We build personal brands for Black/Diverse Founders and CEOs 🗣 | CEO & Founder of OSSAI

I’m Phil, the lad behind Jake Humphrey, Spencer Matthews, Mary Earps and Ferne McCann. I've spent more all-nighters than I care to admit to helping founders build brands that turn heads. I’m also funnelling every one of these lessons into Pesora: an autonomous personal-branding tool.Picture accessing the last 4 years of OSSAI's personal branding expertise and advice at a fraction of the price.I’m on a mission to scale those human-story moments into authentic narratives that stick. ✌🏿

Phil Ossai

This is probably one of my coolest case studies yet.

I relaunched Spencer Matthews' LinkedIn & generated 5.5 million impressions in 90 days.

Now, everyone knew Spencer from Made in Chelsea. Reality TV. Entertainment guy. 

But what most people don't see is the athlete & founder underneath: driven, obsessed with CleanCo, proper mission-focused on how people think about alcohol and moderation.

So that's the version we built for LinkedIn.

From August to October 2025:

→ 5.5 million+ impressions
→ 35,000+ profile views
→ 700+% follower growth (sitting at 12.5k now).

We went deep into calling people out on their unconscious habits and thoughts around alcohol consumption. 

And the results speak for themselves.

If you're a founder sitting on 'untapped distribution'... aka you've got a story but no system to tell it... I've got the blueprint for you. 

Ground everything in your present & real experience. 
Be loud so those looking for people like you can actually find you.

Massive thanks to Spencer and the whole team on this one. 🙏🏿

There was a method behind this madness so if you'd like to see the framework we used to get these results, comment below or DM me 'SPENCER' and I'll send it over.

LinkedIn Personal Branding for Talent Brands & Founders via OSSAI Agency & Pesora AI

I’m not brilliant at sharing wins, but I need to talk more about the work I do, so here goes.

About 2 years ago, I took over Jake Humphrey’s Instagram.

It was sitting at around 100k followers or so. 

Today it’s at 235k.

In the first year we had a few viral posts and I remember thinking, “Right… have we peaked already? Because that would be a bit awkward.”

We hadn’t.

What we’ve found since is a formula that keeps working, even when nothing goes properly viral.

Over the last 30 days, we’ve had just under 5 million impressions.
And we’ve managed to keep that level of momentum pretty consistent over the last 12 months.

I’m still figuring the algorithm out. I don’t think anyone truly has it cracked.

But I am proud of this because it wasn’t built on one lucky hit.

It’s been built on:
	•	repeatable formats
	•	clear audience triggers
	•	and making sure the content feels like Jake, not “content”

If you’re a founder or operator trying to grow without turning your life into a content calendar, that’s the bit that matters.

Happy to share what the formula looks like if you’re curious. Just DM me “JAKE” and I’ll break it down.

The "post every day" era is over.

For years the LinkedIn playbook was simple: 

more output = more growth.

But I predict 2026 is different.

High-quality content is now the baseline. 
AI means anyone can produce polished posts. 
Like I said the other day: "Good" is no longer enough to stand out.

So what actually will work?

Here's what we're following at OSSAI for our clients:

1. Volume is no longer the variable that separates winners.

If you're just posting to "feed the beast," you're invisible. Frequency alone won't save you anymore.

2. Perspective is the only real differentiator.

Ideas get recycled. Formats get copied. But your worldview? That's proprietary. Two creators can make the exact same video - your interpretation is what makes it completely different work. Saturation only hurts you if you join it.

3. Trust beats attention. Every time.

Viral metrics are fleeting. Relational metrics are cumulative. Trust is built when your audience feels understood, not just entertained. When people trust you, they don't scroll past. They come back. They grow with you.

The founders who'll win this year aren't chasing impressions.

They're building something people actually believe in.

What are you trying to build?

(Pesora V2 announcement coming very soon!)

✌🏿

Pesora v1 was good. 

But Pesora v2 is scary good... 🤯

When we launched v1, our early beta users told us what they wanted:

More posts based on trending topics
The ability to review your top-performing posts 
Create reporting & recommendations

So I spent 6 months tearing it down and rebuilding it properly.
And finally finished yesterday while at the BuildLikeAPro Hackathon over the past 2 days

What's new in v2:

Deep Research Planner: trend + keyword + pillar-based prompts, on tap.
Ask Pesora: turn ideas/voice notes into posts instantly, in your tone.
Digital Twin (DigiYou): your voice + positioning saved as a system, not a vibe.
Reporting + Next Steps: performance insights with “post this next” guidance.

