How to Leverage Yours to Attract Opportunities – Altitude Accelerator

Community is another significant aspect of building a personal brand. Sharing your story and engaging actively on social media platforms can help build a community that shares your vision and values. This is especially vital in the tech sector where representation is crucial. As a Latino female founder, LaToison talks about why it’s important for her to be on social media and share her knowledge and experiences with others,

“I want to make sure that there is representation so that others who are at these conferences and who are working in the corporations know that it is possible. You can do it too. Even though it might not look like it because you don’t see that every day. We are more than capable, and anything is possible.” 

Lipp also discusses the weight of using her social reach to build female representation in the tech industry,

“There’s value in taking the time to share the little wins. Talking about equality and representation, I never saw anyone that looked like me out there doing biotech and running a company. If there is someone else that happens along my profile and I look like them, they can resonate with me in some way and see that there’s all kinds of people that make a CEO. It’s not what we’ve just seen growing up. There’s possibility out there.”

Both founders reflect on their journey of building a personal brand over the past two years and the opportunities they have received from putting themselves out there,

“I’ve had so many opportunities to speak and be interviewed. It’s cool that I have a footprint out there now,”  says Lipp.

LaToison, who didn’t have a LinkedIn account until two years ago shares, “I had no idea that I would be an entrepreneur one day, but now when you look me up, you’ll see the podcast episodes, you’ll see me speaking at conferences, you’ll see that I’ve won some awards and you’ll see my book. I’ve have made a lot of progress and a lot of momentum in the last two years.”  

A personal brand not only helps to establish yourself as a thought leader in the space, but also contributes to the success of your startup. A personal brand is necessary for founders to build credibility, attract the right audience, increase access to investment and foster a strong and supportive community. The value that your brand puts out will determine the value you receive back. Lipp provided final words to founders who are just getting their startup off the ground stating that it is never too early to start building a personal brand,

“No matter how big your company is, the way you present yourself to the world is really valuable.”