If you asked Will McTighe during his MBA at Stanford GSB whether social media could be the engine that transforms a business and a career, his answer might have been cautious. A former Investment Banking Associate at Goldman Sachs, McTighe’s early professional narrative didn’t immediately include virality or personal branding. Social media, let alone LinkedIn wasn’t a priority. He was focused on retail, healthcare, telecoms and real estate. 

But everything changed when Will started building his first company after graduation from Stanford, when his solid Web3 analytics product fell behind rivals, driven by the strong personal brand of the other founders. “I struggled to get meetings because no one knew who I was,” he reflects.

So he started building his personal brand on LinkedIn, a journey that became one of the fastest creator growth stories of 2024. From 3,000 to over 400,000 followers in just 20 months, McTighe didn’t stumble into success by accident; he methodically studied audience behaviour, created shareable content, and leaned hard into being a real human online. 

“Suddenly, the opportunities started flooding in,” he explains. “It felt like building a business on easy mode.”

Today, he’s known as a B2B marketing whisperer, helping founders, executives, and creators build influence that translates into business and revenue. Beyond his personal trajectory, McTighe’s journey has created Saywhat.ai – a platform designed to help professionals and brands articulate their ideas and grow their personal brand using data-driven and AI-augmented writing tools. 

This episode of The Influencers explores McTighe’s best insights, from effective LinkedIn practices to human-centric content, audience growth, psychological triggers for engagement, and how everyone can turn presence into momentum and business value.

1. From Goldman to the GSB to LinkedIn Momentum

Will McTighe’s early career was shaped by an impressive early career in finance, then the MBA at Stanford GSB. Yet, it was on LinkedIn where McTighe found an unexpected resonance. His rise wasn’t planned; it began with consistent action and curiosity. In his own words, the shift happened when he chose to “just get started” – a statement that resonated across his community. 

Rather than waiting for a perfect plan, McTighe began posting his learnings – candidly, generously and with a focus on real audience value. The momentum that followed wasn’t a fluke: it was the result of trial and error, to learn what works and doesn’t work.

Growth begins with consistency and action. Waiting for a “perfect plan” often means missing the opportunity to learn from real engagement.

2. The Core of Personal Branding: Speak to Real People, Not Algorithms

One of McTighe’s defining content principles, and a major reason for his explosive growth  is this: speak directly to people, not algorithms.

In a breakout post titled “How I went from 3,000 to 412,000 followers in 20 months,” McTighe broke down his strategy:

1. Speak to your whole audience with clarity and human-centric messaging
2. Create shareable and savable content people want to return to
3. Use strategic commenting, not engagement pods to build real connection
4. Show up like a real human in the age of AI

This sequence reframes typical content advice. It’s not about posting every day or chasing virality. It’s about positioning, relevance, resonance, and community engagement. McTighe’s followers grew not because he gamed the system, but because he understood how human behaviour intersects with social platforms.

Know who you’re speaking to. Your content should feel like a conversation, not a broadcast.

3. The Psychology of Engagement: Tiny Triggers, Massive Reach

McTighe doesn’t just post, he studies the “why” behind what works. In one analysis, he contrasted two LinkedIn posts with the same core idea but wildly different engagement outcomes. The secret? Three subtle psychological triggers that tapped into readers’ thinking – curiosity, respect, and shareability – not just content quality. 

The implication is profound: content doesn’t need to be perfect, it needs to resonate. That means using hooks, curiosity, emotional signals, and psychological insight to meet the audience where they already are.

For a Linkedin post, he recommends writing multiple versions of the first 3 lines and then come back to them when you’ve written the whole post. Your goal is to evoke curiosity, and get people to stop scrolling. 

With Saywhat’s help you don’t need to get stuck on what you should write about. Will has identified 15 proven viral Linkedin topics that people go mad for. What makes him special is he shares his best ideas for free, and only then offer services to help implement them later.

These elements aren’t gimmicks – they’re informed by how human cognition works and tap into universal motivations (e.g., belonging, achievement, identity)

4. Practical LinkedIn Frameworks: Structure Your Content Like a Creator

Over time, McTighe has shared dozens of step-by-step frameworks, but one core set of principles underpins them all:

• Clarity over complexity: Write like you speak – conversational, direct and relatable.
• Consistency without fatigue: pick 2or 3 core topics and stick to them.
• Iterate based on data: Analyse what resonates, don’t just hope something goes viral.
• Engage, don’t broadcast: Comments, replies and human interaction drive deeper brand affinity.

In practice, this means creating content that connects. A carousel with a clear visual hook, a personal anecdote that illustrates a broader trend, or intentional engagement in comments are all small but high-impact behaviours.

So build a pattern library of hooks and formats that work, spending time each week engaging meaningfully, not mechanically. 

5. AI as a Growth Multiplier When Used Intentionally

One of McTighe’s standout themes, especially relevant to founders and marketers is how AI can amplify personal branding without diminishing authenticity.

In a popular LinkedIn post, he shared a practical approach to using AI for writing while preserving voice:

1. Make AI sound like you by feeding it your own content as examples
2. Build a library of reusable prompts that reflect your tone
3. Never start from scratch. Use AI to draft structure, then edit intentionally

McTighe emphasises that AI shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for human creativity, but as a time saver, freeing you to spend more energy on strategy and connection.

Train technology to mirror your voice, rather than letting technology shape your voice.

6. Saywhat.ai: Turning Lessons into Tools

Out of his own experience of struggling to grow a business with a great product but invisible presence, McTighe launched Saywhat.ai, a platform built to help others build personal brand clarity and content velocity. As he shared on the Saywhat site:

After seeing competitors succeed because of strong personal brands while his team struggled to secure meetings, McTighe realised that a personal brand can make building a business feel like “easy mode.”

Saywhat’s philosophy is clear: every expert already has something valuable to say. The challenge is expressing it effectively. The platform combines AI writing assistance with strategic guidance to help professionals craft content that connects, engages, and converts.

View your personal brand as an asset, not an optional add-on. A strong presence accelerates opportunity flow.

7. Beyond Followers: Turning Influence into Business Value

McTighe often says the journey isn’t about vanity metrics; it’s about real business outcomes. From lead generation to partnerships and client growth, the tangible results of a personal brand come when content drives connection, trust and conversion.

He breaks it down simply in his early growth narrative: followers matter less than audience relevance and engagement patterns. People don’t follow what’s generic, they follow what resonates. 

For readers and founders building their brands, ocus on relevance first – who are you talking to and why should they care?From there, build systems – routines, content frameworks, engagement plans – that scale over time.

You can then turn connections into conversations with DM follow-ups, offers, and meetings.

Integrating Will McTighe’s Ideas Into Your Work and Brand

Below are actionable steps you can apply today, whether you’re just starting or seeking to level up your personal brand:

Will McTighe’s story isn’t just about numbers or algorithms. It’s about showing up with intention, clarity, and humanity in a noisy digital world. 

His frameworks remind us that personal branding isn’t a superficial game of likes or followers. It’s a strategic lever that accelerates trust, opens doors, and transforms visibility into real business impact. 

By speaking to people first, using technology intentionally, and building systems that scale, we can all craft an influence that resonates.

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