Welcome to Beyond Brief — where signal > noise.

Let’s make this Monday count. ⚡

🎥 Founder = Media CompanyThe rules have changed. If you're a founder and you're not creating content, you're invisible. We break down how the best founders are turning their stories, struggles, and strategies into scalable media machines.

🛠️ Tool of the Week: Claude’s MCP ProtocolSay goodbye to data silos. Claude just dropped something wild — MCP (Multi-Channel Protocol). It connects your tools (Slack, Drive, Notion, etc.) with your AI assistants. Think of it as the USB-C of productivity. We played with it… and it rips.

🍏 iOS 26: My First-Hand TakeI got my hands on Apple’s latest drop early. From customizable lock screens to scary-good AI auto replies, here's everything you actually need to know (without reading a 30-page tech blog).

Transform your startup’s marketing with authentic, founder-led content that builds trust and drives growth

The Game Has Changed

The old playbook of expensive ads and faceless corporate marketing is broken. Today’s most successful startups are built on a simple truth: people connect with people, not brands.

As a founder, you have something your competitors can’t buy—your authentic story, expertise, and vision. When you become your own media company, you tap into the most powerful marketing tool available: genuine human connection.

Trust is the new currency. Modern customers want to know who’s behind the brand. They want to follow real people with real stories, not polished corporate messaging.

Your personal brand is your startup’s secret weapon. Especially for early-stage companies without big marketing budgets, the founder’s voice often becomes the primary way to break through the noise and connect with customers.

The math works in your favor. Content marketing costs 60% less than traditional advertising and keeps working long after you publish it. Unlike paid ads that stop the moment you stop paying, great content compounds over time.

Take Henry Shapiro from Reclaim.ai. He built his company’s growth engine around three types of content:

• Casual founder updates - Behind-the-scenes product insights

• Startup wisdom - Hard-won lessons from building a business

• Practical processes - How-to content that genuinely helps people

Or consider Steli Efti from Close.com. Starting with simple laptop-recorded videos about sales in 2013, he built a content engine that became fundamental to his company’s success. No fancy equipment, no huge budget—just authentic expertise shared consistently.

AI-Powered Video Creation

• Opus Clip transforms your long videos into viral short clips automatically

• Captions AI adds professional B-roll, sound effects, and transitions

• Free tiers available, paid plans start at just $15/month

Smart Scheduling and Distribution

• SocialBee manages posting across all major platforms with AI-powered strategy

• Pallyy specializes in visual content with Instagram grid planning

• Schedule weeks of content in advance with automated optimal timing

Content and Monetization Platforms

• Kajabi for creating and selling courses (50,000+ creators, 60M+ students)

• Substack for newsletter-based audience building

• ConvertKit for email marketing automation

When you control your content and platforms, you own the relationship with your audience. No algorithm changes can hurt you. No platform policy shifts can cut off your reach. You build a direct line to the people who matter most to your business.

You also own the data. Every piece of content teaches you more about what resonates with your audience. This insight becomes invaluable for product development, marketing strategy, and business decisions.

Focus on three content pillars:

1. Personal insights - Your founder journey, wins, and failures

2. Industry expertise - What you know that others don’t

3. Practical value - How-to content that genuinely helps people

Start simple. Don’t wait for perfect equipment or professional production. Your laptop camera and authentic voice are enough. Consistency beats perfection every time.

Balance personal and professional. Share real experiences, including challenges and failures. Authenticity creates stronger connections than polished perfection.

The question isn’t whether you should become your own media company—it’s how quickly you can start. The tools are accessible, the audience is waiting, and your authentic voice is your competitive advantage.

Every piece of content you create is an asset that works for your business 24/7. Every authentic story you share builds trust with potential customers. Every insight you provide positions you as the expert in your field.

Your startup’s next breakthrough might not come from your next product feature—it might come from your next piece of content.

Ready to build your founder-led content strategy? Start with one platform, commit to consistency, and watch your authentic voice become your startup’s most powerful growth engine.

Look, I get dozens of pitches every week, and honestly, most miss the mark. But I'm always looking for interesting people with real stories to share with my audience. My podcast reaches thousands of people who actually take action and invest in solutions.

Here's what gets me excited:

If that sounds like you, I'd love to hear from you. Just shoot me an email with a quick overview of what you're working on and why it matters.

No need to overthink it - just tell me your story and what you've learned along the way.

Let's chat.

The AI Connection Problem Just Got Solved

Here’s something wild that happened this week that nobody’s talking about…

The Problem: Your AI assistant is essentially living in a bubble. It can chat with you all day, but it can’t actually *do* anything with your real work. Want Claude to check your Slack? Nope. Pull data from your Google Drive? Sorry. Update your Jira tickets? Not happening.

It’s like hiring a brilliant consultant who’s locked in a soundproof room.

The Old Way: Every time you wanted to connect an AI to a new tool, developers had to build custom bridges. Want to connect Claude to Slack AND Google Drive AND GitHub? That’s three separate engineering projects. Want to connect ChatGPT to the same tools? Start over from scratch.

It was the digital equivalent of needing a different adapter for every device you own.

The New Way: Anthropic just dropped something called MCP (Model Context Protocol), and it’s basically the USB-C of AI.

Think about it: Your laptop has USB-C ports. Your phone charger, your monitor, your hard drive—they all use the same connection. No more hunting for adapters.

MCP does this for AI and your tools.

- Claude can now read your Google Drive files during a conversation

- It can create GitHub repos and make pull requests

- It can update your Linear tickets while you’re discussing project priorities

- It can pull data from your Postgres database to answer business questions

All without you copying and pasting between 15 different apps.

The Kicker: It’s open source. So every AI company can use it. OpenAI already adopted it in March. Google’s jumping in too.

Why This Matters: We’re about to see AI assistants that actually feel like having a super-powered teammate who can access all your tools, not just chat about them.

The integration nightmare is over. The AI that can actually do your job alongside you? That’s just getting started.

Want to try it? It’s live in Claude Desktop right now. Takes about 10 minutes to set up your first connection.

First things first: This is a DEVELOPER BETA. As in, don't-put-this-on-your-main-device-unless-you-hate-yourself beta.

Naturally, I installed it on everything. iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch. (My MacBook is still safe... for now.)

Look, I get it. Apple's going for this futuristic, liquid glass aesthetic. Right now? It looks like someone smeared Vaseline on my screen. Maybe it'll get better. Maybe I'll learn to love it. Right now, it's rough.

This might be the biggest iPad update since, well, the iPad existed.

The new multi-window function with a proper menu bar? Chef's kiss. I'm literally writing this entire newsletter on my iPad for the first time ever. It finally feels like the laptop replacement Apple promised us 5 years ago.

It works. Mostly. When it wants to.

The background effects are actually pretty slick, and the new iMessage backgrounds are a nice touch. But everything else feels... incremental? Like Apple phoned it in.

For a company that usually makes you feel like you're living in the future, this feels like we're stuck in 2023.

iPad users, get excited. iPhone users, maybe wait for the next one. I'll report back in a few months when Apple hopefully fixes the bugs and figures out what they're actually trying to build here.

What do you think? Too harsh? Not harsh enough? Hit reply and let me know.

We’d love to have you on the podcast—and introduce you to our small but mighty audience!

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