Sam G. Winsbury

We Create Thought Leaders Through Personal Branding | 150+ Personal Brands Built | Founder & CEO Kurogo

We turn entrepreneurs into credible thought leaders through personal branding so they can scale their businesses, unlock untapped opportunities and outlast their competition.

If you’re anything like our clients, you’re an expert in your field. One of the best.   

But you just don’t seem to have the reputation you deserve.   

You want to be the go-to authority in your industry and become an opportunity magnet.   

That way you could…  

- Generate inbound leads consistently 
- Win clients and customers with ease 
- Attract media features   
- Attract top talent 
- Speak on stage  

The list is endless.   

We help our clients do just that through the power of personal branding, by: 

1. Giving them clarity on their brand and positioning them as industry leaders.
2. Blowing up their social profiles and landing them high-profile media features.
3. Helping them convert their new-found reputation into meaningful opportunities and ROI

And having built 300+ personal brands, we’ve got quite good at it, achieving results like these in the process:  

🚀 Jack generated 2.5M views and 6 figures in revenue in 90 days with us 
🚀 Joe and Olly generated millions of views and saw a record month
🚀 Guy added 5 figures of pipeline value in a matter of months
🚀 Olie added £50K of inbound revenue to his pipeline
🚀 Sue generated over 8.3 million views in 4 months
🚀 Jemma increased her views by 51,347%
🚀 James became an Amazon Best Seller 
🚀 Tom generated 5M views in 3 months 

Your reputation is your biggest asset.   

Take control of it! 

If you want to see how we could help you build your personal brand, shoot me a dm saying ‘Personal Brand’

If you're not quite ready yet, I post daily content on here showing you how to do it yoursel

Founder

On paper, I look self made: 

- Started Kurogo at 20
- Entirely bootstrapped 
- No loan from mum and dad

 But in reality: 

- Parents never questioned me
- Mentors helped when they didn’t have to
- Friends liked my posts before anyone cared
- My first clients took a chance on a kid with no portfolio
- Teammates believed in the vision when it was just an idea

Every “self-made” story has invisible scaffolding: support, belief, opportunity.

Ps. Who's supported you recently?

300+ Personal Brands Built | Sky, Entrepreneur, Insider | Founder & CEO Kurogo | We Create Thought Leaders Through Personal Branding

Career advice to 18 year olds:

- Work for free to build your network
- Work for someone you admire
- Upskill in your spare time
- Do the apprenticeship
- Learn on the job

Just don’t think you need more knowledge to get started.

Ps. I speak to a lot of very rich people and they admire initiative. Show some.

7 ‘unscalable’ things I did to get from 0 → 1M revenue:

(I still do some of these today)

1. Took proposals at 3am 
2. Worked for free for my first clients
3. Wrote for and managed 20+ clients alone
4. Tailored every project to overdeliver for clients
5. Sent 100s of personalised looms to connections 
6. Shadowed an entrepreneur around London for free
7. Travelled to clients offices to deliver free in person trainings

If you’re just getting started:

Don’t worry about ‘systems’, ‘efficiency’ or ‘balance’
Worry about signing clients, delighting them and gathering xp. 

You can do the fancy stuff later. 

My approach:

Do what no one else will until you have the ability to do what no one else can. 

-- 

With me? Hit repost. You might just help a first-time entrepreneur.

PS. You ever done any of these?

2015: you won by being the best.
Today: you win by being the authority

You can have a great product…

But if no one knows you
If no one sees you as an expert
If no one trusts you

You’ll never get the credit you deserve.

(And there’s no nobility in being your industry’s ‘best kept secret’ btw)

So of course, ensure your product is good.
But please, ensure your presence is too.

How?

Leverage your senior team.

1. Pick your key profiles
2. Position them as industry experts
3. Optimise their profiles
4. Publish consistent thought leadership
5. Align content with wider marketing pushes

Within 1 month: momentum

After 3 months: recognition

Get to 6 months: authority, pipeline, leverage

Your senior team are your no. 1 marketing channel.