It's the difference between an AI post generator and an authority engine for founders who want LinkedIn to drive pipeline.

Want to give it a spin?

I've opened a 3-day Pro trial for early access. 

Comment "PESORA" below and I'll send the link.

--

A massive thank you to:

Dr. Karim A. Bahou for telling me about BAP.

Charlie Weavers-Wright for giving me some on getting Pesora investor ready.
Thomas White, David White for helping me with reviewing the code.

David Levine for putting on the amazing event

TikTok seemed to resonate with this so thought I’d share it here too. 

The moat between where you are today and every opportunity of growth sits on the other side of cringe, embarrassment and failure. 

And I told myself 2026 is not going to be the year until because I was nervous what my footy mate I can’t have a serious conversation with thinks about my personal branding strategies…

Block them, mute them if needed… just make sure you get that post out there 👌🏿

A VC friend told Charles Tenot that founders who post the most on LinkedIn usually run the worst companies.
 
I've experienced the exact opposite.
 
In 2022, when I started OSSAI, one of my fav clients was Milimo Banji 
 
He understood something most didn't: your personal brand is your distribution channel. 
While other founders were heads-down grinding, he was doing both... building visibility and growing revenue.
 
Within our first 12 months, we generated around £1m in business opportunities attributed to his LinkedIn. Fast forward to today, he's exited TapIn (now HIYA). I'd say the posting didn't cost him the company but rather built it 🤷🏿‍♂️
 
Jake Humphrey is another example. He's running Whisper, one of the UK's biggest production companies with hundreds of employees, runs High Performance, and he's still a present father to his 2 kids. Another example of someone making noise but also growing successful companies.
 
Joe van Gelder with Powdr. Last year he came to me and he said he's keen to improve his LinkedIn awareness but in a way that made it clear he was good at what he does... Powdr was recently named on the Manchester TechClimbers list...  for the second year in a row.
 
I made the mistake of being quiet on LinkedIn between 2023 and 2025 because I wanted to focus on my client's personal brands and lean on the work doing the talking but funny enough, I wasn't taking my own medicine.
 
Trust me don't be like me....
 
SHOUT ABOUT YOUR WORK BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE WILL DO IT FOR YOU
 
Don't shoot the messenger
 
✌🏿

Yesterday I said posting every day is a trap.

So what actually works?

At OSSAI we use something called the "Dinner Table Test" before we press post.

It's simple:

Would you actually say this sentence to a human being across a dinner table?

→ "I am humbled to announce..." 
(No. You'd sound like a robot.)

→ "Unlocking synergies..." 
(No. You'd get laughed at.)

→ "Here's a story about how I failed..." 
(Yes. People lean in for that.)

If it sounds like "Content," delete it.
If it sounds like a conversation, post it.

The best posts on LinkedIn don't read like LinkedIn posts.

They read like something you'd say to a mate over coffee.

That's the whole point of shifting from volume to perspective.

Your perspective is already unique. You just have to stop burying it under corporate speak.

Look at your last post. Does it pass the Dinner Table Test?

Yes or No?

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I started OSSAI in March 2022. 

Pre ChatGPT. 

There were no tools back then. No shortcuts.

I had to spend 60 to 90 mins speaking to founders to get stories out of their minds and onto paper. Not going to lie...

Seven months of bliss. Clients thought I had magic powers. The start of agency life was gooddddd.

Thennnn November 2022 happened. ChatGPT dropped. And suddenly, a few of them thought: why pay him when we can do this ourselves?

So they left.

Fast forward a year...

A few wanted to come back.

They didn't feel like it understood their tone of voice.

It IS possible to get AI to sound and write like you... the problem is you don't know how to configure it to do so.

This is why Pesora exists... the productisation of over 4 years of writing for CEOs and Founders and getting the best out of them.

We've had some really cool case studies now so we will be sharing a few real soon...

Try a 3-day free trial here: www.pesora.ai

✌🏿

📸: Me back in 2022... look how my skin was 😅😂

Your body decides how far your business goes.

Even though OSSAI and Pesora are alive and well, I let go of my physical body and my mental health and I have to admit our growth was definitely stunted because of it.

Remember reading the other week that nearly half of entrepreneurs have undiagnosed mental health conditions.

HALF...

