Social Proof: Shaan Puri on Curating First Impressions

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We’ve now reached the fourth installment of Social Proof and have landed a powerful interviewee. Shaan Puri, multi-hyphenate entrepreneur and investor, is the creator of platforms that reach millions every day.

His creative output is amazing, from his two newsletters (one personal, the other called The Milk Road) about crypto to his audience of more than 300,000 on Twitter to his popular podcast My First Million. His platforms are not a side hustle. He also sold his startup Bebo to Twitch, and now manages a rolling fund that invests in other startups.

This interview will show you how Shaan has built and leveraged his personal branding. It also includes an interesting exercise in personal branding that every person should attempt.

Callout: The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Q: Thank you for taking the time and meeting with me about Social Proof Shaan. Let’s start with a question that will be two for one: What do your thoughts on personal branding? Would you consider what you have a personal business brand?

My view is that I am just trying to be out there. It’s similar to when you have your music so loud that others can hear it from thecars. No matter who I am, I want the music to be loud enough so that anyone hears it and likes it, they will start nodding along.

My goal is to attract people with similar thoughts and ideas by sharing my thoughts, ideas and personality. It is my way to attract like-minded people.

Q. When did you begin this process of attracting like-minded people to your company?

When I was interviewing for my first job, I began. I thought, “What am I trying to accomplish in this interview?”

In the end, I just wanted to make an impression on everyone I met. That’s what a brand does, right? This is what a brand does. Nike and McDonald’s want to tell you more about them. They want it memorable and to be positive. Instead of answering their questions with prepared answers, I decided to think about what I wanted them and to remember about me.

Two companies were interviewing me that day: Stripe and Monkey Inferno, an idea lab. When they talked to me, they would all say that he’s really blank, blank, and blank.” So I carefully thought about the words that should be in those blanks. This is how I came backwards from creating my brand.

A: I like the way you used the words. This ties in nicely with my next question. What three words would describe your personal brand?

Referring back to my interview preparation story, I recall writing: “I want them to know I’m…”

• Bold I take action
• Funny/Funny,, i.e. someone they would like to have around the office
• Clever I may not be the most intelligent person in the room but I can always come up with creative ways to win.

Naturally, much has changed since my first attempt at this exercise. My preferred last word is Successfulbecause people are more inclined to do business with successful people.

I also used what I refer to as a “pillar branding exercise”, where I draw out pillars, similar to the ones at the White House. This helps me visualize the pillars supporting my brand. Each pillar had bold, funny and clever writing.

It was quite different to put it into practice. I could not just tell the interviewers that I was bold, because no one would believe it. Telling them stories about the things I have done would help them draw a conclusion about me. He’s either very bold or he takes action. To help facilitate this, I began to pull stories from things that I had done that would support the pillar. And then I would fill out the pillar.

For some pillars, I had more stories that others. This helped me realize that although I desired to be perceived in a certain way, it wasn’t enough that I was taking the necessary actions. This exercise was also an opportunity to make a list of things I want to include in my brand. This exercise was more than a branding exercise. It was a guideline for how I would approach my life.

You can add the pillar to complete the puzzle. People should say “He is not empty.” I would add the words fake and robotic to fill in the blank. When I interact with someone, I don’t want it to look like either.

Q: What do you do? You create podcasts, newsletters and post regularly on Twitter. Which one of these is your favourite medium for expression? Which do you believe is most effective for your brand’s image? How do you manage to do all of these things simultaneously?

They all fit together, I believe. You asked about time and I answered that many of the things you mentioned are what my spare time is used for. My two businesses take up most of my work time. This is why I don’t believe in the excuse of lack of time. Many of these activities are passion projects that I enjoy doing. These activities don’t feel like work.

The podcast is my favorite content medium in terms of value. But they all work together. It’s like a funnel. At the top, people discover you. For me, that is usually through Twitter. In the past year, my Twitter followers grew from 20,000 to 300,000. Because I wanted people to feel comfortable and have an easy way to contact me.

There would also be people who want to move down the funnel further, which will lead them to my newsletter. Beyond the short-form tweets, I could also be in the inbox of my audience and share more detailed thoughts.

If you are interested in going further, my podcast can guide you to the bottom of my funnel. You will hear my voice, tone and inflection. This is where I am closest to my audience and can build the most trust. It’s more than what you talk to in a typical year if I’m there for 50 hours per year. It helps to build a valuable relationship with people.

Question: Which three strategies would you recommend people use when trying to figure out which vehicles they could use to build their brand?

Don’t do it if your goal is to create a brand. You’ll just create work for yourself. You might as well work for a job or build a business if you are going to put in the effort. My view is that I want the projects that I work on to be something I enjoy.

It is important to identify the type of content that you enjoy creating, whether it’s interviews or curating content for your feed. No matter what it may be, do what you find fun and natural. Your brand will grow as a result. There are many things you can do to make it easier or more efficient, but the most important thing is to find what you love.

Even if it didn’t create a brand, it would still be worthwhile. My podcast, for example, is worth 20 million downloads per year. When I started my podcast, I didn’t expect people to listen. I believed that was extremely unlikely. Interviews and having conversations with interesting people were more important to me. While some might listen, that was not my motivation for doing it. That’s why I stuck to it.

Many people have an external goal, such as fame or the ability to start creative projects. They get discouraged when they don’t see immediate results and give up. People who enjoy it are the ones who win. They are rewarded by the act of doing it. The reward is that they don’t have to worry about the other stuff. Therefore, they can keep going.

