Lead with yourself, not your product

You are the most important product you can build

I launched two projects in the past week: Rightspeed, a stylish speed-listening app, and Somebody.io, a ridiculously simple portfolio builder.

The products and the launches look very different, but have one thing in common: I launched both projects as Max Deutsch.

In other words, I’m using this Max Deutsch Medium account, and my @_MaxDeutsch Twitter account, and my personal Max Deutsch Facebook account for all promotional efforts. (Where the alternative is creating different social accounts for all my different projects)

Many of my friends cautioned me that launching two projects within a week of each other would dampen the promotional efforts of both projects. Instead, I was encouraged to keep both launches completely separate (a la different accounts), so as not to “confuse people” or to not “overwhelm my followers”.

Nevertheless, I launched both projects on the same accounts, and it was massively successful.

Here’s what happened on Medium, for example:

The first spike on Medium is when Rightspeed got picked up by TechCrunch. The second spike is when Rightspeed was featured on Product Hunt. The last spike is when Somebody launched (without any press).

Although “reads on Medium” are only a decent approximation of product performance, both launches heavily relied on Medium as the main storyteller, so the correlation is pretty tight.

What I discovered: Both products hugely benefited from the other.

More people found Rightspeed because of Somebody and found Somebody because of Rightspeed. It was a beautiful infinite loop.

A beautiful infinite loop

When I launched Rightspeed, I had essentially zero following anywhere. I didn’t even have a personal Twitter account. I was starting from scratch.

Yet, by the time I launched Somebody, I had a steady stream of attention from Rightspeed (if you do a Twitter Search for “speed listening”, Rightspeed is still dominating the Twittersphere). And so, Somebody instantly had inbound traffic (instead of starting again from zero).

On the flip side, Somebody.io heavily promotes my personal site, which beautifully displays my personal projects like Rightspeed. As a result, lots of people found Rightspeed via Somebody as well.

It was really magic. The more I promoted one, the better the other did.

On top of this, both Rightspeed and Somebody brought in a lot of traffic for my Startup-As-A-Service business Rhombus, which I casually mention in my bio at the end of my Medium posts.

As a result of this simple mention, I’ve received more messages from potential Rhombus clients via inbound requests (by promoting other projects) than I have ever received by directly promoting Rhombus via outbound marketing channels.

Each additional project adds more attention, interest, and legitimacy to the others. A benefit I would have never seen if each project was supported by its own separate Rightspeed, Somebody, or Rhombus account.

Becoming the product

By acting as the central hub, not only do my projects cross-pollinate, but I start becoming the product. Once the product is me (and not the things I’m promoting), the success of my projects becomes a lot more controllable and predictable.

Casey Neistat is a great example of this. Casey has 2.9 million YouTube subscribers, publishes a video every day, and has one of the largest “personal brands” on the Internet. When Casey launched Beme (his tech company), the app instantly received hundreds of thousands of downloads — simply because it was Casey’s app.

That’s the power of a strong personal brand: Once established, people start showing up for you, regardless of your product. That’s really powerful.

It’s the same power that let Gary Vaynerchuk seamlessly transition from running a $60M wine business to a $100M digital agency. Gary is the brand, and so his customers, followers, and business partners showed up for him (regardless of whether he was selling Pinot Noir or Creative for Facebook).

Of course, I’m at a completely different level than Casey and Gary, but I’m setting myself up from the beginning to get there.

I need to start by associating myself with awesome products and content, and eventually my name (and brand) overtake the particulars of what I’m promoting or writing about. It’s still early, but I’m already starting to see where things can go…

Right now, I’m the Rightspeed guy. Or the Somebody guy. Or the Rhombus guy. Or the guy that writes about product development, launches, and growth. And that’s okay.

Slowly, these things combine, until I’m just Max Deutsch, the guy that builds and writes cool stuff.

That’s why, one week apart, I launched both projects as me.

You have this opportunity too

I recommend you also start positioning yourself as a product — as the central hub for all your activities.

If you build things, promote them as you. If you have ideas, write about them as you. If you do anything, do it as you.

“Whether you like it or not, every person is now a media company.” — Gary Vaynerchuk

A great way to get started is to build a personal website that aggregates all your projects, passions, and stories into one place. Whether you build that personal site with Somebody or with some other tool, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you start connecting the things that make you you.

If you do this right, people will start showing up solely because you are you — and for no other reason. That’s an amazingly powerful and leverageable thing.

You shouldn’t pass up on this opportunity. I’m certainly not.