NFX Content Marketing Playbook Part I: Ethos and LinkedIn Tactics

Brief Tips for the Brand Account:

• Make sure your company page looks clean and professional

• Simple, clean banner image
• A few featured posts
• A clear, tight description of what you do and your vision

How to Think About the Brand Account:

The brand account provides you with an online “home” and presence. This is where you’ll share major company news, updates, job openings, etc. So it has to look clean, real, and professional.

That’s the easy stuff. What’s harder is thinking through what you’ll actually post and why.

The frame of mind you want to have is that you are serving your key audience. You probably actually have a few key audiences:

• Your ICP
• Investors
• Key voices in your industry

Ask yourself: Why should someone follow you? What are your customers’ pain points? What are they going to get out of following you (beyond knowing about your product or fundraising)? That is your north star.

For example, when we post from the NFX account, we are largely sharing frameworks for thinking about industries, VC, or company building. That’s what our audience is there for: to learn, and maybe eventually seek funding. Then, once that social contract is established, we can share major news or updates (investments, fund news). But we only earn that right if we provide value first.

TLDR; your profile is as much about your audience as it is about you.

That’s the mindset. We’ll cover how it works in practice in a later section.

Your personal account is just as important as your brand account. If not more so.

Brass tacks:

• Have a clean headshot – it doesn’t need to be overly formal, but it should clearly show your face etc
• Have a clear description of what you are building or what your area of expertise is.

Most social media platforms value posts from individuals more than those from brands.

But you can make some of these shapes below work from a brand account, too. (Like industry commentary, news, or data storytelling).

Approach:

1. Refine your key messages; you may be able to pull these from your pitch deck.

1. What do you believe about your customer or industry?
2. What data supports that?
3. Who is your customer/ideal audience

Start by writing these from your POV. Then switch it up and think of it as your reader. What do they want to achieve their goals, and how do you help them get there?

Here are some shapes that you can fit that thinking into:

• Commentary on your industry at large. You are an expert in your space. Share what you know.
• Actual news! If you see a news report, a trend, an interesting scientific paper. Curate it, add some commentary and post.
• Data Storytelling. Did you see a great graphic that tells a clear story? Screenshot it, add commentary and post.
• Personal story + experience: your journey to being a founder, your specific trials and solutions, …these are all extremely useful to others in your field. Don’t treat this like a journal where you’re the main character, but think about it as a way to share things that have worked or not worked for you in the past.
• Events, actual things that are happening to you and your company in the real world.
• Tactics for company building, fundraising, the brass tacks of being a founder that just work for you in real context – be a little careful with this, really ask yourself: is this truly non-obvious? Generic “company building” advice can ring very hollow if done poorly.
• Then, you can get to company news, etc. Provided that you center value to your audience over everything else.

This is the meat of what you’ll be posting about – here are some examples we’ve seen in the wild:

This founder builds real-time web access for AIs. Here, he’s surfacing what he perceives to be an injustice in the industry.

What works here? It’s provocative, sure. But the key is that he’s illuminating a trend that likely affects many others following his space. He tells the story in one provocative statement that lands before the cutoff.

The image isn’t great, but the key here is that it is information-dense. You are probably squinting at it right now. That’s one way to stop the scroll.

It is also instant visual proof that the bold claim we are making up top has backing. He’s showing “receipts.”

Here’s another shape.

David Villalon, the founder of Maisa writes a nice post here about how they approach building differently in response to this news headline. You get the idea of this post instantly, from the first line, and the image alone.

What works here?

Copy: Peter leads with a contrarian insight: IRR is not useful. We get the message before the cut-off.

The image is information-dense and lends authority to the claim above. Without the image, that claim would seem like a big swing, but the image shows it’s legit and backed by data.

Why does this work?

This isn’t “viral content” per se. But it’s a great place to start. Here, Jen is sharing relevant work in her field, thanking someone, and adding additional commentary on top. In short, she’s participating in the conversation.

Your takeaway: sometimes you don’t have to be the star. Just be another voice in the room. Participating in other people’s conversations earns you the right to get their participation back.

