LinkedIn for Startups: Crafting a Profile That Attracts Investors

Marianna Inozemtseva, founder of Linkifyo agency, LinkedIn

Why LinkedIn is needed

LinkedIn is a platform fully focused on business: hiring, finding partners, clients, and promoting yourself as a specialist. It is convenient for posting resumes, portfolios, and talking about your company.

In the Russian-speaking segment, LinkedIn is currently experiencing a new wave of interest. Central Asia is being promoted especially actively: blogs in Russian from specialists, managers, and entrepreneurs who are building a good audience are becoming more common.

One of LinkedIn's strong points is the ability to write directly to employers. For example, a programmer can contact a manager, team lead, or other company employees through their profiles.

It is an excellent platform for business. In addition to personal profiles, there are corporate pages. Leaders share news, reports, and deals. For example, if a startup acquires another startup, this is often published on LinkedIn and becomes a viral post.

LinkedIn is suitable for freelancers: designers, copywriters, developers. LinkedIn has targeted advertising. It is expensive, but effective — you can target by company size, industry.

How to set up your profile to work for your career and business

1. Fill out your profile completely.

Study well-designed profiles of your colleagues and format yours similarly. Be sure to add a background image. 

Your profile photo should be professional, current, and feature a slight smile. A passport photo, a wedding photo, or one from 15 years ago will not do.

2. Use your real first and last name — exactly as it appears in your passport.

If LinkedIn blocks your profile, verification will be required to restore it.

3. Next is the headline. In 220 characters, tell who you are and what you do. For example: Python developer with three years of experience, tech stack is such-and-such, looking for a job, GitHub is such-and-such, spoke at conferences such-and-such. Or: Business development manager, helping Central Asian companies enter the US market.

4. Then comes the "About" section. Detailed, with keywords. The more relevant information, the higher the chance you will be found and recommended.

If you are adapting your profile to find investors, clients, or employees, it is important to write clearly and with examples. Phrases like "Making the world a better place" or "The most creative on the market" sound abstract and provide no information. Tell exactly what you do.

Even if you are at the Seed stage, provide specifics: who you work with, what you offer, and what stage you are at. Your profile should be current and reflect real achievements.

Got a certificate — add it. Finished a project — update your profile. Worked with a cool specialist — ask for a recommendation. Your profile is like a game character: it needs to be leveled up.

How to find the right people and build connections through LinkedIn

Gradual acquaintance works best. If an investor is active on LinkedIn, comment on their posts, ask questions, and participate in discussions. Pay attention to posts from people they follow. Get to know other founders — this way you become part of their information field.

When you send a friend request, they will already recognize you. And if you share your startup's progress — for example, "We have 5,000 users" — your contact will look more convincing than just "Founder of WGD Klimeted from nowhere."

LinkedIn has free and paid search — Sales Navigator costs from $100 per month, but basic functionality is enough for many things. Through search filters, you can find the right people by country, role, and company. You can also search for posts and job vacancies by keywords.

To get noticed, it is important to write lively, sincere comments — not template ones, like from AI. Everyone has seen dry phrases like "Congrats!" with emojis under news about a new job — they are of little use. It is better to write a few words in your own voice — that alone will set you apart.

My rule: comment in a way that adds something valuable to the post.

For example, if the author talks about typical mistakes made by beginner designers, an appropriate comment might be: "Yes, all correct. I would also add that there is such-and-such a mistake — it is also quite unpleasant." In this way, you show your expertise, support the author, and contribute a useful thought to the discussion. Do not just write for the sake of activity, but help others look at the problem from another angle.

It is important that every comment makes sense. Supportive comments are also needed, especially if it is an acquaintance whom you genuinely want to support. For example: "You are great, you did an excellent job with the project, I am proud to know you, I will follow the news, you are awesome." Such messages are also important.

The main thing is that these should not be your only comments. It is important to also contribute professionally.

If you wrote to an investor or founder and they did not reply, should you write again?

Yes, do not be shy. The person might not have read the message and forgotten to return to it, might have opened it, thought "I need to reply," but got distracted, or the topic might not have been relevant to them. Perhaps they simply do not have time or are waiting for additional information from you but have not had time to formulate a question. There can be many reasons.

