How Perception Shapes Growth For Founders & Talent

Today, storytelling has become the currency of attention and one of the most powerful ways people connect with brands and founders. In a crowded media landscape, what really cuts through isn’t just your product, but why it matters to the people you’re trying to reach.

Over the years, I’ve seen companies with brilliant products struggle to gain traction simply because they lacked a strong narrative driving their efforts. What strikes me is how this pattern repeats itself: great ideas, solid execution, but no compelling story to help people understand why they should care. Conversely, when companies get their story right, visibility becomes not only easier but also far more sustainable.

It all boils down to not leaving your reputation up to chance; understanding that having a clear, consistent story gives people context, builds trust and makes your brand relatable on a human level. And after years of helping start-ups, founders, and talents build their brands, I have learnt that successful storytelling is the result of being strategic, authentic and intentional at every stage of your journey.

The question is: how do you get there? In my experience, there are four fundamental considerations that founders need to address.

Finding Your Story: The Foundation Of Everything

I realised early on that people generally underestimate just how compelling their own experiences, motivations, and even challenges can be in shaping their brand narrative. When working with founders and talents, I focus first on understanding what drove them to build their company and what keeps them going—it helps humanise the company and helps me see their founders as more than just entrepreneurs.

These aren’t just interview questions. They’re the building blocks of authentic brand storytelling, and the magic happens when we can tie these personal insights back to the product or vision in a way that feels genuine while resonating with the target audience.

Unfortunately, this is where many founders stumble. They either go too vague or dive too deeply into technical details, which alienates their target audience. The key is to ground your story in real experiences, genuine challenges, and meaningful solutions. When you build from that foundation, authenticity becomes your competitive advantage because people can sense when a story is genuine versus when it has been manufactured for effect.

When To Tell Your Story

I don’t believe there’s such a thing as sharing your story too early. The real risk isn’t in timing your first story, but in telling it without the right preparation and strategic thinking behind it.

The challenge is that many founders fall into one of two traps. Some wait until they are “successful enough” to deserve attention, which often means missing critical opportunities to build credibility and momentum early in their journey. Others jump in too quickly, before their vision is clear or their product is stable, which can create confusion or set expectations they can’t yet meet.

What I’ve learned is that timing isn’t about reaching a certain size or milestone. The sweet spot emerges when you have three key elements in place: a clear understanding of your mission, a minimum viable product or proof of concept, and early traction that validates you’re moving in the right direction.

When these elements align, you’re ready to share your story in a measured and intentional way. Your narrative will come across as credible and timely. This allows you to build momentum and helps your story evolve as you learn and grow.

The key is recognising that storytelling isn’t a one-off event but an ongoing process. Starting at the right moment provides a solid foundation to build upon, but it also allows room for your narrative to evolve as your company and vision mature.

How To Tell Your Story

Once you know your story and you’re ready to tell it, the next challenge becomes navigating the sometimes overwhelming array of channels and formats available today. The natural temptation is to be everywhere at once, but this approach typically backfires.

Effective storytelling starts with understanding your audience. This means going beyond basic demographics to understand where your customers, investors, and partners actually spend their time, what sources they trust, and how they prefer to consume content. These insights should fundamentally guide which channels deserve your focus and energy.

For B2B founders, this often means prioritising platforms like LinkedIn, targeted podcasts, industry newsletters, and respected trade publications where decision-makers go to stay informed. Meanwhile, consumer-facing founders might find visual platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, or conversation-driven spaces like X, more helpful.  The key insight here is that, rather than spreading yourself thin across multiple channels, choose a few that align with your audience and commit to using them exceptionally well.

But channel selection is only half the equation. The format and approach you take within each channel matter just as much. Some stories work better as long-form thought leadership pieces that establish expertise and authority. Others work better in the conversational format of X threads, podcast interviews or the visual storytelling possible through video content. The most effective founders learn to match their message to the medium in ways that feel natural and authentic.

Throughout all of this, authenticity remains the non-negotiable foundation. People can typically tell when content feels manufactured or overly polished. This is why the most compelling stories are grounded in genuine experience and real challenges, even when they’re strategically positioned for maximum impact.

Timing and relevance also play crucial roles in how well your story lands. Even the most authentic narrative will struggle to gain traction if it doesn’t connect with what your audience cares about in that particular moment.

What Comes Next? 

Once you’ve found your story and started telling it, the real work begins. It’s essential to remember that storytelling is an ongoing journey that requires consistency, strategy, and a deep understanding of how media landscapes shift over time. As your company grows and changes, your story needs to evolve with it, but in ways that feel intentional rather than reactive.

Stories tend to change based on public sentiment, and it’s important to monitor them closely. Once narratives build momentum, managing how your company is perceived can become very challenging. This is often the case for many founders who struggle because the time needed to shape the story as the company evolves often conflicts with the demands of building and running their company.

However, this reality is what makes strategic partnerships so valuable. You can manage your public relations and communications efforts internally by hiring dedicated media personnel to maintain relationships and consistently create content. Alternatively, you can choose to work with an experienced PR professional.

Having a good PR partner, whether internal or external, can give your company a significant edge by offering hard-won insights, established media relationships, and a strategic perspective shaped by years of observing how stories succeed and fail across various companies and industries.

Perhaps most importantly, they help you avoid costly mistakes that can damage your reputation or waste precious momentum. They understand the nuances of different media environments, know how to position stories for maximum impact, and can help you navigate the inevitable challenges that come with increased visibility.

For many founders, this partnership also creates the freedom to focus on what you do best. When you know your storytelling and visibility are being handled with expertise, you can direct your energy toward building and leading your team without constantly worrying about the narrative you’ve put out.

The most effective partnerships develop when there’s clear alignment between your vision and your PR partner’s strategic thinking, when communication flows smoothly in both directions.

Beyond PR: Building Reputation Through Action

While strategic storytelling provides the foundation for how people perceive your brand, a lasting reputation is built through consistent reinforcement. This means that how you communicate with customers, how your team represents your company, and even how you handle mistakes and challenges all become integral parts of your brand story.

The most compelling narrative will eventually fail if actions and genuine values do not support it. People pay attention to what you do as much as what you say, and in today’s connected world, inconsistencies between story and reality become visible quickly.

Building a solid reputation means consistently showing up, whether through a strong social media presence or thought leadership. Investing time into building genuine relationships with your community and stakeholders, and understanding that credibility is earned over time through consistent behaviour.

It’s also important to remember that when challenges arise, how you respond becomes part of your story. Founders who build lasting reputations are those who handle difficulties with transparency, learn from their mistakes, and demonstrate a genuine commitment to their mission.

The Long Game: Where Visibility Becomes Growth

I firmly believe that the most effective approach to media and storytelling necessitates a fundamental shift in perspective. Rather than viewing visibility as an end goal or treating media attention as a metric to optimise, the most effective founders understand that storytelling is a tool in service of building sustainable and meaningful growth.

This long-term perspective changes everything about how you approach narrative building. Instead of chasing visibility for its own sake, you begin with clarity about what you want that visibility to achieve for your brand and business. It also helps you focus on whether you’re reaching the right people.

As your company evolves, your narrative will naturally shift and develop; however, the key is being intentional about how that evolution occurs. Pay attention to how people are discussing your brand and the issues you’re addressing. Stay engaged with these conversations so you know when to contribute, when to clarify, and when to help reshape the discussion about your brand.

This is how visibility transforms into growth. This is how stories become the foundation for lasting success. And this is why getting your narrative right isn’t just a marketing exercise, but a fundamental component of building something that matters.

This article was written by Joyce Imiegha, Founder, Reneé PR.