Jake is working on developing a universal vaccine technology. Here, he shares his expertise on a relevant news event. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, but this adds an enormous amount of context and helps reinforce the importance of what he’s building.

Notice that he doesn’t even really need to do the whole sales-y thing. He doesn’t mention vaccines. He doesn’t mention Centivax. He just says the general idea, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Sales-y writing on LinkedIn is legitimately cringey, and your audience knows it. Again, keep it value-first, add context and expertise to the conversation.

(Post is long, navigate to link to see in-depth) https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7462560397691129856/

Personal stories on LinkedIn can be hit-or-miss. This is how to do it right:

1. Approach it the same way you might approach an Op-Ed in a magazine. If your story doesn’t apply to anyone but you? Cut it. You are writing your personal story because it tells us something larger about a topic or industry.
2. The best posts in this format feel like they have been written in two minutes on someone’s phone. That is not the truth. It takes excellent writing skills and editorial judgment to make a smart argument feel ‘off-the-cuff.’

Mishti Sharma at Clay is one of the best in the game at this right now. Let’s break this post below down and examine why it works:

Six months ago, I 'demoted' myself to an IC, and I'm not alone.^aPersonal anecdote that immediately connects to the wider audience Some of the best people I know are quitting management & returning to craft. It's the era of the maker, the polymath, the renaissance woman — doing the work is elite again, baby!^bThe most important part of this post: this is a genuinely intelligent and interesting argument. You coud write an New York Times essay on this! It's a universal thesis statement that she then goes on to back up, using her experience as the anchor. She earns the right to use herself as the "expert" here, because of who she is: a head of narrative who recently demoted herself. It's the "I've lived it!" argument

At most companies, as soon as people become world-class at doing something, they're asked to STOP doing it and start hiring, firing, running meetings, and politicking instead. Companies lose great work and people lose their fire.

I was on that track:^cuniversal experience, "At most companies" tied back to personal anecdote that feels insider-y "I was on that track" my reward for great work was getting to start a team that blended brand, socials, influencer, and editorial. And I loved bringing people together, but I quickly noticed I was less interested in building a machine than telling stories myself.

Thankfully, returning to being an individual contributor was easier at Clay than it would've been elsewhere, because there were no professional, financial, or social carrots stopping me:

-My post-Clay goals don't involve climbing the corporate ladder, so managing larger teams wasn't advancing my career.

-As my equity became worth more, I wasn't worried about chasing proportionally smaller raises as the company grew.

-We use the 'staff engineer' model at our company: senior ICs are valued as much as managers, with no social cost to swapping tracks.

(Critically, I also trusted Clay to hire or swap in someone who wouldn't kill the magic of my former team — or me!)^dLook at the formatting here. If you were to ask AI to write this for your, it would be perfect. Notice that it is NOT PERFECT. In today's world imperfection can be a signal of "realness" that you wrote this yourself.

Still, it's hard to unlearn patterns, and I felt insecure about what people would think. It was hard to opt out of exclusive "manager" events. But the more I've unapologetically stepped into my zone of genius, the more I've heard from people who want to talk, collaborate, hire me, etc — and the happier I've been.

When management stops being the default path up, everyone wins. ICs get to stay in their craft and be rewarded well for it. Companies don't lose their best work to forced promotions. The managers who do choose management actually want to do it, which makes them better at the job. People all over the industry — including Elena Verna and Lenny Rachitsky — are making this case.

The era of forcing smart people into management tracks just because it's the next best thing is over.

It's time to create prolifically and joyfully, and to be rewarded well for it.^eNice little takeaway that, once again, centers the reader. This is what's changing, how it affects you, a rallying cry, a call to action.

