Benjamin van der Meeren

Spotlight interview with...

Co-Founder and CEO of Growf

Spotlight interview with...

Co-Founder and CEO of Growf

Could you start by telling me a bit about your background and career?

My background is mainly in sales and business management. About three years ago, my brother was working as a B2B marketing consultant. One night, over a beer, he had the idea of automating his role. I thought it was a brilliant concept, so the next day, I quit my job, and we started working on it together.

Initially, we focused on marketing consultancy for startups and scale-ups, helping with audience research, making ICPs, defining value propositions, and setting up SEO and ad campaigns. The goal was to standardise these processes for companies to use themselves. But as AI improved, we realised we could automate the most time-consuming tasks. That eventually led to the creation of Growf, our SaaS platform, which automates everything we used to do manually.

At what point in that journey did thought leadership become part of your growth strategy?

Pretty early on – at least as an idea but the actual execution took longer. Initially, it was just the two of us, but after securing investment and expanding our team, I then had the capacity to focus on our marketing and I knew thought leadership needed to be the priority within that.

It’s still far from perfect, of course, but I definitely think that in recent years, people have become less receptive to traditional advertising. They see ads constantly, and they’re often ignored. Thought leadership, whether organic or through paid promotion, is much more effective now.

Why was becoming a thought leader important for Growf?

For us, it was about evidencing credibility in our industry and driving customer acquisition. Five years ago, you could set up a LinkedIn lead-gen campaign, get people to fill out a form, call them, and gain customers quickly. That doesn’t work as well anymore. Buyers prefer to do their own research, so instead of just telling them about your product, you need to stay top of mind. When they’re ready to buy, they’ll come to you.

How do you decide which topics to focus on? And what advice would you give to CEOs looking to start?

Everything I write is from my perspective, but I pay attention to common struggles that come up in sales meetings. If multiple companies face the same challenge, I know it’s a good topic to address.

I’ve found creating a template for posts and visuals helps a lot. It removes much of the time-consuming effort. But ultimately, you just have to start and accept that it won’t be perfect at first. Don’t overthink it. Also, maintain your natural writing style—if you try to be overly formal when it’s not your voice, people will notice.

Given that AI is a big part of your work at Growf, how do you keep your content authentic in a world where AI-generated content is becoming more common?

AI is a great tool for brainstorming and structuring ideas, but you still need to add your own twist. If you just copy and paste AI-generated content, it won’t work. Context is key – our platform generates better content because it has detailed information about your audience and product. If you just use generic AI tools like ChatGPT with a vague prompt, the output will be generic too, and that’s where you’ll lose all value from a thought leadership perspective.

What is your view on the value of thought leadership in B2B technology, as opposed to B2C or less technical industries?

I think it’s actually more important in B2B. In highly technical sectors you don’t need to reach millions – just the right people. If one post reaches 1,000 people and brings in two new clients, that’s huge. Plus, when a CEO speaks, it carries more credibility than when a junior marketer does, which comes from the experience that takes decades to accumulate and that only a select few will have. Don’t underestimate how powerful that can be – I truly believe it’s something every CEO should be doing.

What advice would you give founders about finding their voice?

Practice and use templates if needed. Breaking posts into sections, introducing a problem, explaining its impact, and providing insights makes it easier. Writing an article might not come naturally to a lot of senior managers, but when you have a structure in place it becomes a lot easier to break down what it is you need to put down on paper. Also, focus on giving advice. Think about the problem you’re looking to address that your reader might be experience and actually give ideas on what can be tried to overcome it. That can be incredibly powerful.

Lastly, are there any thought leaders you admire?

A lot of LinkedIn influencers just share ChatGPT courses, which I don’t find particularly valuable, but one I do like is Sam Dunning – he focuses on LinkedIn ads and provides genuinely useful insights. His tone is quite straightforward, and his content actually offers value, which to me as a reader and someone in this industry is quite a big thing.

Benjamin Van De Meeren

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