits within our Founder Diary. No sources, no citations - just opinions formed from years of experience in the game.
Building in public. Founder-led brands.
The lore. The backstory. The POV.
It’s all on the table for founders in 2026. Founders across all industries are under pressure to build personal brands.
Somewhere along the way, being a founder started to mean being a personality. And while I am fine with that - even enjoy the task - it can often feel like the founder you show up as is more important than the product, strategy or business viability. And that is where the struggle starts for me.
Note: I’m not talking about celebrity brands here ie. people who were famous first, then launched something. Relevant, but a different category entirely.
I am not old enough to accurately assess who the first “famous” founder was.
Probably Henry Ford or John D. Rockefeller. The Wright brothers come up but I think inventing something is a totally different kettle of fish. And then of course we have the founding fathers, my personal favorite John Hancock and his ostentatious signature. But also - not who we are talking about today.
The founder who really set the blueprint for what we see today is Martha Stewart.
Martha didn’t start famous.
She started as a stockbroker in New York, with a deep love for cooking, hosting, gardening - all the “home” things. She left her corporate job, started a catering company, wrote a book, and built an empire where her face, was the face.
Not an influencer turned founder. A founder who became the brand.
The bigger Martha the person became, the bigger the business became. And vice versa. A similar loop we see today, but one that is inextricably tied to the rise of the influencer.
For a long time Martha was the exception, not the rule. So what changed? Social media, obviously.
It gave brands direct access to their customers in a way that had never existed before. It felt intimate, immediate and human. At first it was an opportunity, but now it’s an expectation. You simply cannot launch a brand today without showing up online, and not just showing up, but performing.
And at some point, beautifully curated imagery stopped being enough. Moodboards are nice but they don’t build connection. So the industry found something that seems to work like a charm:
Authenticity.
JK that’s an oxymoron.
The word authenticity is almost as buzzy as community (more on that in another memo). It’s why we love Sophie Turner chugging wine on the kiss cam. Oh that’s just Sophie being Sophie!
It’s why Madeleine Argy has captivated the hearts of millions of Gen-Z’s with borderline unhinged content. Zooming in on a new pimple? Uncomfortable perhaps, but raw and relatable.
And for a founder? No different.
Walking through the mood board that led your logo to a particular shade of chartreuse? She’s analytical and a tad obsessive - I can relate!
Explaining the time your spec sheet was off and your manufacturer sent 5000 doll-sized dresses? She makes mistakes like me - were all just human after all!
In a crowded market, brands blur together. But people don’t.
You can have six baby pink lip balm brands. You can’t have six identical founders.
So instead of building a perfectly differentiated brand world, founders became the differentiation.
Just be yourself. No one can copy that.
But when something works, it’s impossible for us not to get greedy. We figure out how to systemize and scale it so we can have greater impact, quicker.
And that’s where things start to break.
For me, the tipping point is crying on camera. I don’t mean a glint in your eye because you are overcome with emotion. I mean the full on mid-sob “I just wanted to let you guys know the unglamorous side of building a business…” End scene.
And listen, I’m sure the first time a founder cried on camera it was genuine. But then someone saw it perform well and thought: “Ooooh. That’s good.” And suddenly it became a content pillar.
By now we’ve all seen enough to spot the difference. A 6-person family huddled around a laptop as mom’s new product “sells out in 25 minutes”? Maybe. Maybe not.
But even when it’s staged, it can still work.
Which leaves us in a weird place: Authenticity is now… performative.
Oversharing feels engineered. Polish feels fake. So what’s the alternative? Say nothing?
Okay, this is an opinion piece by me so I don’t have all the answers. But I will share a few instincts I am going to follow, and maybe you can share with me your thoughts too.
Long form content is a safer way to share your story
After years of 160 character limits and 7 second hook videos, I am so happy Substack is leading the charge on long form content. You simply can’t sustain a fake persona over a dozen 1000+ word essays. Or you can try and the Substack gods will come for you.
Have an opinion!
I have seen the rise of “expert influencers” and I like this concept, but I am more interested in “original thought influencers”. Claiming expertise is a slippery slope. Are you a literal published scientist on this topic? If you are, pop off! But probably not - and that’s okay. Just have a well-formulated, experience-based, original thought. I fear there is a group of people who claim to be experts that simply aren’t, and I don’t think we should overvalue the overconfident.
Restraint is powerful
I do believe less can be more. In the past we’ve rewarded the loud and shocking with our attention, but I think we’ve grown fatigued of that. Those that are calm, quiet and soft spoken can build interest and relationships with consumers - perhaps better than the more loudly inclined. I don’t know exactly how this shows up, but if that’s who you are I challenge you to find ways to do so. The best leaders are often those who listen more than they speak, capturing that essence online would be very powerful.
Show up online how you do in real life
I know what you’re thinking, “Duh Anita, isn’t that an obvious one?” No. I have been astounded by how wholly different some people show up in person compared to online. Actors and entertainers? Different story. But founders that are leading real businesses? I would try to align the leader, teammate and partner you are in real life with the version that shows up online. If not, with time the façade will crack.
I really stress about the Newless brand. I want it to be thoughtful and gorgeous and consistent and mission-aligned. I want it to feel like a fully realized world.
But I alone cannot be the Newless brand. I’ll be a core part of it. I’ll show up. I’ll be visible. But the world of Newless has to be bigger than me.
I want Newless to feel dreamy, aspirational - almost slightly unreal.
And the truth is, I don’t exist like that. I’m messy. I’m inconsistent. I’m figuring things out in real time.
If I tried to fully attach myself to that world, I think it would start to feel like I was pretending to be something I’m not.
So instead of being the world, I want to step into it. Alongside our customers. To experience it with them. To react to it. To be part of the magic, not the definition of it.
Because the brand should be more exciting than any one person behind it, even the founder.
Like what you hear and excited to try Newless? Join our waitlist to stay informed as we prepare to relaunch later this year.
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