For every founder looking to aggressively grow this year, please remind yourself:

You can't regulate others if you're dysregulated yourself
That "I'll rest when I'm successful" mindset is killing your capacity
60 minutes daily for yourself isn't selfish - it's strategic

In my world, trying to help founders build authentic brands while running on empty doesn't work.

I'm sure you can't do the same in your world.

→ Anxiety and frustration can be picked up on sales calls
→ Carrying trauma and insecurity with nowhere to process it leads to you taking it out on your team
→ Thinking "I gotta make this million RIGHT NOW" will lead to you getting nowhere FAST

Dysregulated emotions shows up in everything. Your content. Your sales calls. Your team meetings.

Take care of your body before your business. Or it won't be able to take care of you.

Your nervous system is your competitive advantage.

✌🏿

PS: This isn't about perfect morning routines or expensive retreats. It's about 60 minutes daily with your thoughts and feelings. Trust me it changes things.

“If I have to post regularly… when do I actually build my business?”

Fair point.

Here’s the shift I want you to make:

You’re not adding work.
You’re documenting the work you’re already doing.

You’ve already solved the hiring problem.
You’ve already built the framework that made things click.
You’ve already had the opinion about where the market’s going.

You’re just writing it down.
(Bonus point: you're voice noting it)

That’s the difference between “content creation” (which is draining) and “thinking documentation” (which is basically just clarity).

I spoke to a founder at Venture Cafe and he walked me through how he scaled from 5 to 50 people.

Took him 10 minutes.

I said, “That’s a post”

(I'll be real, he said he'd go home a make a post about it, not heard from him so I doubt it. Don't be like him.)

content burnout happens when you think you need new ideas, new angles, new hot takes every week.

It doesn’t happen when you’re just honest about what’s working.

So here’s what I want you to do:

Once a week, write down one thing you’ve solved (or one opinion you’ve formed) just by building.

That’s it.

Not a content calendar just one thing.

Post it. Don’t overthink it.

The people who matter will see it.

And they’ll know you’re worth talking to.

✌🏿

there are not enough trusting voices online.

there's noise everywhere. But it doesn't scream 'I know what I'm talking about.'

Instead, it screams 'I used a template.' Or 'This is clearly AI-generated.' Or 'I'm performing rather than connecting.'

And that's the real crisis founders are facing right now: credibility erosion.

Your future clients are not looking for the most polished content. 

They're looking for the person who sounds like themselves. The founder who actually knows their market. The voice you can trust because it's got personality, conviction, and a point of view baked in.

However when everyone else sounds like they've run their thoughts through the same AI model, how do you stand out?

You stop trying to sound professional. You start sounding like you. By relearning to critically think again and come up with unique ideas again. Garage in, gararbe out is true for AI tools but also for the entire content writing process. 

The founders winning on LinkedIn right now aren't the ones with the most followers but the ones you believe. They're the ones where you read a post and think: 'This person actually knows what they're talking about.'

That credibility gap? It's time we 

I'm running a free masterclass this Thursday at 3PM (15th Jan) where I will walk through the full strategy of how to protect your voice, how to build trust through consistency, and how to post in a way that actually cuts through.

(Will share real examples from OSSAI clients that we are deploying these strategies with right now, including Jake Humphrey, Spencer Matthews, Mary Earps, Ferne McCann and many other top creators on LinkedIn)

This'll be useful for every Founder, whether you use AI or write content organically.

Like this post or comment 'CREDIBILITY' below and I'll send you the link. ✌🏿

I know you need to post.

You know your audience would actually listen to what you’ve got to say.

But something’s stopping you from doing it.

I call it the execution gap.

That space between KNOWING you should post… and actually hitting publish.

I’ve lived in that gap. Still do sometimes.

You’ve got a founder story to tell. Opinions and lessons that would land with other founders straight away. You know that. And they’d know it too if they ever saw it.

But then Tuesday comes.

A client call runs over. The product breaks. Your head’s fried.

You tell yourself you’ll post tomorrow.

Tomorrow turns into next week.

And the gap stays open.

Real life symptoms of the execution gap:

→ You know exactly what you want to say, but you spend 3 hours staring at a blank post trying to make it perfect
→ You wait for the “right moment” when you’ve got everything figured out (it never comes)
→ You post once a month and wonder why nothing’s changing
→ You write something honest, then delete it because it feels too raw
→ You tell yourself you’re too busy, but really you’re scared of what happens when people actually see you
→ You’ve got 10 drafts sitting in your notes, and none of them have ever seen daylight

the execution gap problem is a systems - nothing to do with your ideas or talent.