Therefore, be sure to remind them of yourself, but not just with words like "hello" — that is rude and ineffective, especially if you are waiting for a reply.

It is better to do this through a useful message. For example, if you sent a commercial proposal and received no response, a few days later you can write: "By the way, we will have a free webinar on this topic" or "I forgot to clarify: this feature is free not only for the first month, but always." You can highlight existing benefits rather than inventing something new.

If important events have happened in your company over the past week, it is also worth sharing. For example: "We released a case study in your industry." Such a follow-up will be polite and useful.

How to write if you are not a content maker — and whether you should at all

Founders respond well to stories where a person has achieved something significant and can be proud of it. When there is something to congratulate them on — they received funding, launched a product, achieved success. This is inspiring.

Stories about failures and overcoming them are also well received: when it did not work at first, but eventually succeeded. When everything fell apart, but you put it back together, stood firm, and made it happen. This is not just "success success," but reality — with difficulties, examples, and an honest background. Such stories are especially valued by both founders and specialists.

Why no one likes, even though the post is good

It is important to look critically at the post itself. Is it really good? Do you want to read it after the first two lines?

If the post starts with a phrase like "In the modern dynamic world of electronic networks," people usually do not want to read further — it sounds boring and too generalized. Or conversely, the post might start in the middle of a story, and then it is unclear what it is about.

The absence of an image or weak visuals also negatively affects reach — this significantly reduces engagement. Sometimes it is the opposite: a great photo brings likes even to simple text.

Think about how active you are in your profile:
— Do you communicate with others?
— Do people see your posts?
— Do they know about you?

Without activity, it is difficult to expect a response — the audience may simply not see your content.

Conclusion: the reason may be in the quality of the post, its formatting, and your activity.

Which content works best: personal, project-based, or expert?

LinkedIn has room for all types of content — the main thing is that it is appropriate and substantive.

Personal content is important. This is not Instagram, where people share dinners. But if you talk about your journey, for example, you started running and have already held on for five days — that is about willpower, habits, and character. Or if you write that you had a child and now you understand parents who do not get enough sleep — that resonates.

Expert content is the foundation. People subscribe to you for it. Share your experience, discoveries, case studies, and show your expertise.

Project content works well. Tell what you have done, what conclusions you have drawn along the way, and what you have learned. This adds weight to you as a professional.

Entertainment content can also work. Memes, especially work-related ones, often go well. But only if they do not replace other content. Once a month on a Friday morning is quite enough, like the cherry on top.

The main thing is that it should be clear what you do, what your goals are, how you help people, and why you are cool. Then memes, stories, and personal moments will all work for you.

Can you write in Russian or should you write in English?

It depends on your goals. If you are working in the Kazakhstan market and plan to continue — you can write in Russian. In Central Asia, Russia, and among the Russian-speaking diaspora, there is a large audience. If you are targeting the international market or already working with it — it is better to write in the language your colleagues understand — in English. This may look more professional. 

According to statistics, the reach of posts in English in Kazakhstan is usually lower than in Russian. At the same time, Russian-language publications show higher conversion. This is explained by the fact that significantly more people in Kazakhstan speak Russian well than English. 

Recommendations for those who want to open up new professional opportunities

Simple and sincere stories work best. There was a case: a girl with 72 followers posted about starting work on a project — and gathered 150 likes. Her colleagues and acquaintances supported her. The main thing is courage and honesty in storytelling.

Do not listen to those who do nothing themselves. They may know a lot, but they do not share it — with anyone except their closest colleagues. They do not develop the market or share knowledge. And those who at least step out of their comfort zone are perceived with irony: "Why do you need this?", "Show-off," "Do you need it more than anyone else?" If a person suddenly starts writing posts, the question will immediately follow: "Did you become a blogger?" Ignore such people. Their passivity is most often based on fear. Those who do things are also afraid — they just move forward despite the fear.

If you are uncomfortable — try to overcome it and click "publish." This almost always yields results. Even a simple post, for example, about starting a new job three months ago, can get a response. Write about what task you solved, what your new role is — I am sure it will find support.