Start New Game🕹️

Hi! I’m Jovian, and this is 8-bit Growth, my NEW bite-sized newsletter about fun growth and marketing stuff

I decided to mix my favorite things in the world: fun growth and marketing stories, combined with nostalgic game design.

New edition will be out every Friday. The format for 8-bit Growth will be:

• Main Quest: a growth or marketing topic I want to talk about

• XP Boost: 3 quotes about marketing and creativity I love

• Cheat Codes: quick tips and hacks that you can apply

• Item Shop: tools and apps I found interesting

• Good Graphics: ads I love

I’ll be adding more cool stuff as we go. Welcome to join me on this adventure and level up together!

Main Quest❗️

Founder-led Marketing & Ghostwriters

For 8-Bit growth’s first ever Main Quest, I want to talk about Founder-led Marketing.

It’s a strategy where a startup founder shares their thoughts on the industry, current events, and ideas out loud on social media to create more attention and attract leads for their company.

This works well for a couple of reasons:

1. Established credibility: When you’re a founder, you have a unique vantage point on how things should work or be done.

2. Human connection: People want to connect and talk with other humans, not faceless brands. Having the founder as the public face of the company solves this automatically.

3. Consistent engagement: Regular updates and interactions from the founder can slowly foster a sense of community around the brand. I call it the “One of Us” Effect.

Some startup CEOs are exceptionally good at this. I believe Austen Allred from Lambda School (now BloomTech) was one of the early founders who posted a lot about his company.

Founder-led marketing itself is nothing new. Entrepreneurs like Gary Vee and Richard Branson were more well-known for their personalities than their businesses.

The main difference now is that today’s founders have to be constantly present on social media, while Richard Branson could just have a cameo on Friends and Baywatch and call it a day

That’s where a ghostwriter comes in. Disclaimer: I’m a ghostwriter.

The idea of startup founders or thought influencers not writing their own LinkedIn posts or tweets might feel inauthentic, even icky. Trust me, I know.

But I did a 180 on this because money I started to understand why founders would hire a ghostwriter. It’s not about ideas; it’s about logistics.

Startup founders are (mostly) unique individuals with stories, perspectives, and experiences that are genuinely interesting. But not all of them are writers, and they don’t have the time to sit down and post well-worded content across different platforms.

Athletes and movie stars hire ghostwriters to write their books, but it doesn’t mean it’s not their story. So why not founders?

The best ghostwriters I know aren’t necessarily the best writers but those who can dig into clients' ideas and turn them into concise, engaging posts.

They use the same method a book ghostwriter would: interviewing the source for ideas and turning them into written words.

The best-performing posts I created for clients came from their own original ideas, and I just turned them into posts.

To be a good ghostwriter, you have to be exceptional at the following:

1. Asking questions: All stories start with you asking questions to the client. Boring questions → Boring answers → Boring content.

2. Post aesthetic: The content has to look good even before you start reading it. I’m not talking about the vocabulary used in a post, but how it looks. Do you have too many lines? Does each line have too many sentences? Is it readable? Is there a melody to it? The post should have a rhythm.

3. Imitating voice: You have to believe that what you write can be said by your client verbally. In my experience, this helps you keep the voice consistent and ensures that all your clients don’t sound the same if you have multiple.

If you’re a startup founder or marketer, trying to experiment with a new acquisition channel, founder-led marketing might be a good test.

If you don’t have the capacity or know-how, consider hiring a ghostwriter.

XP Boost⬆️

Cheat Codes🤑

• Applying for a job? Sign up for the product and play with it first. I can’t stress this enough.

• It might be a good time to test short form videos on LinkedIn. Seems like the algorithm is currently favoring it.

• GPT editor: if you’re a ghostwriter writing for someone with a specific voice, create a GPT specifically for that voice, and put your draft through it. It’ll save you tons of time.

Item Shop🛖

• GLIF: a no-code AI sandbox app. I’m blown away by what it can do. Just look at this wojak meme I created.

• Suno: the AI-music creator app that went viral a while ago. I feel like it’s still under-used by marketers and creators. I made a song about this newsletter. Took me 10 seconds.

• Taplio: the tool I’m using for ghostwriting. It’s useful but can the UI can be a bit dodgy. Still a good app!

Good Graphics📷

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Until next week.