Get the exec personal brand blueprint here: https://lnkd.in/e_uXTgUK

Ps. Prediction: SLT will become the most effective marketing channel in 2026

2015: Few channels, trusting consumers, little competition

2025: Many channels, sceptical consumers, lots of competition

The same tired company campaigns that worked in 2015 don’t cut it now.

Consumers see through it.

Instead, they want to consume content from your people instead.

So turn your senior leaders into brand advocates:

1. Build personal positioning strategies that complement company messaging
2. Update their profiles (no more CV profiles!)
3. Publish content weekly (trends, opinions, predictions, stories)

3 steps and you’re ahead of 90% of your competitors.

Each one will reach, engage and build trust with 100,000s of people per month.

(Or you can stick to the 15 likes you’re getting on the company page)

Want to turn your senior team into brand advocates?

Here’s how: https://lnkd.in/e_uXTgUK

Ps. Hubspot nailing it. Anyone else you’ve seen doing this well?

I keep having to remind myself: 

- This is where I dreamt of being 5 years ago
- This is where I should enjoy the journey most 

But that’s tough to balance with ambition. 

So I’m reading this note daily.

(maybe) controversial advice to grads: 

Take the lower salary if the job will teach you more. 

A job that pays £2,000 less now but teaches you 10x more is worth an extra £200,000 over the next 10 years.

LinkedIn Top Voice 2024 | Building LinkedIn (content+outreach) engines that make founders visible, credible & booked, every week | Ghostwriter | Personal Branding Strategist

Let’s make your LinkedIn a flex, and your most profitable GTM channel. 

Drop a line, and we’ll build something worth talking about. 

Best part, it shouldn't take more than 30 mins/week.

Reach out via DMs or connectdiksha99@gmail.com! 

Diksha Burnwal

I see so many people introducing their best hire. I wanna introduce mine… 



I’m my best hire, why? 

- Writes great 

- High emotional intelligence (both eq and iq) 

- Works like electricity bill is due

- Asks questions that can make million dollar company founders eye twitch 

- Does not believe in radical agreement to client (that’s how you know you’ve hired an expert) 

- Doesn’t shy away from a challenge 

- Goes above and beyond for clients 

- Clients love working w her (easy to work with) 

- Beast at work 

- Makes everyone around her eat protein rich stuff 

- Does everything on time.

She sounds dope right? That’s coz she is lol. 

Drop a line for yourself you deserve it too!?

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I’ve been saying “the reach is low” 
But we did 3 viral posts in <3 weeks for one of our clients. 

Impressions: 135k views, 228k views, 57k views. 

The client is a CSO, we’ve been working with for the past five months.

I have a little confession before we move forward… 

These weren’t our best-written posts.
But they were, hands down, some of the smartest.

We didn’t reinvent the wheel. We just noticed what LinkedIn was already loving in his niche, the structure, rhythm, and hit the pedal while it was hot.

As a writing-first agency, you always want to outdo yourself, better story, better craft, better everything.

But sometimes you have to remind yourself that the algorithm doesn’t care about your creative pride.

It cares about patterns. And timing. And how fast you can double down before the wave fades.

So, yes, we leaned more into what was working, even if it wasn’t the most poetic.
And it paid off.

Because great content isn’t about proving you can write.

It’s about proving you can think.

And thinking means knowing when to chase momentum and when to slow down for meaning.

If I wasn’t worried about hurting your feelings, here’s the personal branding advice I’d actually give you:

10. If someone can’t tell what you do and who you serve in the first 3 seconds of viewing your profile, you’re losing leads.

9. Your banner is prime real estate. Use it to signal authority, with a clear value prop, a result, or social proof. 

 8. “Founder | Dreamer | Innovator” tells me nothing. “Helping D2C brands 3x retention via lifecycle emails” tells me everything.

7. Your ‘About’ section isn’t for you. It’s for the reader. Write like you’re answering: Why should someone trust me, follow me, or reach out?

6. One post a month won’t move the needle. If you’re serious about inbound and oppurtunities, show up at least twice a week, with intention. 

5. People don’t buy from the loudest voice. They buy from the clearest one. Show your thinking, your process, your results.

