Growth & Marketing

How do I post about my startup online without sounding like I'm constantly selling?

A starting point

The fix is ratio and framing: share the messy in-progress work, the decisions you're stuck on, and what you learned, and let the product show up as a natural character in that story rather than the headline. People tune out ads and lean into building-in-public because it feels like access, not a pitch. A rough rule: for every post that asks for something, publish several that give something.

Go deeper

Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time.

3 resources 3 link-checked Watch Read

Watch

▶️ Video

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it This is a short, practical take on the exact tone problem: how to talk about what you sell so it reads as sharing your excitement and solving a problem, not pushing. Forleo's core move is that facts tell and stories sell, so you frame the customer's before and after rather than listing features. It is a fast reset for founders who freeze up the moment a post starts to feel promotional.

How to Sell Without Being Salesy

On YouTube (MarieTV) by Marie Forleo ~10 min

Selling is just sharing genuine excitement plus the information someone needs to decide, so lead with the problem you solve.
Facts tell, stories sell: show a real before and after instead of reciting product features.
Ground it in generosity and honesty, which keeps the tone helpful even when you are directly making an offer.

Watch on YouTube youtube.com →

Read

📖 Book

✓ Link checked Paid Intermediate

Why we picked it Kahl's whole argument is that you earn an audience by embedding in a community and being useful first, then building with those people, rather than broadcasting a pitch at strangers. That reframe is exactly what stops your posts reading like sales: you are documenting and helping in public, and the product follows. He wrote the book itself in public with hundreds of founders, so the method is the medium.

The Embedded Entrepreneur: How to Build an Audience-Driven Business

From embeddedentrepreneur.com by Arvid Kahl ~280 pages

Find the people first and build with them, instead of building a thing and then hunting for buyers to sell it to.
An audience is trust you accumulate by giving, so most of what you share should teach or reveal, not ask.
Concrete checklists for finding where your people already gather and what problems to listen for before you ever mention what you are making.

Open embeddedentrepreneur.com →

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it Most advice tells you to build in public without showing you what a non salesy post actually looks like, and this piece fixes that with 27 concrete post ideas grouped into progress, decisions, failures, metrics, and story. Almost every idea is a give (something you shipped, learned, broke, or decided), with the ask kept collaborative (asking your audience to weigh in) rather than a call to buy. Two full worked examples for LinkedIn and X show the tone in practice.

27 Build in Public Post Ideas for Founders (With Examples)

From ravah.app by Usama ~15 min read

A strong post has a real moment, a clear angle for someone other than you, and one concrete takeaway.
Lean the mix toward giving: decisions and lessons and honest failures land better than another win.
When you do ask, make it collaborative (help me pick a direction) so the audience feels invested, not sold to.

Open ravah.app →