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Brand reveal delayed. (Perfectionist problems).

 

Treats still delivered.

 

And today’s treat is especially for my founders… the ones building in public, behind the scenes, and everywhere in between. :) 

 

 

 

I own and operate Brand Good Time: a 5+ person team helping disruptive, founder-led brands stand out, scale, and become impossible to ignore.

 

Our “secret sauce” isn’t really a secret:

 

We build strategy around the founder and around the brand. Together. Always.

 

This is, in my opinion, the highest-impact growth lever a brand can pull.

 

(Note: These stats are well-established and broadly cited. Sources available upon request—just keeping it digestible here).

 

Here’s what happens when you’re not buried inside your own operations:

I’ve been doing founder-led marketing and sales for Brand Good Time since day one. At this point it’s my main job, beyond onboarding and strategic oversight.

 

And I do all of this in roughly 20 hours of computer work per week.

 

 

But the structure gives me:

Freedom, flexibility, and building something fun that pays for your life?

 

 

I wanna show you a few examples—non-cringe, non-performative, extremely effective founder (or founder-adjacent) marketing.

 

Not the founder, but she leads like one. Scout is incredibly open with what’s working and what’s not working in her quest to get De Soi into more stores and more hands. Which – is no easy feat as a brand trying to replace alcohol. I LOVED this breakdown on her experience with Giveaways as a CPG brand.

 

The OG of OGs.

Before social media existed she was:

She is the blueprint. (Also screaming because I just today am realizing she has over 2M followers on Linkedin.

 

Josh talks a lot about growing Interact, the world’s leading quiz builder, but the content I’ve been appreciating from him lately really actually centers around him sharing what’s working in marketing. In tihs post right here, he breaks down how ChatGPT sent him over 6,000 users in June and grew their ARR by $64K. In this post, he visually showcases how YouTube is really taking off for him as it pertains to long form, long tail content. I LOVE seeing what’s working for other brands. 

 

 

It feels effortless because they’re not “performing as a founder," they’re just documenting what they’re already doing.

 

And when you connect with the human behind the brand, loyalty becomes deeper than: “I bought this once.”

 

It becomes:
“I buy from them because I trust them.”

 

This is because you literally see what’s going on behind the scenes. You think of THAT when you reach for their product on the shelves or use their software online or need them for something very specific.

 

Human > Logo. Every day of the week.

 

 

Here are things you can start doing right now for your own founder led marketing:

 

 

Perfect for accountability, prompts, and not feeling like you’re shouting into the void on LinkedIn.

 

For learning how to create, grow and monetize an email newsletter. Subscribe to his substack, that in itself is a gold mine.

 

Might be counterintuitive, but your “competition” or closely adjacent founder friends can be some of the best resources for growing your own business and thought leadership. I personally, as an agency founder, am in Female Agency Owner’s Collective, StartupCPG, and Agency Darlings.

 

This was my biggest “unlock” for literally stopping the “do everything myself” mentality. *the above link earns me commissions just FYI

 

I have big time entrepreneur brain which means when I have nothing to do or white space, I like to learn about how other businesses operate and decide if I wanna do that, too (lol). Let me just tell you about the business plan I have for a co-work space, indoor playground and a laundromat. The Nikonomics podcast is a great way to dip into other small business concepts and see how they’re making money and what’s working FOR THEM (and this helps with my current clients at my agency, too!)  

 

 

→ My husband will DIE a little inside if he ever sees this, but anyway: I was minding my business, Googling “organic underwear,” when suddenly—Nads. And the line that caught my eye:  “NADS underwear is the optimal home for your package. Give your boys a safe, clean, and comfortable home.” I SCREAMED. Pact could send me 47 SMS reminders today and I’d still be thinking about Nads. Unhinged. Effective. Unforgettably…sticky.

 

→ Micro-dramas are becoming the new flex for big-box brands, and Maybelline is leading the charge with a holiday mini-series that feels one part Hallmark, one part TikTok. It’s smart: give people entertainment, sneak in the product, and suddenly you’re not selling…you’re binge-worthy. Pass the popcorn.

 

→ Dishonorable mention: BEIS. I, like probably you, was flooded with a million emails for Black Friday but one I was not expecting was “Action Needed: Fraud Alert.” WHO APPROVED THIS SUBJECT LINE????? BEIS, not cool. And it is causing quite an uproar across marketers. Fun fact: illegal to do this. 

 

Little Sleepies annual Black Friday sale; gotta get new matching PJ’s for my toddlers

 

Something on TikTok shop that must not be named, because I have a team member who I bought it for, and she reads this (also this was my first time buying on TikTok shop it it felt scammy to me LOL)

 

Primally Pure lip balm + serum for myself because I am slowly but surely building my shelf of non toxic skincare and the prices could not be beat