7 ways to tell if your founder content is working

Happy Tuesday!

Hope you've got something decent in your mug and five minutes to actually sit with this one — because it's worth it.

I want to talk about how to measure founder-led content. Specifically, what signals actually matter and what you should probably stop losing sleep over.

Before I get into it — if you're still figuring out the fundamentals of making founder content work in the first place, this piece is a good read first.

Okay. Let's get into it.

Revenue is the only goal that matters

My goal when I work with founders on content is to get you customers. That's it.

The problem is most people default to measuring the wrong thing. Follower count goes up, they feel good. A post hits 10k impressions, they feel great. Six months later, no new pipeline. Just a bigger number next to their profile photo.

The other trap — and this one stings — is posting generic content to chase reach. Hot takes on productivity, broad leadership advice, remote work opinions. Great for impressions. Useless if your buyer is a VP of Sales who needs to solve a quota problem and your content never touches it.

There's also a real lag between starting content and seeing pipeline. Expect it. Plan for it. It doesn't mean it's not working.

Social metrics are your early warning system

Follower count, impressions, engagement rate — these matter. They're just not the finish line.

Here's what counts as social metrics:

• Follower count and net new followers

• Impressions

• Engagements (likes, comments, shares, saves)

• Engagement rate

These should move in months 1–3 if you're posting consistently. If they don't budge at all, you've got a content or audience problem worth fixing.

The critical thing most people miss — social growth only counts when the content is aimed at your ICP. A VP of Sales doesn't care about your thoughts on hustle culture. They care about quota, forecasting, pipeline hygiene. Post about things that buyer would screenshot and send to their team. That's the right kind of growth.

Use social metrics to confirm you're building an audience that looks like your buyers — not as proof your content strategy is driving revenue.

This week: Check your follower growth over the last 60 days. If it's flat and your content isn't targeting your actual buyer, that's your problem right there.

The 7 signals that actually tell you content is working

Because B2B attribution is messy and multi-touch, you need more than one signal. Here's the stack I use.

1. Self-reported attribution

Train your AEs to ask on every single call: "Out of curiosity, how did you first hear about us?" And add a free-text field to your forms — not a dropdown, a text box. Let people type "LinkedIn," "Will's posts," "saw you somewhere," whatever.

For PLG or self-serve flows, ask it during onboarding.

You're not looking for perfect attribution here. You're looking for directional lift. Over 3–6 months, do more people mention LinkedIn? Mention you by name? That's the signal. Don't obsess over whether 27 vs. 28 deals came from content — just watch the trend.

This week: Add that free-text field to your main form. Takes 10 minutes and starts collecting data immediately.

2. Inbound DMs

Simple metric. How many people are reaching out with buying intent?

Things like:

• "Can we set up a demo?"

• "We should talk — we're dealing with exactly this"

• "How does your pricing work?"

• "Can you intro me to someone on your team?"

Track these manually. A spreadsheet works fine. Tag them in your CRM as "Source: Founder DMs." If you've been posting consistently for 3–4 months and not a single person has reached out with buying intent, something is off — content is either too broad or not reaching the right people.

This week: Start a simple log. Date, name, what they said, outcome. Doesn't need to be complicated.

3. Website traffic (directional, not granular)

Here's a trap I see constantly: trying to UTM every post to attribute pipeline at the post level. Stop. Platforms punish link-heavy posts. B2B buyer journeys are long and multi-touch — especially when ACV is north of $10k. One click rarely tells the full story.

Better approach: UTM your bio link, your featured profile links, the company URL in your profile, and the occasional intentional link post. That's it.

Then zoom out. Is organic and direct traffic trending up 3–4 months after you started posting consistently? That's the real signal. A lot of buyers will see your content a dozen times and then type your URL directly from memory. That won't show up as a LinkedIn click — it'll show up as direct traffic.

This week: Pull your 90-day traffic trend. If you started content 3+ months ago, something should be moving.

4. Email list growth

People who move from your LinkedIn content to your email list are showing higher intent. They want more from you, and they're willing to give you their inbox to get it.

Track new subscribers who self-report coming from social or founder content. Watch click-through on emails pushing key CTAs — book a demo, sign up, try the product. Email list growth tied to founder content is a quiet but powerful signal that things are compounding.

5. Adjacent channel performance

This one's underrated. A strong founder presence doesn't just generate direct inbound — it makes everything else work better.

Cold outbound reply rates go up because prospects already recognize your name. Paid ads convert better because people know the founder from organic content. Webinar registration and show rates improve when promotion comes from a familiar face.

After 3–6 months of consistent content, ask yourself: does outbound feel warmer? Are reps reporting fewer "who are you?" responses? That's the compound effect of founder content working in the background.

6. Content as creative R&D

Every post is a test. When something lands — real comments, saves, shares, or a DM — that's a signal worth paying attention to.

The best founders I work with take those posts and turn them into paid ad creative. Thought-leader ads, carousels, short-form video. The organic post already validated the hook. Now you're putting budget behind something that's proven to resonate. If you want a starting point for what kinds of posts tend to generate that traction, these 7 frameworks are solid.

Think of your content feed as a test lab. The stuff that resonates organically is your best creative brief for paid.

This week: Look at your last 30 posts. Pick the top 2–3 by engagement. Those are your ad creative candidates.

7. Sentiment and "vibes"

Not everything lives in a spreadsheet, and that's fine.

When someone walks up to you at a conference and says "I follow your content" — that's a signal. When a prospect references a specific post on a sales call — that's a signal. When a partner mentions they've been seeing you "everywhere" — that's a signal.

This qualitative stuff is how smaller companies punch above their weight. You start dominating conversation share before you dominate market share. And that matters more than most people realize, especially early on.

What to expect and when

Here's a rough timeline based on what I've seen building Catalyst and working with B2B founders on content:

Months 1–2: Social metrics start moving. Follower growth, impressions, engagement — assuming the content is actually targeted at your ICP.

Months 3–4: Early business signals show up. "Found you via LinkedIn" starts appearing in self-reported attribution. First inbound DMs with buying intent. A noticeable lift in direct and organic site traffic.

Months 5–6: Content becomes a reliable part of pipeline conversations. Outbound feels warmer. Best organic posts evolve into ad creative. People reference your content in calls and at events without you prompting it.

If you're 4+ months in and social metrics haven't moved AND there's zero change in inbound or attribution — something needs a reset. Either the topics aren't ICP-specific enough, the offer isn't clear in the content, or the posting hasn't been consistent. Usually one of those three.

Give it 6 months before you call it.

If founder content is working, you'll see this

• Your audience is growing and it actually looks like your buyers

• More people mentioning LinkedIn, content, or you by name in self-reported attribution

• DMs that feel like early pipeline conversations

• A visible lift in direct and organic traffic

• Outbound and paid starting to feel warmer

• A handful of posts you can turn into repeatable ad creative

• People referencing your content unprompted — calls, events, internal Slack screenshots

That's the whole picture. Social metrics confirm you're building the right audience. Revenue and pipeline are the north star. Commit to a 6-month window before drawing any big conclusions.

That's all for this week. If you're building out founder-led content and want to talk through what you're measuring — or want to see how we approach this at Catalyst — hit reply or check out how we work.

See you next Tuesday.

— Will