Founders Are the New Brand: How Content Consumption Has Evolved

It’s been 8 years of being a content marketer and even more as a writer. In that time, I've witnessed one recurring truth: content is shaped by how people consume it. And how they consume it has changed drastically. 

One shift I find most fascinating is this is people no longer just want to know the product, they want to know the person behind it, especially the founder. We don’t just buy into Apple; we bought into Jobs. We didn’t just admire Tesla; we followed Musk.

Podcasts have accelerated this shift. It’s no coincidence that founders now regularly feature on audio shows, not just to talk about their product, but to tell their story. This desire to associate with the person behind the product is redefining branding.

But this shift didn’t happen overnight. Back in 2017, when I started out as a print journalist, I could already sense people moving away from traditional content consumption. Long-form stories were losing ground. Readers wanted news in 2–3 lines: just headlines, no depth, no nuance. News apps were gamifying speed. It wasn’t about what you were putting out, but how fast you could push it out.

That demand for instant gratification only grew. Video and audio began replacing reading, not just for leisure through platforms like Audible or YouTube, but as the primary modes of information. Why? Because they save time, primarily. And with that came another challenge: holding attention. It wasn’t enough to produce good content, it had to hook people in the first 5 seconds. Hence, podcast trailers, preview snippets, and click-worthy intros became essential.

Even blogs evolved. Plain text wasn’t enough. Now, we build blogs with infographics, embed video clips, optimized headlines, breaking them into subheads, anything to keep the reader engaged in a world full of scrolls and swipes.

Amidst all these changes in formats and platforms, one thing became clear: content alone doesn’t build trust anymore, connection does. And that connection now often starts with the face behind the brand. Emotionally engaging and personality-driven is the IT content of the time.

I experienced this personally. I once admired a brand deeply, until I spoke to its founder. It was a cold, disheartening interaction. Surprisingly, that one conversation broke my emotional connection with the brand completely. It made me realize: the founder is no longer just an operator; they are the brand themselves.

Shark Tank played a huge role too!

What Shark Tank did was it brought founders into our living room. It normalized founder storytelling, making it as important as product storytelling. Think of Parul Gulati: her pitch, her wit, her “Malkin” moment -- all contributed to how people perceive her brand now. That’s founder branding done right.

Today, if your founder hasn’t been on a podcast, has no voice on social, and remains faceless, your brand hasn’t really arrived.

People don’t just want to use a product. They want to relate to the person who made it. That’s where brand trust begins NOW.