Paul Johns

Co-founder at Else. Agentic prototyping.

About

Co-founder at Else. I run GTM – design partners, content, and the In Production newsletter on what it actually takes for PMs to ship working AI-generated code. Previously Parsec (acquired by Unity), Druva, RingCentral. Backcountry kayaking in Montana when I can.

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Gone streaking

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2mo ago

Featured

Build your brand before your product, or launch first and reveal yourself later?

I've always been on the personal brand side. More and more founders are building it now (sometimes even before the product is ready while it's still in development, before seed fundraising). The CEO builds their position so the product sells more easily at the official launch.
But I have experience with people who built the product, scaled it, and only then did we discover who was behind it.

Honestly, with the first approach, I'd be concerned that people invest more in me as a person than in the product. People would idealise the founder and overlook the product's flaws (which could hurt development and constructive feedback).

+ I noticed the most common mistake that many people who started building a personal brand first, connected their product to their personal accounts (emails, social media, etc.) and started having a problem selling these things, because they cannot "give someone keys" to their personal profiles.