I’ve noticed something lately: the days of building a brand silently and launching it cold into the world are long gone.

There is a new path: a world where every founder is also grappling with the painful reality of becoming a content creator at the same time.

It’s hard enough to build a brand. It’s even harder to build an audience at the same time. But in the past week, I’ve spotted 3 Aussie startups that are on the path to doing both. Let’s dive in.

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“In the future, everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes”

Andy Warhol said that in 1967. It reflects his observation that mass media and consumer culture would collide to produce fleeting notoriety.

The term “15 minutes of fame” has since become an idiom, usually reserved for reality TV stars and YouTubers. But Warhol’s original point was more about the speed of change in the art world. New schools of artistic styles were rapidly emerging, and he predicted they would propel ordinary individuals into public figures very quickly.

60 years later, this statement can be applied far beyond artists. To founders, marketers and anyone trying to build something.

There is a new, uncomfortable reality:

Every founder is now a content creator.

And that’s not because it’s cool or trendy, but because it has become a necessity. Shelf space is scarce, but the real bottleneck for brands is velocity. And attention is the one thing that drives velocity.

Master the process but don’t forget to document it along the way

The OG’s of this concept are our friends at Mid-Day Squares. Jake, Lezlie and Nick have documented their entire journey in real-time since launching. Jake told me they have literally terabytes of footage on hard drives from day one. I’m waiting for the Netflix doco.

What was unique, innovative and entirely natural to the MDS crew when they launched in 2018 is now a ticket-to-entry for startups in 2026.

Here are 3 brands I’ve seen in the past week that are doing it their way.

Set the Staje

Clinically studied supplements can sound boring at best. But relatable stories from real people are interesting.

Staje recently launched and it is one to watch.

The co-founder team of five are basically a supergroup of highly talented individuals in their own right. But they’ve come together to build a brand, and critical to their launch strategy is leveraging their own personal brands.

I’ve been lucky enough to know some of the crew and watch them build this over the past 12–18 months - from nothing but an idea to launching with a waitlist and an audience.

They entirely skipped the awkward 65 followers stage.

Instead, they built their initial email list and Instagram through engaging content centred on the people behind the brand.

Their first few Instagram videos felt like a reality TV program, hooking their networks with suspense and tension around what they were building.

The initial traction came from each founder’s individual LinkedIn profiles → into email signups → then onto Instagram.

The brand went live about a week ago.

And it’s safe to say the build-up of attention has translated into a strong launch platform.

But what happens if you are truly starting from scratch?

With today’s algorithms prioritising ‘interests’ over everything else, you don’t need much to get started.

I recently came across Rob Tucker on Linkedin. He set himself a target to build and launch a brand in 90 days and has been documenting the process with lo-fi content throughout.

The category of electrolyte sachets is highly saturated and has reasonably low barriers to entry. But with cool branding, an interesting story and great content behind it, Rob can carve out a space in this growing market.

So far the content focuses on the journey: crowd sourcing name ideas, selling his car to fund it and the life of a solo founder.

These are experiences almost everyone building something goes through, but very few choose to share them.

And that simple act of sharing along the way can lead to early users, interest from retail buyers and features in industry newsletters (just like this).

If you take the old path and hold everything back until launch, you’re relying on a short burst of posts to capture attention.

But if you build it in public, every piece of content is out there doing the work for you from day one.

Something is better than nothing

If a 90 day sprint isn’t for you, just do something.

The reality is that nobody is waiting for your launch.

Consumers are not sitting there anticipating new brands. Building in “stealth-mode” and keeping it a secret isn’t building anticipation.

A brand isn’t built in a single “launch moment”. It’s built through repeated exposure over time.

Cora Mitchell has been slowly developing an American-style ranch sauce brand for Australians. She’s not documenting the entire process, but she’s not keeping it a secret either.

A few posts here and there. A waitlist set up to capture interest. If you don’t have the resources, the time or the interest to become a content creator - at least share the bare minimum and get ahead.

You aren’t protecting something valuable by staying quiet, you’re just delaying your chance to be noticed.

Warhol was right

Fast-moving consumer goods is going through its pop art era. Brands are being built at speed, and the fastest path to product–market fit is real-time feedback.

I truly believe that today’s social platforms are a weapon for startup brands. They allow you to challenge multinationals in a way they can’t operate: moving at the speed of culture and staying close to the consumer.

It’s not a silver bullet.
But it’s a shell in your arsenal.

Use it.

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