Building an audience on X: Our Go-To Playbook

I started from 0 and I'm currently growing 150+ followers per week on X. Some do better, some do worse, but that’s not the point

As a founder building Tellem AI, I realized that having an audience wasn't optional anymore—it's essential for customer discovery, product validation, and ultimately, business growth.

But here's the thing: I hadn't been on X for a while. So I did what any obsessive founder would do—I studied the playbook of everyone who's actually crushing it on X. Here's what I learned, what worked, and what definitely didn't.

Why X Matters More Than Ever for Founders

Let me be brutally honest: I initially thought X was just a place for hot takes and arguments. I was wrong. X has become the de facto networking hub for the startup ecosystem. It's where:

• Early adopters hang out and discuss emerging trends
• Fellow founders share real, unfiltered insights about building companies
• Customers actually engage with founders directly
• ‍Investors eventually discover new companies before they hit traditional channels

The ROI became clear when I started getting inbound leads, partnership opportunities, and valuable connections just from being active on the platform. Linkedin is great too, but start to be very crowded. 

The Foundation: Profile Optimization That Actually Works

Before posting anything, I had to fix the basics. Here's what the successful founders taught me:

Your Bio Is Your Elevator Pitch

My original bio: "Founder at Tellem AI." My current bio: "Ex- HubSpot, ex salesperson & marketer. Helping founders scale faster with AI-driven marketing. Sharing the playbook as we build Tellem AI from 0 → 1"

The difference? Specificity, personal presentation and social proof. People need to understand what you do in 5 seconds, not 5 minutes.

Profile Picture Strategy

Professional headshot > logo. People connect with people, not brands. I learned this the hard way in other businesses after weeks of terrible engagement with a company logo.

Content Strategy: What Actually Gets Engagement

After analyzing hundreds of successful founder accounts, I found patterns that work consistently:

The 70-20-10 Rule

• 70% Educational content: Industry insights, lessons learned, how-tos
• 20% Personal/behind-the-scenes: The messy reality of building
• 10% Direct product mentions: Soft sells, not hard pitches

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Try content that sounds personal but is actually designed to drive curiosity about what you're building. Example :

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Content Types That Convert

1. The Learning Thread Share something you just figured out. Example: "I just spent 3 hours analyzing our churn data. Here's what I learned about why users actually leave SaaS products..."

2. Contrarian Takes (But Make Them Smart) Challenge conventional wisdom with data. "Everyone says 'build in public' but 73% of founders I surveyed say it actually hurt their early sales. Here's why..."

3. Process Breakdowns Show your actual workflow. "How I validate product ideas in 48 hours without building anything..."

4. Metric Transparency Share real numbers. "Month 3 update: $2.4K MRR, 89 users, 23% churn. Here's what's working and what's not..."

Timing and Frequency

The successful founders I studied post 2-3 times per day:

• Morning (7-9 AM EST): Industry insights or educational content
• Afternoon (12-2 PM EST): Engagement with community, replies
• Evening (6-8 PM EST): Personal stories or behind-the-scenes content

Consistency beats perfection. I'd rather post something decent every day than wait for the perfect tweet once a week.

The Engagement Game: Building Real Relationships

This was my biggest learning curve. X isn't a broadcasting platform—it's a conversation platform.

The Comment-First Strategy

Before posting my own content each day, I spend 20 minutes genuinely engaging with other founders' posts. Not generic "great post!" comments, but thoughtful responses that add value. I tried this on the GEO topic:

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The 5-1 Rule

For every 1 post about my company, I share 5 posts that help other founders. This builds goodwill and positions you as someone who gives before they get.

Creating Conversation Starters

End tweets with questions. Instead of "Here's how we reduced churn by 30%," try "Here's how we reduced churn by 30%. What's your biggest retention challenge?"

What Doesn't Work (Lessons from My Failures)

Over-Promoting Your Product: Early on, every other tweet mentioned our product. Engagement tanked, and I actually lost followers.

Generic Motivational Content: "Monday motivation" tweets perform terribly. People follow founders for specific insights, not generic inspiration.

Arguing Politics: I know, I know—it's tempting. But unless your business is directly political, it's a distraction that alienates potential customers.

Inconsistent Voice: I tried to be too professional early on. The content that performs best is when I sound like myself, including the occasional frustration or excitement.

Tools and Systems That Scale

As you grow, you need systems:

Content Planning

Today I use a simple Notion database to track:

• Content ideas (I collect these throughout the week)
• Performance metrics
• Engagement patterns
• Community interactions

I'll do it with our Tellem AI tool soon. 

Scheduling vs. Real-Time

I schedule educational content but keep personal updates and engagement real-time. Authenticity can't be automated.

Analytics That Matter

Forget vanity metrics. I track:

• Profile visits → Followers conversion rate
• Engagement rate on different content types
• Click-through rates to our landing page
• Quality of followers (are they my target audience?)

The Long Game: Building Community, Not Just Audience

The most successful founders don't just build audiences—they build communities. Here's how:

Create Valuable Content Clusters

Instead of random tweets, create mini-series. Someone I know did a "7 Days of Customer Interview Insights" thread that got massive engagement and positioned him as someone who actually talks to customers.

Be Genuinely Helpful

When someone asks a question in your expertise area, provide a thorough, helpful response—even if they're not a potential customer. This builds reputation and often leads to unexpected opportunities.

Connect Your Audience Members

Introduce people in your network who should know each other. This makes you a valuable connector, and people remember that.

The Reality Check: It's Harder Than It Looks

Building an audience is not a growth hack—it's a commitment :

• It takes 3-6 months to see real momentum
• You'll have bad days where nothing hits
• Consistency is more important than perfection
• Your first 1,000 followers are the hardest
• Many of you followers will be people trying to sell you things, not here to be customers, but it doesn't matter, you can still have great interactions with them

But here's what makes it worth it: The relationships you build become your greatest business asset. Customers, co-founders, investors, advisors—they all come from your network.

My Current Playbook (What I Do Weekly)

Monday: Plan content for the week based on what happened in the businessTuesday-Friday: 2-3 posts per day + 30 minutes of engagement

Monthly Review: Analyze what content performed best and why, adjust strategy accordingly.

The Bottom Line

Building an audience on X isn't about becoming an influencer—it's about becoming known for something valuable in your space. For me, it's sharing the real, unfiltered journey of building an AI marketing tool for small businesses. Talking about AI agents. 

The best part? Every follower represents a potential customer, partner, or advisor who chose to hear from you. That's not just an audience—that's a competitive advantage.

What's your biggest challenge with building an audience? I'd love to hear about it—DM me on X @Yan_builds and let's figure it out together.

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