Personal Brand

Something I’ve been spending increasing amounts of time thinking about particularly in the back of my mind is the power of brand. Especially when it comes to personal brand. I see it manifest itself within our portfolio companies all the time when strong CEO’s become thought leaders in their markets. We know it drives a lot of value for the company. And makes raising money in the future easier — who doesn’t want to bet on the expert?

In the consumer world, I see it play out in a major way on Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and Twitch. Celebrities and “average” individuals have been able to make incredible livings off of the brands they’ve created and the followers that look to them as icons. The personal brands these individuals craft are incredibly impactful and sway literally millions of people, it’s incredible.

Personally, I’m not great at brand building and it’s something I’m interested in learning more about. I know that I have a brand, but it hasn’t been “crafted” to have the optimum amount of impact — which begs the question what impact do I want to have? Right now, my brand is a mix of millennial, political nerd, GovTech, BLCK VC, engaged life, and tech.

Over the last few months I’ve watched my Fiancé begin to craft a brand around sustainability, female empowerment, advocacy and what I’d call a young boho yet cosmopolitan style. It’s been fascinating and it’s working, she’s good at brand building. She’s had companies reach out to her to represent them and share their products and it’s only been a few months!

I wonder how many people are cultivating their personal brands and how they mix that with the professional world? I also wonder how people choose their platform — LinkedIn, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, Medium, etc?

I’m currently fascinated by how people are using Instagram for their professional brands. I think this will become more common in the future, but it comes with a lot of interesting challenges. I think as humans we are drawn to vibrant images of life and integrating that with our work lives seems like a good intersection. Particularly for careers that often get defined as lifestyles — venture fits into this, though I have yet to find a VC that does a great job of using IG to disseminate interesting content beyond pics of their weekend getaways.

If you’ve seen interesting intersections between personal and professional on IG, shoot me a message so I can follow them!