4. Thoughtful comments build visibility and reputation faster than cold DMs. Most people ignore this. You shouldn’t.

3. You don’t need to go “viral.” You need the right 100 people to trust you. 

2. Even a simple text post can convert. If it sounds like you, and carries a point of view. 

1. LinkedIn is a leadership channel. If you're not shaping perception here, someone else will do it for you, with less context and more assumptions. 

There you go! Peace out :)

I turn 26 next month, and here are 26 things I wish someone had slapped into my head earlier.

Firstly gosh, the second half of the decade begins and it’s daunting to think about it but okay! 

- Give more fucks about something. Indifference is cool but enthusiasm will take you places. 

- Be intense. And people who like you will continue to do so and people who don’t would slowly leave and make place for better. 

- Building a business is like building yourself. You can’t be a trainwreck and build a million dollar business. Become someone who can build a million dollar business. 

- Get a blood work done (even though however scary it feels, check your vitamin levels especially D and B 12) 

- Trauma driven motivation doesn’t let you breathe at ease. Operate from a healed place. It’s a game changer. 

- You will go through things you didn’t think you would. And come out of it. And it’s going to be okay. 

- So much about building a business is about controlling your emotions. Too excited..too sad… both are bad. Stay neutral. 

- There will be people who speak to the winner in you even before you become one. Keep them close. 

- Build a personal brand before you need it.

- Hangout with more high functioning individuals. You start emulating their energy. 

- With so much of AI around, it might feel like it’s not a great time to be a writer. STOP!! Most if it is slop. Writing is a meta skill. 

- Have a taste. 

- Understand at the core of every business, you have to be good at selling aka talking. 

- Spending money is cool and all but save and invest so you have the power to say NO, pivot, or do whatever you like more often. 

- When you meet your heros, you realise they aren’t heros at all. They are people who just keep showing up every single day. 

- Not everyone who looks like a friend is a friend. 

- Eat more protein. 

- You can’t build a business if your energy sucks. Money follows energy, show up better and rest aligns. 

- Move out (life changing) 

- Have a “fun money” fund. And don’t put more than 5-10% of your monthly income here and once you have something you wanna splurge on, use this. 

- Build systems!!! 

- Go to an expensive gym, where you like the people, the vibe, the equipments. Shows you like yourself. 

- Keep shooting your shot. No one else is doing it for you. 

- If you’re travelling, communicate and work in advance. So you can chill tf out. Also don’t forget to block your Calendly (I forgot lol) 

- When you see LinkedIn reducing the reach don’t panic, they are rolling out ads in full swing. Or I could just be a conspiracy theorist. 

- Be easy to work with. 

Wait did I write 26 of these… yes :)) 

Which one is your favourite? Let’s talk in the comments below 👇

A prospect asked me last week, “do you use AI to write content?” 
Yes, we do! 

But not in the way that floods your feed with recycled one-liners, generic threads, or these💡🚀🔥 

We use AI to get sharper, faster, and most importantly to not start from zero every time. 

It helps us dig into niche-specific ideas, find what’s actually resonating, map whitespace, build thought-starter prompts, and train bots that understand each client’s voice and industry before we ever write the first draft.

So when people say “AI can’t do voice,” I agree, but I’ll add, most people don’t even try to train it right. We do.

For every new client, we build a sandbox, an internal bot that knows their tone, topics, backstory, product, point of view.

It doesn’t write the final post. But it gives us a running start. 

Full disclosure I'm a cruel editor so nothing AI-y goes out from your profile. 

That said, we’re not afraid to use tools, if they’re trained with care and intention.

I’m a serial gifter. If I like you, I’ll send you stuff before you even ask.

Christmas is in 30 days, so here’s a gift from me.  

I’m launching The Writing Moat, my weekly newsletter for people building a name for themselves online. 

Think...writing that doesn’t sound like everyone else, linkedIn as your loudest sales channel, and a personal brand that drives actual interest, sales, impressions.  
     
If your 2026 goal is to become someone the internet recognizes and rewards: https://lnkd.in/g_n9dgmu   

And because giving doesn’t mean not wanting, here’s my wishlist for Santa too. My list: 

> a 3-month stock of my protein powder because I go through it like oxygen

> more clients who gets that human writing > AI slop

> Apple Watch second-latest because I am a humble queen

> 20 SQLs with a ~35–50% conversion rate 

> stationery that isn’t baby pink and glittery, trying to add more whimsy lol

> invoices paid on time 

> Coaches who want more booked calls… find me.

