Most founder bios describe what the founder has done. The best founder positioning describes what the founder believes and where they are going. The difference is the difference between a resume and a manifesto.
Why positioning matters more than credentials
Credentials get you in the room. Positioning determines what happens once you are there. A founder with impressive credentials and no clear positioning gets meetings. A founder with clear positioning and moderate credentials gets the right meetings.
The three positioning questions
- What do you believe about your industry that most participants would disagree with?
- What outcome are you building toward that is specific enough to be falsifiable?
- Who is your work for, and what does it enable them to do that they could not do before?
The best founder positioning is a stake in the ground. It attracts the people who agree and repels the people who do not, which is exactly what it should do.
Positioning across touchpoints
Your positioning needs to be consistent across your LinkedIn, your speaking bio, your pitch deck, and your email signature. Not identical, but consistent. The same conviction, expressed in the language appropriate to each context.
Most founders write their positioning once and forget it. The founders who build strong personal brands revisit and sharpen their positioning every six months, updating it as their evidence base grows and their conviction deepens.