Welcome to Signal // Noise — the newsletter read by CEOs, execs, and scrappy builders every Thursday. Each week, what I’m listening to, one insight or deep dive, three links worth your time. Zero bullshit.
While I Was Writing Today’s Signal // Noise:
IYKYK on this one playas. Fire this one up, or watch the live version with Erykah Badu onstage with MMJ, and thank me later.
From sound to signal—let’s get this baby rolling with what’s on my mind…
// The Signal
One big idea, insight, or take — grounded in real work, not theory.
The Founder Is the Front Door
It used to be that you built the product, then you talked about it.
Now, you build an audience before the product exists.
People don’t trust brands much, but they still trust humans.
And more and more, the founder is the front door.
It’s not really just a trend, it’s the new normal.
Old heads like Zuck are doing jiu-jitsu reels, Satya Nadella’s YouTube interviews feel just as useful as most product pages. Barstool’s streaming internal biz meetings. Sallie Krawcheck made her personal story the backbone of Ellevest’s brand, Packy took a newsletter and used it to influence deals, launches, and capital.
The question used to be something like, “Should I build an audience?”
Now the question is: “What’s the cost of not having one?”
Early in my career, I saw the importance of distribution - we were obsessed with it at The Motley Fool.
My close friend and colleague, Jeremy, even made up his own title—VP of Distribution—before we completely understood what that meant.
But we knew eyeballs were oxygen.
We chased organic traffic through SEO, struck partnership deals with Yahoo, syndicated across MSN, and ran paid media on Facebook before most people knew what a pixel was.
Nobody was trying to be an influencer - that didn’t exist yet - we were just trying to build a business. And we understood: if you don’t own distribution, you don’t own growth.
That lesson hasn’t changed much.
The change is that now, the distribution channel isn’t MSN or Facebook or even Google.
It’s you.
Some founders start with audience, then build product.
Others start with product, then realize they need audience to scale.
Either way, distribution through the c-suite feels less & less optional.
Steven Bartlett built a media empire before launching ThirdWeb or Flight Story.
Codie Sanchez made boring businesses sexy—and scaled a platform off the back of it.
And obviously my boy Sam Parr built Hampton off his success with The Hustle & MFM.
That’s the “media first” play, those are the obvious ones.
But it’s not just your typical creators.
Tobi Lütke rarely posts, but when he does, it shapes how the world sees Shopify (and AI, remote work, leadership). Marc Lore isn’t non-stop on X, but he’s on the pod circuit and knows that every biz needs a story as strong as it’s team.
Even quiet founders are learning: staying silent means staying irrelevant.
So if you’re the founder or CEO and you’re still saying, “I’m not a content person”, that excuse probably has an expiration date.
You don’t need to be loud (I certainly never was).
But you do need to be known.
Pick your lane—LinkedIn, Substack, podcast, blog, YouTube, whatever. Just show up.
Build trust before you need it.
Because in 2025, the founder is the funnel.
📔 Field Notes
Dispatches from the field — lessons, stories, interviews, experiments.
I recently did a deep-dive with Matt McGarry where we talked mostly about Hampton — how we built it, what we learned, and what actually makes a community work (hint: it’s not a Slack group and a Zoom link).
We got into:
– Why we raised Hampton’s floor from $1M → $3M
– The tension between growth and exclusivity
– The features that actually drive retention
– The best lead magnet we ever ran
– What we chose not to launch (and why)
– Plus: some thoughts on time, work, and this next chapter
Check it out on Spotify or wherever you listen to your pods.
👀 A few Jawns to Check Out
Smart reads, sharp tools, or internet gems — curated for operators.
📕 Great post | The Boring Giants Are Still Winning. While the kids be playing on Snap & TikTok, Facebook and LinkedIn just keep grindin’ — and pulling in massive numbers. Facebook still has 2x the users of TikTok. LinkedIn? Quietly posted 17% growth year-over-year — the biggest jump of any major platform. It’s a reminder that attention doesn’t always equal value, and “boring” often just means compounding. [gated] Check It Out Here.
🔥 Hot take | AI Isn’t the Next Social Platform. It’s the Next Operating System. This chart says it all. ChatGPT hit a billion MAUs faster than TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram — and it’s not even a traditional network. It’s becoming the backbone of how people search, write, plan, and solve problems. Less a destination, more a default layer for getting things done. Check It Out Here.
🍿Mind matter | The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century (So Far). When I was younger, I avoided “top 100” lists — I wanted to find the hidden gems myself, stick the middle finger to big media taste-makers. Now I’m older, a bit tired, and very here for a beautifully curated, do-it-for-me list. This one from the NYT is legit — full of bangers, surprises, and 4 films from the Coen Bros. Check it Out Here.
What did you like BEST about this week’s newsletter?
If you don’t email me back, I’ll unsub you from the list (jk, jk).
Alright, have a good weekend, you animals.
Love yous.
Jordan