You can know everything about personal branding and still not post (talking about me here 😅)

You can have an unreal founder story and still keep it locked in your head.

Knowing and doing are different muscles.

The gap closes when you treat posting like any other challenge in your business.

A system that makes it easier to post than to sit with it.

So let me ask you straight:

Where’s your execution gap right now?

Is it the writing? The ideation? The fear? The constant editing?

Tell me in the comments.

✌🏿

Look when I say 'write down your expertise,' most founders think: blog post. Long-form essay. Something that takes a week to write.

That's not it.

Here's what a credibility asset actually looks like:

A breakdown of how you solved a specific problem.

Not 'how to scale hiring' (too broad).

But: 'Here's why we hired for culture fit over experience, and why it cost us £40k in the first six months—and how we fixed it.'

Specific. Tested. Real numbers.

An opinion on where your industry is actually going.

Not the hot take everyone's already talking about on Twitter.

But: 'Everyone's moving to X. But here's why we're still betting on Y—and why I think they'll follow.'

Something only someone building at your level would see.

A framework you've actually tested.

Not a theory. Not something you read in a book.

But: 'Here's how we go from zero to product-market fit in 90 days. Here's the three inputs we measure. Here's where we usually fail.'

Your framework. Your way. Your data.

These aren't essays. They're 300 words. Maybe 400.

They're dense because you've already lived them.

Post one of these every couple of weeks. Not because the algorithm wants it.

But because these are the assets that make investors, partners, and good hires say: 'This person gets it.'

That's the difference between being smart and being credible.

✌🏿

If I was Carlos Alcaraz's personal brand manager, here's what I'd tell him:

You've just completed the career Grand Slam at 22.

You're ranked #1

You're technically flawless.
But nobody knows who you are.
And that's the problem.

Right now, your brand is a series of trophies. Championships. Stats. 
It's all what you've DONE... not WHO you are. 

The world cares about noise as much as they do credibility (Don't shoot the messenger) 

Gen Z & Gen Alpha see a tennis-playing robot that wins because of God-tier talent, not because of anything human.

Every article about your wins talks about your performance. 
"Flawless." "Untouchable." "Athletically gifted." 

Zero articles are about who you are. 

Your post-win quote after Melbourne was the most human thing anyone's heard from you: "I hate to lose" and talking about being nervous. That's it. That's the most personality anyone's seen.

And here's the bigger one: You're World #1 with SEVEN Grand Slams. You just got signed as a Global Ambassador by YoPRO. 

But your Australian Open appearance marked your first in-person activation with the brand. 

Think about that. 

Compare that to any other athlete at your level and the gap is massive. You're winning everything but doing nothing with it.

Here's what I'd do differently:

Show the doubt. Every champion has moments where they nearly quit. Moments where the pressure crushed them. You have those moments too. Your audience doesn't. That gap is where your brand dies.

Stop playing it safe. Your interviews are polished. Professional. Forgettable. Personality isn't weakness in sport. It's trust. Look at McGregor. Serena. Even Djokovic. They're known. You're just the guy who wins tournaments.

Build narrative, not just wins. Each tournament should have a why. A lesson. A struggle. Not because the tennis world needs it. Because people need it. People remember stories, not rankings.

Let people see the grind. Post behind-the-scenes. Show your coach conversations. The 5am sessions. The moments you're ready to walk away. 

Founders watching you will see their own journey. Athletes will see theirs. Right now you're just untouchable. 

And untouchable doesn't build community.

You've already won the hard part. The tennis part. 
Your real competition now is visibility. 
Building a personal brand that matches your talent.

In another 22 years, society will have forgotten how dominant you were. 

(I mean just ask anyone debating whether Pele or Messi is the football goat)

What's common knowledge to you (how you grind, how you think, why this matters to you) is a game changer to someone else.

Don't waste that.

What’s common knowledge to you is a game changer to someone else…

This mindset shift allowed for me to walk into the rooms of 50/60 year old CEOs as a 23 year old and know I had something to offer them. 

Your value is there. You’ve just got to simple figure out how to translate it and package it well so people understand it easily and it looks attractive to the 👌🏿

This really resonated on TikTok so thought I'd share it here:
 
You need to join a community... that's why your depressed as a Founder.
 
For me its: run club, Church and a business accelerator.
 
