The content advice the most experts agree on: share your ideas in public so the people you want to meet can find you. 10 experts say it, from Andrew Chen in 2021 to Nicolas Cole in 2026. We read 156 content quotes from 36 experts, each from a dated recording, and sorted them into 14 pieces of advice. 11 were said before 2024 and again in 2025 or later, by at least two people. 2 show up only from 2025 on.
Best for
Founders who want the content advice experts have repeated for years, and what is new
Price
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Questions
302
Quotes
156
Experts
36
Recorded
2010–2026
What founders ask
We sorted 52,235 comments from three founder YouTube channels into the 22 founder problems. 302 of the 3,016 founder questions were about content and audience (10.0%), rank 3 of 22. 279 came from Alex Hormozi's audience.
“Alex, I want to start a channel. I been for a while...more now knowing how lucrative it could be. The problem is I don't think I have any value to add to an audience. Should I upload boring videos or not upload at all?”
“Alex hi, I’m a big fan. Everybody says that you have build first the audience and after that, build the business! But, how do you build a big audience?? Thanks a lot!!”
“Great content as always, Alex! I wonder, how do you make sure the agency is aligned with your voice and brand? I'm worried if I start using some, it'll be some generic content, a level better than ChatGPT, but not authentic at all. --> Might be actually a good thing since I'm just starting.”
“a lot of people are starting business and learning all their business acumen in the age of AI do you think there's value in neglecting to use ai to write scripts and ad copy because those people haven't had half a life time of honing that skill? (im talking about myself)”
Said by at least two experts, at least once before 2024 and again in 2025 or later. The first one has the most experts behind it. The others follow in the same order. Each shows an early and a recent quote, from two different people where the data allows.
Share your ideas in public so the people you want to meet can find you.
10 experts
· 13 quotes
· 2021 to 2026
20102026
“i think writing is so valuable i think because it's just the most scalable professional activity”
Content's share of all founder questions in each half-year, with a 95% range.
H2 20238.4%
H1 202413.3%
H2 20249.6%
H1 20257.0%
H2 20258.9%
H1 20265.5%
H2 2026 (to Sep)19.7%
Dark bar: share of founder questions. Light band: 95% range.
The share was highest in H2 2026 (to Sep) (19.7%, 23 questions) and lowest in H1 2026 (5.5%, 19 of 347). Those two ranges do not overlap. Picking the highest and lowest of 7 half-years overstates a gap, and the counts are small, so treat it as weak evidence.
Where experts disagree
Two named experts give opposite content advice in 4 places. Each split comes from a Gavel framework page.
All splits
keeps at least three or four gives per person before any ask, and aims for 70% or more of the impressions a person sees to be gives. Once ads run, the ads carry the ask and his short-form content carries zero calls to action.
Donald Miller
holds that customers do not take action unless they are challenged to take action, so every marketing touchpoint needs a clear, direct call to action. He pairs the buy button with a transitional offer, a free resource, but the direct ask never leaves the page (Building a StoryBrand).
treats controversy as the growth engine. In a feed that rewards provocation over polish, an authentic and deliberately divisive take buys the attention that a well-behaved launch never gets, and the distribution is what then guides the product.
would say durable growth comes from sharp positioning, not provocation. Attention you win by being divisive is attention you have to keep re-winning, and it tells a buyer nothing about why they should pick you over the alternative they are already using.
says any skill legible enough for someone else to copy will not hold its price, so the work is to become the only person who does what you do. Substitutability, not talent, is what sets your rate.
would call that pricing power without a barrier. A position that lives in one person does not transfer, does not scale past their calendar, and cannot be sold, which is the test a Power has to pass.
splits writing into two passes and drops the quality bar on the first to zero. Get the thoughts out without judging them, then shape what came out for one specific reader. The blank page is what happens when you try to do both at once.
attacks the same anxiety from the other end. Set a timer for 33 minutes and 33 seconds and forbid yourself everything except the copy, with no obligation to write a word. Boredom does the recruiting, because writing becomes the most interesting thing left in the room.
Advice that one expert gives, or that has no quote from before 2024 yet. Not counted above.
Do the thinking yourself, then use AI to edit, repeat and spread it.
Too soon to call
· Ann Handley, Eric Ries, Ethan Smith, Gary Klein, Greg Isenberg, Lulu Cheng Meservey, and Nicolas Cole
· 13 quotes, 2024–2026
Method
Quotes: 156 verified quotes from Gavel's expert cards tagged with content and audience. Each quote was checked word for word against the recording, and each card links to the moment it was said. 36 people are quoted.
Dates: a quote is dated by its recording's upload date on YouTube. An old talk uploaded late counts from the upload. 36 quotes are from before 2024 and 106 from 2025 or later.
Advice: we read every quote and wrote 14 short statements of advice. A classifier (Jev) then placed each quote under one statement, or under none. It agreed with our own reading on 147 of 156 quotes. 116 quotes landed under a statement.
Quotes shown: for each piece of advice we show quotes where the classifier and our own reading agree. We skip a quote that is too short to state the advice on its own. It still counts.
Time-tested: at least two experts, with one quote from before 2024 and one from 2025 or later. New: at least two experts, with every quote from 2025 or later. Both cut-off years move forward when a new year starts.
Questions: 52,235 comments from a16z, Alex Hormozi and Lenny's Podcast, from the second half of 2023 to September 2026. A classifier (Jev) marked which ones ask for help and sorted those into the 22 founder problems. The ranges are 95% Wilson intervals.
Limits: the quote mix follows which recordings Gavel holds, and 106 of 156 quotes are from 2025 or later. Advice can look new only because older recordings of it are missing. Most questions come from one channel's audience.
Refresh: every quarter we add new quotes and questions and rerun the counts. This page is as of Q3 2026. Next refresh: January 2027.
Cite
Cite as: Arun Agrahri, “Founder Content Advice: What Held, What Changed,” Gavel, as of Q3 2026, https://usegavel.com/research/what-founders-ask/content
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