> Throw in some high-protein snacks in there.

Thanks Santa!!

Jasmin Alić. Katelyn Bourgoin. Leila Hormozi. Dickie Bush.
Four people the internet never confuses with anyone else.

Why, you ask? 
It’s not because they post more.
It’s not the niche.
It’s not the frameworks.

It’s identity.

You could remove their headshots and still know who’s speaking. That’s the goal.

If 2026 is the year you want your LinkedIn presence to actually mean something, not just rack up impressions that disappear in 48 hours, you’ll want to read this.

Issue goes live in less than 30 minutes. 

Subscribe: https://lnkd.in/g_n9dgmu 

And reply with your favorite question from the list, I’ll help you refine your answer.

You measure the ROI of your actions, but what about the cost of inaction?

Most founders are head down in the building phase. (all the time) 

Completely focused on product development or sales, which leaves almost no time to build founder-led distribution to begin with. 

In the past, the product was built, and then a viable market was found for it. 

Today, you have a viable market first, and then build what they need. 

You are missing out if building distribution and finding ‘your market’ is ‘not a priority’ right now. 

You are forgoing visibility for your company, reputation for yourself as a founder, and a network that could bring in your next 10 customers. 

All you need to do to start is: 

1. Think about your personal story, the company’s execution, and your take on where the industry is going. 

2. Hop on a 90-minute call with us at Repute per week and share everything in real time. 

3. Let us turn your experiences into words that position you uniquely in your industry. 

The returns are tenfold. 

But this is just 1%, the real compounding happens when your stories and our strategy come together week by week, month by month to build an unforgettable brand.

I scrolled 800+ Instagram reels just to write this post. 

Just like most of y’all, I scroll Instagram too (a lot) and I go one reel onto the next without a care in the world. 

Well what prompts that is great fuckin hooks that do their job.

So now I have started to maintain an excel sheet of all those reels where the hooks really get me on a chokehold. 

A few examples- 

- I’m going to get a lot of hate but (break a uncommon phenomenon) 

- Let me hold your hand when I say this but (break a common notion that’s not working anymore) 

- What if I told you format 

- Normalise being/doing something in your niche that’s looked down upon and why. 

- 9 years of (niche experience) in 90 seconds. 

- Nothing makes me want to commit a felony more than a (funny low stake activity you abhor) 

- Everytime I do (x) I am waging a silent war against (y) 

- I don’t know who needs to hear this but 

- Give me your most unhinged hack to growing on LinkedIn. 

- Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday but writing  my LinkedIn posts for the week in 30 minutes in right up there. 

- I bet you don’t know atleast two of these. 4th got me shocked. 

If I build a sheet with 100+ reels and hooks, would you be interested? Let me know in the comments below!

Zohran Mamdani just became the youngest Mayor of New York City, and honestly, his Instagram made that win look inevitable. 

If you’ve seen his Instagram lately, you know what I’m talking about. C'mon dude has over 5M followers lol.

Every reel crosses millions of views. Every collaboration feels like it belongs in the cultural bloodstream of NYC, Subway Takes By Kareem, Are You Ready To Be Judged, and other pages that define what the city sounds and feels like online.

He knows exactly where his audience lives, what they consume, and who they already trust. And instead of trying to “market” to them, he joined their world.

Formats he used: 

1) Authentic storytelling: He went all in on video, the most trust-inducing medium online. He differentiates himself with his origin and stories, really makes people reel in and feel interested.  

2) Fire POVs: Showing parts of his speeches where he speaks clear as day what he stands for, what he likes and doesn't. Reels where he’s clapping back at critics with wit and calm confidence. 

3) Showing why he's the obvious choice: He didn’t just talk at people. He talked to them. He’s walking through the streets, shaking hands, promising that he’ll work for the people, not the other way around. 

People like "him" as a person, he looks like he would give a damn. 
 
