Justin M. Nassiri

I’m the Founder and CEO of Executive Presence, where we help leaders build trust, visibility, and influence through authentic executive thought leadership on LinkedIn.

In just over three years, we've bootstrapped past $3M ARR, partnered with more than 250 executives, and conducted more than 750 CEO interviews. When leaders show up consistently in their own voice, their entire company benefits.

Most executives already have a network that trusts them. They just lack a system that keeps them top of mind. My team and I help them articulate what they believe, stay relevant in moments that matter, and expand their influence to hire better, sell faster, raise capital, and shape their industry's narrative.

Our work is built around three principles:

• Authenticity: capture the leader’s real voice and worldview
• Efficiency: require as little as 90 minutes of their time each month
• Measurability: track progress weekly with clear KPIs and outcomes

I work with CEOs, founders, and senior executives at high-growth companies who want their leadership to be an asset that compounds.

My own path shapes how I think about leadership, communication, and influence:

• Officer aboard nuclear submarines, leading teams of more than 200 in high-stakes environments
• Stanford MBA and three-time founder
• Former CEO of StoryBox, funded by Eric Schmidt and used by over 1,000 brands
• Host of the 450-episode leadership and career podcast Beyond the Uniform

Every role taught me the same lesson: Executives are among a company’s most underutilized assets. When leaders communicate with clarity and consistency, they elevate culture, attract talent, deepen trust, and move their industries forward.

My work at Executive Presence is about helping leaders do exactly that - authentically, efficiently, and with measurable results.

CEO ◆ We turn leaders into thought leaders

We specialize in helping top-tier executives boost their visibility, activate their network, and position themselves as thought leaders via our premium, fully-managed LinkedIn service.

Our unique process involves ex-McKinsey, BCG, and Bain consultants conducting monthly hour-long interviews with our clients, and turning them into impactful daily LinkedIn posts to establish their unique voice and authority. 

We've helped over 100 CEOs become thought leaders. On average, our clients see a 500% bump in engagement in their first 30 days with us. Data is continuously analyzed to improve engagement and identify impactful messaging that you can use for conferences, podcasts, and internal communications.

I spent 32 years at Bloomberg LP and left in early 2022.

Since then I’ve founded Principals Media, a ghostwriting agency for executives. I am also advising startups, consulting media and financial firms on content strategy and angel investing.

I'm open to mentoring anyone interested in journalism, content strategy or fintech product. Please reach out to me via direct messages on LinkedIn.

I use LinkedIn to write about fintech product innovation, my career at Bloomberg, my views on leadership, and life lessons from my parents. 

I spent three decades working for Bloomberg, half of which was spent in editorial and half in product development. The common thread is deep thinking about how to create and find information. 

Bloomberg was still a startup when I was hired in 1990. I was the fifteenth person in the editorial group and worked the graveyard shift, starting at 4 a.m. Mike Bloomberg sat at a desk across the room. 

My first big assignment was to expand operations in Latin America. I opened 7 offices in the region and ran the group for many years. In the mid-1990s, I was named one of Bloomberg’s first five Managing Editors. I became New York Bureau Chief before the 9/11 attacks and directed that coverage. I was promoted to Managing Editor for the Americas in 2001. 

I was recruited to join the nascent product development group in 2006. I managed web scraping operations and pioneered content deals with media companies including the New York Times and Washington Post. 

In 2012, I integrated Twitter onto the Bloomberg terminal. Later, my team focused on automated news and data analytics. That included working with machine learning and AI engineers to build models for news sentiment, news volumes and other algorithms to surface the highest-quality content. 

I enjoy connecting with people who want to talk or work on projects involving content, search and technology.

Ted Merz, CFA

The desire among corporate executives to post online in general and LinkedIn in particular has spawned a growing industry of ghostwriters, including my own company Principals Media. 

There’s a good article explaining the dynamics that was published today by reporter Jemima McEvoy, a reporter for The Information. (Link in comments.)

The article makes these observations: 

--LinkedIn now reaches almost a third of U.S. adults, making it more widely used than platforms such as Snapchat, Reddit, or X. 

--Its function has expanded beyond job searches into a communication platform read by employees, investors, customers, and prospective hires. 

--For founders, CEOs, and senior executives - particularly in tech and finance - the platform has become a way to share observations and updates.

--A growing number of executives work with outside writers or agencies to craft stories or manage their posts. 

--Executive strategies emphasize consistency more than reach, with the goal of building familiarity versus chasing short-term virality.

--Executives tend to be interviewed on a regular basis, with the conversations used to surface concrete examples of decisions, and experiences that can be translated into short-form posts.

--The shift reflects a broader trend:  people want to hear from executives directly instead of via articles in the mainstream media or press releases or corporate announcements. 

I was quoted in the article. Jemima included this context about my business: 

“Ted Merz started posting on LinkedIn around three years ago after losing his job as global head of news product at Bloomberg, where his position was eliminated after he spent more than three decades at the company. At first, Merz just considered LinkedIn a creative outlet, but as his posts started gaining traction, he started getting direct messages from others asking for help boosting their profiles.”

“As a former journo, Merz is perhaps somewhat biased when he says former reporters and editors make natural ghostwriters, since they “have a sense of what could make a good story,” he said. So he hires journalists who have worked for outlets like Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and other news organizations as freelancers at his Principals Media—and he tries to pair them up with clients who come from the industry the journalists have covered.”

“Merz will interview his clients, many of whom are executives from Series A startups early in the process of building a brand, anywhere from once a month to a few times a month depending on their availability. (He declined to share how much these services cost.) He advises them to post at least once a week, with 80% of the content about work, while they reserve the other 20% to talk about more personal topics.”

Founder Principals Media - Modern Storytelling for CEOs / Co-Founder Pricing Culture / Former Global Head of News Product at Bloomberg

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The Battle

Justin M. Nassiri

Ted Merz, CFA

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taplio

The Battle

Justin M. Nassiri

Ted Merz, CFA

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ted Merz, CFA's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreTed Merz, CFA's LinkedIn Performance