The Signal’s "Sponsored Deep Dive Posts" Thought Process
The Signal
Whenever someone starts taking money in exchange for creating content on their behalf, there are obvious conflicts of interest. I’m not here to write about companies who pay me the most money (as tempting as that sounds). I’m here to play long-term games with long-term people. Your trust and attention are the most important things to me. The minute I start writing about stuff I don’t believe in, I will lose both of those things (your trust and your attention).
I want to be transparent about how I decide which companies to write sponsored deep dives with, and how I go about writing about them. My goal is to follow my own curiosities and share the 1:1 conversations I’m having with interesting founders, publicly. I think the deep dive sponsored posts can be some of my most interesting content, because I get to talk to the founder directly, and help tell their story in a unique way.
How do I choose what companies to write sponsored posts?
They’re companies I believe in, as measured by two questions:
“Would I use this product?”
“Would I write about this company even if they weren’t paying me?” (Don’t tell them this…)
The company’s story is interesting to write about and fits with the trends we’re all most interested in. I spend many hours on these deep dive posts, and given how fast this space is moving, I have plenty of topics I could cover, so I only write about companies/spaces/founders who I genuinely am excited to explore (and share those explorations publicly).
These are founders I selfishly want to spend more time with and learn from. :)
Once I’ve decided to write about a company, here are my guidelines:
Be agnostic, but opinionated. There are many products on the market that are incredible (I believe in net-sum thinking, not zero-sum). So, I’m a fan of lots of companies, even some that are “competitors.” And my goal is to remain agnostic (again, I’m not taking money from “the highest bidder” - that’s when trust is lost imho). All that said, I also think there is value in being opinionated (eg: “Apollo is a great all-in-one sales tool for SMBs, but Outreach+Gong+ChiliPiper are better for Enterprise companies with 100+ sellers”.)
I’m not trying to write long-form, written ads for companies (doesn’t sound fun). Instead, I’m following my curiosities about whatever I find interesting about the company, and hope it resonates with you, the reader. Whether that’s their philosophy on the future of GTM, or how they’re building their company, or something else.
No trash-talking competitors. I’m not interested in talking badly about other companies. If that’s what you came here to read, you won’t find it. I may occasionally call out a company who is being disrupted, for instance. But I won’t take money for hit pieces, sorry.
At the end of the day, sponsored deep dives give me an excuse to go deep on topics I am interested in writing about, even if they weren’t paying me. It’s usually on subjects I’ve touched on before, or are due for a refresher.
This is an experiment, and a work-in-process. So, please feel free to share your raw feedback (I can take it… I think).
As always, thank you for reading. Your attention is greatly appreciated.
Brendan
🫡