#10 - Ashley Faus

On this newsletter, I talk a lot about the virtues of building "Founder Brand" on Linkedin.

But this week Ashley Faus gave me the argument against it—why it is often a bad idea to prop your founder up as a "thought leader."

Ashley is Head of Lifecycle Marketing, Portfolio at Atlassian and has built a brilliant framework that attempts to define what thought leadership actually is.

‍Recently, she shared this thought leadership framework in a talk at Hubspot's INBOUND

I was keen to ask Ashley what she thinks about all the buzz around building a "Founder Brand."

She argues that the push—especially by bigger companies—to turn founders into “thought leaders” is misguided.

A few of her reasons:

1. Founders are often not subject matter experts.
2. They lack the time and energy to generate interesting, useful content.
3. It's not scalable—problems #1 and #2 compound as the company matures.

She hears marketers say, "My founder is smart! They have good ideas!"

But, she says, if those ideas aren’t helping people take action in a new direction, it isn’t true thought leadership.

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Four Pillars of Thought Leadership

Ashley’s thought leadership framework consists of four pillars:

‍PILLAR 1: CREDIBILITY

‍(Your trustworthiness)

• What workplace credentials or achievements back your expertise?
• Do you hold formal credentials, like licenses and certifications?
• Do you have academic credentials, like a PhD?
• Are you cited as the source, or asked for sources?

‍Key indicator: Moving from being asked for sources to being the source.

‍PILLAR 2: PROFILE

‍(Your fame)

• How well-known are you?
• Are you speaking on big stages?
• What’s your follower count or audience size?
• Are you publishing on mainstream outlets or staying in your bubble?

‍Key indicator: Scaling up the tier and size of the platform/outlet.

‍PILLAR 3: PROLIFIC

‍(Your consistency)

• Are you regularly creating content?
• Are you consistently taking stages and sharing ideas?
• Do you give the perception of being ‘everywhere’ all the time?

‍Key indicator: When your audience has the perception that you’re everywhere.

‍PILLAR 4: DEPTH OF IDEAS

‍(Your thoughts)

• Are you codifying new, actionable approaches?
• Are your ideas pushing the problem/solution space forward?
• How are you challenging your audience’s perspective?
• How are you enabling your audience to take action?

‍Key indicator: When you’re consistently giving your audience novel, rigorous, and actionable ideas.

^This last pillar separates thought leadership from influencer-style content (i.e. tactical tips and superficial insights).

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Founders and the Four Pillars

In her full article, Ashley sketches out where founders typically lie on this framework...

‍This is what a lot of founders or C-suite execs look like. They have the big, fancy title. And in most cases, their title lends them some credibility, but it’s limited to people who know them, or to a small sub-set of their field. But, since they're busy people, they haven't taken time to codify their ideas in a way that other people can learn and implement. They rarely write articles, speak at conferences, or engage on social media. This profile is the epitome of the, "busy stakeholder":

While I agree with Ashley’s framework, I believe it needs some nuance.

Here’s my perspective:

‍For seed and early-stage companies: The founder often IS the best subject matter expert on the team, and usually has to take the lead due to limited resources. It is also important for these young companies to break through with a unique message and establish a clear point-of-view in the market. The founder is clearly the best messenger here.

‍For later-stage companies: It’s crucial to identify someone with a strong Depth of Ideas, Credibility, and the time to nurture both. That is often not the founder. Usually, it's an internal Subject Matter Expert (SME) who is close to the problem and has a lot of facetime with customers experiencing the problem.

Ashley suggests that these later-stage companies can turn internal Subject Matter Experts into thought leaders by pairing them with marketing and comms resources—which I think is a brilliant.

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Turning Internal SME's Into Thought Leaders

There are often great candidates for thought leadership sitting right underneath a company's nose.

They usually come in the form of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who are close to the problem, close to the customers, have good ideas, and are willing to share them.

Again, from Ashley's article:

‍In contrast, this is what a lot of smart, capable practitioners look like. They’re aces at solving problems at a tactical level, and they might even be coming up with new strategies to iterate on the traditional approach. They’re often writing or speaking about it with other practitioners. But since they don’t have a high profile, it’s hard for them to be credible outside their very small circle. They’re sharing a lot, but no one is listening:

Subject Matter Experts usually have the following:

‍1. Credibility

‍SMEs have years (or decades) of hands-on experience, so they bring authentic expertise and deep insights that resonate with their peers. They understand their space better than anyone, which builds trust.

‍2. Proximity to the audience

‍Unless you’re in a seed or early-stage start-up, founders are operating at a higher level, removed from the day-to-day challenges customers face. SMEs, however, work closer to the pain points, making their insights more relevant and practical.

‍3. Clarity in the problem space

‍SMEs are entrenched in problem-solving. They can articulate problems and connect them to solutions in a way that’s relatable yet authoritative to your ICP.

‍4. Industry language

‍SME’s speak the industry’s language. Their insights refine your messaging and help drive a stronger product-market fit, especially in nascent markets.

‍5. Trustworthiness

‍Unlike influencers, SMEs aren’t seen as transactional. Their voice comes across as genuine and focused on knowledge-sharing rather than marketing.

But without guidance, SMEs will rarely ever share their expertise publicly.

They don’t know how.

You have to invest in them. The best solution can be pairing them with marketing and comms resources—either internal or via external agencies—who will:

→ Guide them in crafting content, navigating algorithms, and seizing opportunities.

→ Teach them how to share their expertise effectively—what to post, where, and when.

→ Show them how to seize speaking opportunities and media mentions to boost their traction.

Your SME can be a powerhouse for driving thought leadership if you set them up for success.

Their authenticity, relevance, and authority will resonate deeper than generic marketing or founder-led narratives.