If shortly after an apocalyptic earnings call, your CEO is quoting scripture on social media, expect an unholy backlash from the markets.
Intel, still the first company one associates with the tech revolution, has fallen behind the times. It suffered its worst day on Wall Street in 40 years, wiping out a quarter of its market cap, and you would want the CEO to respond with a plan – not a Bible passage.
Compare that clunky approach to Daniel Ek’s, who decided to announce Spotify’s strong earnings - they’ve grown to nearly a quarter-billion premium subscribers - through a personal video on X. Minimal production value, under 2 minutes, just a guy sharing the company’s journey. But the impact was outsized.
Bite your silver tongue For years, most knew Bill Ackman as a smooth-talking edgy hedgie who had some legendary misses (Herbalife, JCPenney, Valeant) and spectacular wins (GGP, betting against the market during Covid).
In 2017, fresh off a divorce and some epic bad bets, Ackman turned to Twitter. He teased out snippets of life as a high-flying financier and shared his thinking on investments. Over the last year, Ackman supercharged his commitment to the platform: he started treating X like Medium, publishing long essays on polarizing topics such as DEI and politics. His reach exploded, and the millions of impressions he was generating got him thinking.
He decided to take his hedge fund public on the NYSE, with the goal of raising a $25B closed-end fund, the largest of its kind. The prospectus specifically called out his “relatively large following on X,” noting that he had “built up a large base of investors who follow our every move.” Media interest, he said, “is valuable in attracting investor interest and creating liquidity for our shareholders.”
Investors weren’t sold. First, Ackman slashed his $25B target to $4B, and then to $2B, before putting the kibosh on the plan altogether. He announced – on X too, of course – that he is going to “rethink structure to address investor concern.” (Jefferies CEO Rich Handler couldn’t resist a poke, tweeting shortly after that “The IPO Window is OPEN”)
Ackman fell victim to being “extremely online,” thinking his bubble was the sum total of the world.
Half the world to lose The rougher playing field in tech today gives us even more of a reason to invest in brand, and mastering social media is part of that investment. The upside is clear: a direct channel to the market that you control.
To avoid an Ackman-esque fate, the advice you will typically get is thinking through what to say and how to say it. Your time, however, might be better spent thinking about what not to say, as that seems to be where most of the mistakes are made.
Howard Lerman (Founder of Roam & YEXT) shared sharp advice on this topic, warning folks to “avoid taking (a) public political stand,” because “you have zero to gain & half the world to lose.” I feel similarly about social causes – what hurts or warms my heart may have the opposite impact on yours.
You could argue that Elon Musk has brought his full self to social media - politics included - and save for X, his companies are performing just fine. But let’s be real: a rocket-wielding multi-billionaire industrialist genius does in fact get to play by different rules.
The rest of us are better off focusing on our mission, avoiding social and political topics, and being authentic within those directly relevant themes we choose to engage with .
That authentic bit means staying away from ghostwriters - there, I said it - and instead investing in coaches and editors who will help you find your voice and develop a skill that will not only help you communicate on social media, but across all platforms.
“U.S. and Canadian startups had the highest quarter for funding since Q1 of last year. Funding reached $45.3 billion, up more than a third year over year.”
This Made Us Think
State of Sales 2024 - Salesforce: In a world where most “reports” have less than 1000 respondents driving the insights, this report, which was informed by responses from 5500 sellers - making it statistically quite relevant - is an important read.
Sequoia’s David Cahn on AI’s $600B Question - 20VC: I think David is one of the great minds in venture right now, and he’s only 28. An important and fascinating discussion that covers the state of AI today and also how David has separated himself in the world of venture capital.
“Also signals that the AI revenue associated with all the investment isn’t going to pay itself back in the next few years. This is a big issue right now as many are not implementing AI effectively to deliver ROI... it is being led by technical and not business leaders which I think is one of the challenges.”
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Tim Sanders has joined G2 as VP of Research Insights
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