Why Every Founder Needs an Origin Story (And Here's Mine)

Why your personal transformation story is your startup's most powerful asset

Hi PMs and founders

I am an imposter.

Well, that's actually an upgrade from about 3 years ago when I was hiding on social.

I started following some blogs and a few people here on LinkedIn and X. And I thought, I am so incompetent. I have nothing to share.

Sure, I created my own ERP back in the 90s, spent 12 years helping enterprises in Big 5, joined an early stage startup as employee #2 and went through 3 pivots, launched 4 products at a scale up SAAS CRM, started a new product line at another scale up SAAS.

What do I know.

Then I chanced upon the writings of the mighty

Justin Welsh

. I devoured his content. Bought his LinkedinOS course. There was one thing he said that turned me upside down.

He said - if you can talk about something for 30 min, you are an expert.

I tried. I could chat about startups 0-1 and B2B product management for over an hour.

I listed 5 topics and decided to write.

Since mid 2022, I have written over 1000 posts on LinkedIn and X, over 120 articles on Substack and a backlog of 50 topics to write.

Are they good? Is it of value? I have no idea. Just in the last week, a few people told me they liked reading my practical content.

Turns out being an imposter was actually an upgrade from plain hiding.

So why am I bringing this up in this letter today?

Recently, I was in a meetup and someone asked the motivation for me to start Ziply. I mentioned the above story. And when I look around in my network, I see so many amazing experts in various fields of life. Much much more than me.

A personal finance expert. A nutritionist. A real estate expert. A supply chain expert.

But here's the thing - maybe 1-2% of people will do some effort to create their personal brand. The rest are hiding, just like I was.

That's when I realized - if someone like me with decades of experience was hiding, how many other experts were doing the same? And what if there were tools to make the transition easier?

That realization became Ziply's mission. We're not just building a content creation and social selling tools. We're building confidence for people who think they have nothing worth sharing.

I encourage you to upgrade and share your expertise.

Tomorrow's world will be driven by how people perceive you, your thinking, your story - beyond your resume. The best opportunities will go to people who've built trust through sharing their expertise, not just those with the best credentials.

My only regret is not starting sooner.

The founder lesson:

Every great product starts with a founder who lived the problem. Your origin story isn't just nice-to-have marketing copy. It's your north star. The personal pain that drove you to build shapes everything - your product decisions, how you talk to customers, what features matter most.

That's why I always share this messy story. It explains why Ziply exists better than any pitch deck ever could.