Basic rules:

1. Don’t be generic
2. Deliver value in the first three lines by making an argument, a statement, or otherwise adding to the conversation
3. Write something only you could write from your seat
4. Write something you actually believe. If you don’t buy it, your audience won’t either.
5. Use AI to polish, not to ideate – and consider whether polishing is even that important to what you want to say

Here are some concepts that can help you identify what you can add to the conversation:

• A strong declarative statement: Some of the most effective people I know only work five hours a week.
• A thought-provoking or counterintuitive question: What if AI is actually making us slower?
• A number that tells a story, in context: We need to add ten New York City's worth of power to the grid by 2030 – here’s how I’d do it.
• A moment-in-time + counterintuitive take: Last week, we made a change that reshaped our GTM strategy: we banned AI from our social media accounts.

Always land the most enticing, curiosity-stoking piece of insight in the first lines, before the cut-off.

And, find an image. It just catches the human eye better than text-only. Use your image to provide a “receipt” that works with those first few lines. It should support the text above – can be in an informative or funny way.

On Using AI: We suggest you use some AI tools to help you refine your work if you struggle to write succinctly. But we advise against using AI to generate ideas de novo. Most of them are trite or dated, and the feed is flooded with content that could have been written by anyone. YOU are the asset here. YOUR ideas are more defensible than anything AI will create without your input.

How do you do that? Use the post shapes above to generate ideas unique to your POV and industry.

AI tools that help: We recommend Typefully to help you organize and package your content for a specific platform. It’s useful to write in situ, to see how things look and feel. Their “optimize my hook” tool can be very helpful for turning your insights into sharper, social-native writing. But we suggest you consider rewording to make it feel more organic to you.

Video can be great for LinkedIn and X. We are seeing more and more founders use video to help drive home core messages ahead of a fundraise, or during key product launches. The goal is not to spam the feed. The goal is to create the sense that something meaningful is happening from multiple trusted angles.

If you want to work on a fundraising video, you can contact eric@nfx.com for a 30-minute chat to learn more about best practices, but here are things that we suggest you understand before taking this on:

• The vast majority of people watch video content without the sound on. That means the visuals need to be sharp, fast, have lots of movement, and cuts. Or be very striking on their own. (Stuff happening in the real world is ideal)
• For the above reason, you also want to have captions on-screen (easily done with AI tools like SubMagic or Captions.)
• The First 3 Seconds Matter Most!

• Start with tension, proof, or motion.
• Make the viewer have a “wait, what is this?” feeling

• Make sure you build the script for the video for the person who is watching:

• Is this for fundraising? For hiring? Or the general public?

• Avoid using AI for the script and production:

• Everyone knows when it’s not written by a human
• Everyone rejects AI visual slop
• Put the time into the project, and it will show!

• Avoid generic startup language:

• Phrases like “revolutionizing,” “unlocking,” “seamless,” and “AI-powered platform” usually make the video feel much weaker and fake

• Put the founder in the video!

• People connect with people much more, it’s more fun to share with your network if your face is in the video. People will also be more supportive

Most startup videos fail because they try to do too much, almost like a pitch deck with 40 slides. They explain the product, the market, the founder story, the customer pain, the demo, the vision, and the CTA all in one post. For LinkedIn and X, the best videos usually have one sharp idea and build everything around it.

Bottom line: If you have real news, act like it. A fundraise, product launch, major customer milestone, or category-defining insight deserves a polished video from your team.

A good filter when writing your script and planning your video:

• What is the one sentence people should remember?
• Who is this for: investors, customers, hires, or the broader startup ecosystem?
• What action do you want after watching: follow, comment, book a demo, share, invest, apply, or simply understand what you do?
• Can someone understand the video with the sound off?
• Would someone outside your company care in the first 3 seconds?

Here are some shapes that people use for these videos:

• Big Idea ((The Opportunity)
• What You Do + How This Solves the Problem or Creates Something New
• Your Unique Edge
• Further Context or High Emotional Note: how you change the world, feedback, something that stuck with you

• Tell a compelling origin story, if it’s strong. “I was in the lab and wow! I discovered the key to cold fusion.” “I was working at a doctor’s office and realized that patients were dying because the system was broken.”
• Then move to the opportunity – market size, big numbers
• What you do and your unique edge
• High emotional note: how you change the world, great feedback etc.