One more thing: People can tell when you are having fun writing content. This is because you are passionate about the topic. This is what makes content stand out.

Q: Recently, you tweeted that everything you have done, regardless of how random, has helped to make your success possible. What was the turning point in your career? What was the moment you realized, “Yeah, this is working!”

My philosophy is that my customers are people who love what they do. If I love what my job does, it will resonate with others in the same way that it did with me. The first sign of success, then, is liking your work. People fail to like their own work because they are too critical of it or because they try to please others. I believe that this is a recipe to failure.

Second, even before your numbers start to grow, you will begin to receive emails and comments that will keep the momentum going. It’s incredible. Five comments on a YouTube clip can keep you motivated for over a year. It’s because you know that someone somewhere loves this video. This thing works, and I’m not insane.

Q: Interesting. In an interview with Sacra, you mentioned that you were able raise funds from people who engaged with your content. This was a result of building a relationship with them. What was the greatest reward for publishing content?

The rolling fund allows me to invest with others in the startups that I invest in. Because I have extensive experience in angel investing and have a strong network, other people can invest in the rolling fund even if they don’t live in the US. The creation and growth the fund didn’t happen as I expected. It was something that happened because of my hard work.

My podcast and Twitter account were becoming increasingly popular. My first tweet was “Hey, I’m gonna raise a rolling fund and I want to raise one million dollars from people on twitter, and I’m not going to take any meetings,” which I did as a personal challenge. We reached that goal in just two days. It just kept going.

The fund now invests between 8 and 10 million per year in the startups that we work with. I don’t think I have ever met with anyone to explain our work. The whole thing was driven mainly by people who listened to me and trusted us.

Although they aren’t people I have met in person, they’ve been following me on Twitter and listening to podcasts for quite some time. They felt enough conviction to make an investment in the fund.

I was able to see that my convictions were evident, even though people were giving money to me, which was a sign that building a personal brand is key to trust and consistent content.

Q: I find it amazing that you can get to this point with just two consistent content formats and your years of experience. You have an egg or chicken question? Was it because you made your projects public that you decided to publish on social media? Did you find the inspiration for your project after sharing on social media consistently?

Because I believed it would be fun and that I could be good at creating content, I began to create it. Because I had sold my company, I had more time – so that’s how I started.

Question: Which of your efforts has resulted in the best opportunity, whether it was the podcast or Twitter?

Clubhouse was very popular at the time that I started a thread. It was the next big thing. Everyone thought so, but I read a thread saying “Hey, it’s not so.” Here’s how I see it.

It went viral – over 10 million people have read it. This led to a lot of interesting people emailing me or DMing me to say, “Wow! This is amazing, we love your way of thinking, we’d love get to know you!”

Similar tweets and results were also posted by me on the metaverse. I basically said, “People think of the metaverse in one way. Here’s how my view it.”

This was also shared by many others, and Mark Zuckerberg referred to it and said that it had influenced his thinking about the metaverse.

Q. What advice would you give your past self about building a personal brand?

I’d say, “Hey! What you hope will happen will!”

If I were to do it differently, however, I might just niche down more.

At the moment, my interests are broad. I have The Milk Road which discusses crypto and Twitter where I discuss anything. My personal newsletter, where I curate tweets, is also available. The My First Million podcast focuses more on business breakdowns and ideas. So quite spread out.

If I concentrated on just one of these areas, I believe I could be the most famous person in that niche. But I didn’t. That would be my only suggestion for improvement.

Q. What have been some of the down sides to your journey as an entrepreneur?

There are not many. It’s a bit like a treadmill. You have to continue doing the content. This is unlike software that you create once and then people use it every day. That’s the main problem. You can’t automate creativity. You will also find that people are more likely to say negative things about you online the more you become popular. You should not be worried about this.

Takeaways

The best thing about this interview is its practicality. Shaan’s passion and dedication to the projects he works on has brought him amazing opportunities. Here are some of our biggest takeaways:

• Take control over your narrative. Shaan did not prompt, but mentioned the three-word exercise, which has become commonplace during Social Proof interviews. It is a creative method to imagine what you want people to take away from their interactions with your online persona. If you would like a template version of the pillar brand template, let us know via Twitter.
• Make sure that your actions match up with how you want them to be perceived. Shaan mentioned that while he believed a certain thing about himself, he didn’t have enough evidence or stories to support that belief. It is important to not only think about your perception but also to take actions that are in line with it. You want to be perceived as knowledgeable on social media. Try out different strategies and platforms with your accounts.
• Use your reputation. While this topic has been discussed in other interviews, Shaan’s use his reputation is very interesting. Although you may not be raising millions for an investment fund with your online presence, the hard work that went into it should not be ignored. Make the most of the connections you have to make the connections that will lead you to the opportunities you seek.
• Choose niches and mediums you like. Shaan has discovered his preferred ways to get his thoughts out there, whether it be through writing or speaking. It’s impossible to be everywhere and talk about everything. But it is important to choose your preferred medium for personal branding. This will help you find your niche and put your creativity into focus.

Shaan says it best: you can’t automate creativity. What can automate? It’s how you put your creative work on the internet. That’s where Buffer comes in. To help you maximize your creativity and build a routine of consistency, take advantage of our Freemium Tier.

Get started now.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://onlinemarketingagencies.net/?p=5512