And that’s personal branding at its purest form, not about aesthetics, but about proximity. Showing who you really are and letting people decide if they believe in that version of you.

I didn’t even know he was running until last week, but the moment I saw his feed, I knew he’d win.

It was already happening online before it happened on paper. No wonder he did.

Europol estimates that 90% of online content could be AI-generated by 2026. 

When I first read that, I immediately thought of the fashion industry.

There's fast fashion, cheap, abundant, disposable. And then there's the luxury market, crafted with skill, prized for its artistry, worth the premium.

AI made it stupid easy to create stuff. But here's what's disappearing in the flood, quality. Taste. The human touch that comes from lived experience and refined judgment.

The more we consume AI-produced content, the more our own thinking atrophies. Our execution becomes derivative. Our ideas, echoes of algorithmic patterns.

I see two paths forward:

(1) Content becomes a commodity. The race to the bottom accelerates.

(2) A luxury market emerges. People begin to recognize, and pay for, writing that carries depth, knowledge, and genuine human insight. Mind you this can't be prompted into existence.

Here's what I think... just as people still buy handcrafted goods despite mass production, there will always be demand for writers who continue to develop their craft. 

Writers who read deeply, think critically, and bring something irreplaceable to the table.

What are you seeing in your field? Are we heading toward commodification or a renaissance of craft?

Not trying to ragebait founders, but what's up with you giving your accounts to your VAs or comms teams who are creating content like it's 2019?

You’ll spend six figures on PR that no one reads, approve five layers of “brand-safe” content, and somehow convince yourself that’s safer than showing up as a real person.

Last week, I spoke to a founder with 9,000 followers, a genuinely good product, smart positioning, strong traction.

But his feed was static. Company updates every few months, and nothing! 

When I asked if he planned to write more personally, he said, “Our comms team takes care of that.” I clarified, “I meant you.” He said,“No thanks.”

That response stuck with me. Because it’s not a time issue. It’s an identity issue.

Writing forces you to confront how you think, and that’s uncomfortable when you’ve spent years operating behind a logo.

So founders outsource it.
They delegate their thinking.

And end up with content that sounds like it survived a corporate focus group.

Meanwhile, the same teams are burning tens of thousands on “awareness campaigns,” forgetting that the cheapest way to earn attention is still having something to say.

65% of consumers say a brand’s CEO and employees influence their decision to buy.

In 2025, people don’t care about your company voice. They care about whether you sound like you believe in what you’re building.

If you can’t articulate that, no amount of “strategy” will make your brand feel alive.

Forbes 30 Under 30 just dropped. 600 people will enjoy the congratulations for a week, then disappear until next recognition or milestone comes along.

Don't be one of them. 

+ The spotlight is already on you. People are searching for your name, visiting your profile, and genuinely curious about your story. Start meeting people where their interest already is. 

+ Momentum compounds. Every time you engage, even if it's thanking someone, the algorithm works in your favor. Your next post will reach more people because you're active now. Strike while the iron is hot. 

+ You have something worth saying. You didn't get here by accident. You've learned things, made mistakes, developed perspectives that others would benefit from hearing. 

You've already done the hard part, building something worth recognizing. Talking about it is the easy part. And right now, people are actually listening. 

Hmu if you want to get started :)

Latest issue of The Writing Moat is about the thing everyone thinks they have online, but almost nobody actually does... 

A personality.

I’m talking about what the internet actually responds to...

The 4 dominant identity archetypes that run the timeline.
How they earn attention.
How they build status.
How they print money with words.

And more importantly, how you can pick one, shape it, and own your corner of the internet without pretending to be someone you’re not.

I also included a set of 14 identity-level questions that punch a lot harder than the usual “What are your 3 passions?” nonsense. 

If you want the link, just comment “Moat” and I’ll DM it your way.

Build the moat. Own the room. Let the internet know who just walked in.

taplio

The Battle

Sam G. Winsbury

Diksha Burnwal

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Performance ScoreSam G. Winsbury's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDiksha Burnwal's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Sam G. Winsbury

Diksha Burnwal

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);}Sam G. Winsbury's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDiksha Burnwal's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSam G. Winsbury's LinkedIn Performance