• For product-related videos:

• These visuals can be harder. The key is a lot of movement and energy. Again, your goal is to stop the scroll.

• Cool example from World Labs
• Cool example from Cursor
• A fine example from Parahelp: we get what they’re doing; it’s clear. You don’t have to watch with the sound on.

• Framing that works:

• “Watch us do XYZ in 90 seconds.”

• We call these ‘Digital Business Cards’
• Think of these like a URL you can send that showcases and demonstrates what your business/software/company does and what value is delivered to the customer (save time, save money, safety, etc)
• You can also think of these as your SuperBowl commercial - you have 30 seconds on world TV, what do you want people to see/know?

Hot Tip: Use this website for video examples/inspiration - https://www.launchgallery.video/

You have about an hour to show the algorithm that people care about this post. Engagement, substantive comments, and shares matter more than likes. You can and should manufacture that first hour to the best of your ability.

Here’s an excellent process for how to activate your network around a key post created by Don Muir and the team at F2: We suggest you do this broadly for major announcements, and tap an internal team of a few employees to help out with normal brand posts etc.

1. Send your key network of people an email ahead of time, alerting them to your launch (investors, key customers, friends, family, anyone with whom you have real relationships).

1. That includes us! Email emma@nfx.com

1. Create a calendar invite of about 5-10 minutes right when your posts or announcements go live
2. Update that calendar invite with some context on what’s going on, and a link to a Gdoc containing the following

1. Links to your brand post on X and LI
2. Links to founder’s post on X and L

1. Ask them to like, and invite them to comment on your post: more than 6 words with a POV.
2. Ask them to save the post on LI and X
3. If they feel up to it, ask them to make their own post, or repost your post with a line or two of additional context
4. Activate your employees! The more they post, the better it is for your brand.

If you have a major piece of news (a raise, a major launch) do not be afraid to make a thing out of it.

A few years ago, everyone worried about what their “grid, or feed” looked like. Today, the game is to “stop the scroll” in the algorithm. Most people are encountering your posts in the wild.

That means do not be shy about sharing things often, even if you feel like you just shared it or are repeating news.

For example, if multiple news organizations share a piece of news related to your new round, share all of it. But mix it up a bit…here are some ideas:

1) Repost the publication with added context

2) Share the link yourself, thanking the publication or journalist

3) Screenshot a particularly strong headline or photo and share that with some commentary

Also: Reach out to us! We want to help you amplify your news. And activate your employees to post from their POV.

Pro tip: Especially if you’re leading up to a fundraise, you can post publicly that promotes the company's position as a market leader or up-and-comer. Examples of this include posting case studies, partnerships, new customers added, demos of new features etc. If you are a company servicing other venture-backed companies, announcing customers and case studies and tagging them will often get you notoriety from venture investors. See the Starcloud example below.

Here are some examples from the wild:

Philip Johnston, CEO of Starcloud does this well:

Initial News:

• Philip shares the news first, tags the company, and leads with a static image that conveys a key piece of information: Starcloud has landed a major collaboration with Starlink. Note that the image is very simple and creates an association between brands.

• News coverage share: SpaceNews covers the story, Philip shares the link and tags SpaceX.

• News coverage re-post: SpaceNews shares the story, which Philip amplifies with personal commentary

• PCMag picks up the story, Philip shares again, and thanks the publication w/a tag:

This is a key news event for your company. And these are great because you basically have permission to take over the timeline. This is an event people will care about, so make the most of it.

There are many ways to think through how to structure posts around this event. Here are some ways to think it through, depending on which account you’re working from.

From the brand account:

1. You need a hero image. There are two routes you can go down (you could honestly do both, if you stagger the posts). See above re: posting big news more than once.

Route 1: The Banner Image

The banner is just a simple image with your logo, and the news you want to share.

What works here? We get what happened immediately. We get the value of what they’re doing.

Route 2: The News Report

If you get news coverage in a major publication and have a great headline, go ahead and screenshot it and use it as the hero image for the post.

We did that here for Jen’s fundraising announcement.