Invest for Better · Founder Playbook
How to build personal authority on LinkedIn — and bring the right women into IFB's orbit without feeling like a content machine.
The Insight
The company page is a credibility anchor. The founder's voice is where trust gets built — because people decide whether an organization is worth following after they've decided the person behind it is.
Individual content vs. company page posts — LinkedIn's own internal data
Decision-makers who saw founder content first — Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Study 2023
For IFB specifically
"The Activator and Stabilizer are not looking for a nonprofit to follow. They're looking for someone who understands what they're carrying. A founder who posts about the gap between financial activism and a misaligned 401(k) hits differently than an organization page saying the same thing."
The Commitment
Consistency beats volume. A founder who posts once a week for six months builds more authority than one who posts five times in January and disappears.
Your Weekly Rhythm
Key insight
For founders building from a smaller following, commenting drives more growth in the first 90 days than posting does. It is the primary organic targeting mechanism LinkedIn offers.
Post Formats
Not announcements. Not summaries. Honest observations from a founder who has built something because she cares about the problem.
A pattern from the work, stated directly. No preamble. First sentence is the observation. End with a question that invites the ICP's experience.
"Most 401(k) defaults were set in the 1990s. Almost nobody has looked at them since."
Take financial news or data and give the honest reaction. Not a summary. Not "this is important." The specific thing you think when you see this.
"When I saw this study, my first thought wasn't 'interesting.' It was 'we've been telling people the wrong story for decades.'"
Something you changed your mind about, got wrong, or are still figuring out. Uncomfortable to write. Extremely effective. The ICP shares these because they model the thinking she wants to do.
"I used to think the access problem was about money. I was wrong about which barrier was first."
One specific number from a credible source. Then: what it actually means — not what the study concluded. What you think about it.
"Women outperform male investors by 0.4% annually on average. Nobody in finance talks about why."
Voice
The ICP has a finely tuned radar for performance. She can feel the difference between a human speaking and a brand performing caring to grow an audience.
The Litmus Test
Could anyone else have written this?
If yes — it needs another draft.
The Commenting Strategy
The part most founders skip. It is actually the fastest path to the right audience — because commenting is the only organic targeting mechanism LinkedIn offers.
When you leave a good comment...
The ICP sees it and clicks your profile
LinkedIn's algorithm starts showing your posts to people who engaged with similar content
A comment that works...
Adds something
Takes the post one step further or offers a specific example
Uses real data or experience
Ground it in IFB numbers or what you've seen in the field
Avoid
"This is so important!" — invisible to algorithm and reader
The 15-minute session
Open LinkedIn. Search accounts on your comment target list.
Read 2–3 recent posts from people your ICP follows.
Write one substantive comment. 2–3 sentences that add something real.
Done. 3 sessions per week = 12 comments per month. It compounds.
Before You Post
When someone clicks through from a comment or post, your profile needs to immediately communicate who you are and why they should follow you.
Avoid
Patterns that consistently underperform for founders in mission-driven organizations — and why.
Company announcements with a human face
"Excited to share that IFB just hit 2,500 members!" — press release dressed as a post. Doesn't give the reader anything to feel, think, or do.
Stats without a take
Sharing a study and saying "this is important" gives the reader nothing. The number is just a number until you tell them what to do with it.
Gratitude without substance
"So grateful for this amazing community!" performs poorly. It signals nothing about your thinking and gives the reader no reason to follow you.
Event promos disguised as content
Posting about upcoming events without earning context first. You need to give before you ask.
Content Bank
Not finished posts — starting points. A direction. You fill in the specific observation, reaction, or question that makes it real and yours.
The gap between what financial activism looks like and where most 401(k)s are actually invested
What I wish someone had told me before starting a nonprofit in the financial sector
The real reason women's investment portfolios are more conservative — it's not risk tolerance
How CDFIs work and why they're one of the most under-used tools in impact investing
What "ESG" actually means — and why that label is confusing more people than it's helping
The peer mentorship model in IFB and why it works when traditional financial advice doesn't
What I changed my mind about regarding financial education and behavior change
The wealth transfer that's happening in the next 20 years — and who's positioned to shape it
What questions to actually ask a financial advisor — and which ones reveal they're not right for you
What a fiduciary actually is — and why most people working with financial advisors have never heard the word
The Underlying Principle
Genuine curiosity. Genuine pride in what the community is building. Genuine frustration with what the financial industry isn't doing. All three are real. The content just needs to let them show.