As part of a series looking into the under-discussed side of founding a company, I speak with WOAW CEO Joe Binder about the social media comparison in start-up life. For more Founder Therapy, click here.
For Joe Binder, image is everything. His personal branding company, WOAW, provides a variety of services from social media analysis to marketing consultation, all in the name of driving brand engagement. But starting the company was harder than just projecting an image, and maintaining momentum is no mean feat.
“I’m constantly comparing myself to people,” says Binder.
“Anytime I see something online that makes me doubt my progress I forward it to a friend and ask him, ‘Harry, what the hell are we doing with our lives?’”
Binder tells the cautionary tale of social media success and the difficulty of differentiating fact from fiction. He makes the comparison between running a company and being a social media influencer.
“I was looking at social media fame through a romantic lens. I realised that it’s easy to fool people and brand yourself as ridiculously successful, and lots of people do that."
“Branding yourself a CEO is very easy. It means paying £12 to register a company on Companies House and changing your Linkedin profile.”
By most conventional standards, Binder is successful. His personal YouTube channel has over 2 million views and his company's client list is growing.
Yet comparison comes up repeatedly in our conversation.
Binder tells me about fellow YouTubers who have seen recent explosive successes. “When I message these people suddenly the dynamic has changed and I’m no longer on their level. I understand why because they must be receiving so much inbound every day and I’m now in a lot of ways a small fish to them. That hit me recently.”
“At that point, I forget that I studied for three years at Cambridge University, I forget the fact that I was in the bottom set in year 8, I forget that I had to work my arse off every single day for 5 years just to move up sets.”
So why did he ditch YouTube for the best part of a year?
“To have succeeded on YouTube at the time I stopped I would have had to have really changed my content and what it was about. I would have had to have sold out. If you don’t have an audience of hundreds of thousands you have to be on top of every single trend. People underestimate just how difficult it is to do. ”
As a founder fresh out of university, Joe became aware of the social and financial sacrifices of becoming a CEO.
“There are a lot of “what if” moments with my friends. Some of them leave Cambridge with a £50,000 starting salary, a 100% bonus and an insane work schedule. Of course, this is excessive by any means but it’s not even the money. "
"The difficulty in starting a business isn’t just the financial opportunity cost or the social isolation, but the hours spent on finding what actually works. During this time, when everyone else seems to have their lives under control, people assume you’re ‘doing well’ but really you’ve got no clue what you’re doing and have no fixed ETA on when the business will actually kick off."
But unexpected setbacks can come at any time. A painful business misstep for Joe was preparing to launch WOAW on the back of a client that didn't come through “I had planned 3 months worth of office space, logistics with writers. Last minute they said it wasn’t a tailored enough approach.”
What came of it? “They offered me a marketing position…”
Eight months after starting WOAW, Joe reveals that he was ready to give it up completely. “Things weren’t going to plan, I wasn’t making enough money and I doubted the longevity of the business. I’ve never shouted about this, but I actually started applying for jobs based on advice from mentors and friends.”
It's a frank admission for a founder who, like many others, values independence above much else.
Now the client base is more stable and Joe is proud to be hiring his first full-time staff member, news I found out, predictably, on Instagram.
The Founder Therapy series explores the under-discussed side of founding a company, with interviews from those who've seen it firsthand. For more, click here.
Additional reporting by Jake Teagle