Hermen Dange built Europe's biggest run club: Made Running

Anita Frost & Ged Tyrrell runs the amazing !Audacious Business as part of !Audacious Church

Julia Spencer is the 🐐 of NatWest and their accelerator program.

Comment some of your favourite communities below

I’m looking for new recommendations. 

My playlist/reading list is stuck in 2022.

I believe that your output is only as good as your input.

If I listen to the same 3 podcasts, using the same AI tools, I’m going to have the same ideas and output.

I want to shake things up before V2 of Pesora launches…

I’m looking for:

1. A podcast that challenges your thinking.
2. A newsletter that isn't boring.
3. A creator who is "under the radar."
4. Your favourite AI tools

Don't gatekeep! Share the good stuff pls. 

I'll compile the best recommendations and share the list back with everyone :)

Your expertise isn't the bottleneck anymore.

You've already proven you can solve hard problems. You've built the proof.

The bottleneck is that nobody outside your immediate circle knows it.

And so every investor meeting, every partnership conversation, every sales call becomes a translation exercise. You're starting from zero credibility, regardless of what you've actually built.

That's exhausting.

Here's what you should start doing differently:

Stop writing posts that *sound* authoritative. Write down the actual thinking that made you credible in the first place.

→ A breakdown of how you solved something most people can't.

→ An opinion on where your industry is actually going (not where Medium articles say it's going).

→ A framework you've tested that turns your messy thinking into something repeatable.

These posts don't go viral. They don't need to.

They get forwarded to the people who matter. Because they prove you get the game at the level these people operate. The magic happens before the meeting starts.

By the time a potential investor or partner reads your post, they've already decided you're worth listening to. The sales call becomes a conversation, not a pitch.

That's the shift: from explaining yourself IN the meeting to having already explained yourself BEFORE it.

If you're selling expertise of any form or selling a technical product, you've earned the authority. The only question is whether you're making it visible to the people who can actually move your business forward.

So what's one piece of complex thinking you've never actually written down?

Start there. Don't make it simple for everyone.

Make it clear for the people who need to understand.

✌🏿

The thing nobody tells you about writing content based on your expertise and not vulnerable or personalable posts:

It feels like you're shouting into the void.

You post a breakdown that took you three hours. Sixteen people like it. Your mate from uni doesn't comment.

And you think: What's the point?

Never forget...

The people who matter don't consume the way everyone else does.

Not all decision makers scroll on LinkedIn, some get sent things. A partner reads your post in a DM from someone else. An investor sees it forwarded by a founder they respect. A potential hire reads it because their boss shared it in Slack.

You're not competing for attention in the feed.

You're building business assets that gets pulled into conversations that matter.

That's why the numbers feel small at first.

So please stop measuring success by likes. Start measuring it by which conversations it enables.

I've built an agency with ZERO paid ads... all based on my reputation and referrals... now our portfolio is full of public figures. There are other personal branding 'experts' with much bigger follower counts than me but I'd love to see the clients they've actually worked with.

When a lead or investor talks to you, they've already read your thinking. They already know you get the game. The meeting is just confirmation.

You've done the work before you walk in the room.

So stop waiting for the algorithm to validate you.

You're not writing for the feed.

You're writing to become unforgettable to the people who can actually move your business.

Post it. One person will see it and forward it to someone who matters.

That's the whole game.

✌🏿

One line from a recent Pesora demo call that stayed with me:

“People trust Phil, but they don’t always trust AI.”

That’s the whole market right now.

Everyone’s pushing AI tools.

But founders are quietly asking:

Will this make me sound like me?
Will it protect my credibility?
Will it help me win business?

The aim with Pesora has never been to  “write posts”.

It’s:

To have access to Phil without having to pay high agency/consultancy fees.  

turn expertise into authority, without the AI smell.

And build a system that gets better every time you feedback to it. 

It’s a work in progress but it’s been a game changer for our agency and our early customers. 

I might be a game changer for you. 

Send me a DM if you’d like to test Pesora out. 

The more feedback the better. 

Anyway back to watching United v Arsenal 🥲

Big on Marketing, Bigger on Inclusion, Interested in all things social📲

Currently leading the HIYA Team. Building employer brands that start conversations and designing talent experiences that are human, inclusive, and built for the future of recruitment.

We deliver authentic social campaigns for clients, combining both owned media and influencers to bring organisations closer to diverse next-gen audiences.

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The Battle

Phil Ossai

Dereck Maruma

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The Battle

Phil Ossai

Dereck Maruma

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);}Phil Ossai's LinkedIn Performance

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