Let's talk about founder story ads
Why you should be testing them
Hi there,
People buy from people. It might sound a bit cliche, but it is so true. It’s much easier to connect with an individual than a brand.
Not only that, as a startup, you often lack social proof, and the founder’s story is a great alternative way to gain that trust and build a relationship with your target audience.
Finally, there is a bias at play here, namely the similarity-attraction bias: when someone shares a similar value/challenge/interest/characteristic with us, there’s a higher chance we’ll like them. As a result, we are more likely to buy from them.
How can you elevate the classic founder story ads? Spoiler: you don’t need fancy equipment or a huge budget to create them.
How to build your founder’s story
Let’s start with the story itself. While each story can greatly differ, they boil down to a plot. Here are four angles to try out for building out your founder stories:
Angle 1: Hero’s journey to starting a company
What to walk through:
What did you see that was wrong with the space?
Why was it an issue? (and who is the villain in the story?)
How did you set about solving it?
What was the result?
What proof do you have that this is better?
Angle 2: Heroes journey to solving a problem
What to walk through:
What was your struggle?
Why was it hard to solve? ("It's ok if you struggle with this too")
What was the point that you had enough?
How did creating [BRAND] solve that?
Angle 3: Trust first
What to walk through:
What makes you [and your co-founder] an expert?
Or what is the sign you are on to something? (Who uses it?)
Then, what is it, and what are the benefits?
Angle 4: How we made it different
What to walk through:
What was the thought process that went into the product?
How is it different from anything else out there?
What is the proof of that?
Some practical tips
Now that we’ve covered the content of your founder videos, let’s discuss the process of making them. Here are some practical filming tips based on common mistakes I’ve seen when reviewing founder videos:
Film vertically, but ensure you aren't so zoomed in that it can't be cut to a square shape
Ensure clear lighting and a non-distracting background, but it shouldn't feel like a studio
Ensure you have the product with you to show it
Try to have a variation of shots to keep it engaging
Using the frameworks shared above, you’ll often end up filming for 60 - 180 seconds, but test both longer and shorter founder videos. I’ve had a five-minute founder story outperform the 30-second variant — shocking with today’s attention spans, I know.
Finally, it’s time for a difficult but important truth: if you don’t match your target audience, you can always test having someone else in the team tell the founder’s story.
A brand I worked with had one of the team members talk about the founder’s story instead because she was more similar to the target audience, and the founder wasn’t very comfortable with creating content.
Using the founder’s story
I advise filming a few angles and testing them through organic and paid social.
There are many different ways to tell a story and different ways to relate to your audience. If you see that a certain angle is performing strongly for you and the founder’s angle works for your brand, you could then:
Add a video or shorter text version to the landing page
Have a separate page on your website dedicated to that background story
Add it to your email flows for both potential and existing customers
Test it on other channels, e.g. PR, podcasts, etc.
Examples of founder-led brands
Here are a few founder story ads for inspiration:
Simmer - Pre-made healthy home meals - Example 1, Example 2 & Example 3
Reformed - Collagen Coffee - Example 1 & Example 2
Note: I always find ad links in the ad library a bit temperamental, so if you have any issues, click the brand name link instead to see their full ad library, and you should come across some founder ad examples quickly enough.
Recommendation
As always, here is a related resource if you want to nerd out further on this week's topic.
If you’re keen to create a founder’s ad but you or your founder are still a bit nervous or would like more guidance, check out this episode from eCommerce MasterPlan on creating the perfect Founder Story Ad.
Founder ads tend to be a product of necessity. They exist due to a lack of alternative video content to test out on Meta. Yet, they often become such a crucial part of the overall strategy. Just don’t forget once you’ve found an angle that’s really worked, squeeze the lemon and use it in multiple ways to help drive growth for your startup.
Until next week,
Daphne