I spent $3M on founder ads, here are the 5 founder ads that work

Hey guys,

In a world where everyone's feed is flooded with AI-generated content, there are very few ways to actually signal trust and credibility anymore.

But as a founder, no one can speak more authentically to the pain point or transformation behind your product than you.

And it's for this reason that we've seen founder ads spend millions of dollars on paid social when done the right way.

So today I'm going to break down my favourite styles of founder ads and how you can execute them yourself.

Let's get into it :)

But first, here's what I've found interesting this week:

• Here’s a sneaky but creative way to run partnership ads through Facebook groups

• Harry Delmege put out a great doc on Gemini prompts for ads

• Kamal Razzak put out a great doc on lessons from some of the best creative strategists

5 Founder Ads Every Business Should Run

1. The Ugly Founder

This is my favourite style and the easiest for anyone here to make themselves in 5 minutes.

You, the founder, pick up your phone and just talk about your product without any fancy production setup or script.

Three questions every ugly founder ad should answer:

• What problem did you set out to solve?

• How does the product solve that problem?

• What makes it different from the rest?

Oyo Skincare put on a masterclass in this style - this is one of my favorite founder ads of all time.

The founder shot it in her bathroom, post-shower, which is the perfect setting because it's exactly where you'd naturally use the product.

She doesn't even mention the product until about 1:20 into the video. It's all storytelling first, product second.

Another one of my favorite OG founder ads is anything Blogilates makes. Her organic product breakdowns are INCREDIBLE marketing and something I think all of us paid advertisers can learn from.

2. The Founder Story

Founder story ads are like ugly founder ads, but just not shot ugly lol.

You can either make these as sit down storytelling ads with broll (like Henson Shaving) or full on organic pieces of content (like BePresent).

Either way, it involves you sharing your story about why you started, the problem you’re solving and how your product solves it.

Other cool examples include this one by Lucent Globe or this one by Eat Jacob.

3. The Podcast Founder

Podcast ads are like founder stories (lol), except you’re in a podcast setup.

The setup gives you extra credibility - these work extra well for brands that have clear authority figure angles (e.g. health and wellness).

Dave Asprey nails this style talking about his mold-free coffee brand Danger Coffee, and he only introduces his product as the solution after he exposes the truth about the American coffee industry.

4. The Warehouse Founder

The warehouse founder involves you shooting an ad from your warehouse (shock!)

You’ve probably seen warehouse packing ads like this one, but I’m starting to see more founders shoot ads in warehouses. I don’t know what it is, it just feels authentic.

If you want to see the gold standard of this format, check out this challenge ad by Carpe that’s currently top of their ad library by impressions 👇

By the way, you do NOT have to hire a celebrity of even do a challenge like this to make warehouse founders work. Just telling your story in the warehouse can work super well!

I also find Everyday Dose’s post-purchase warehouse ads where they let you know about the free gifts coming your way pretty interesting. I don’t have any data to suggest whether this works or not, but it’s at least a creative way to delight customers post-purchase.

5. The Customer Call

This style of founder ad is one I’m sure all of you have seen.

The concept: call one of your best customers on camera and let them rave about your product.

The ad by Brez is an absolute clinic because it feels completely unscripted and organic.

Nich Shackleford said on X that this ad hit $1M+ in spend and was one of their top performers in 2025.

So simple yet so effective, everyone reading this can go and make one of these today.

Want to see a full board of my favorite founder ads? Click this link here.

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See you next week,

Alex