Why you should write online

A conversation with the new internet’s favorite ghostwriter, Adam Delehanty

In the content-saturated internet, it can be challenging to stand out. But those who do all seem to have one thing in common: they’ve mastered the craft of authentic storytelling.

Meet Adam, the founder of Ghost - a content and communications agency that helps brilliant minds scale their best ideas through the power of narrative.

With a knack for extracting the juiciest insights and shaping them into captivating prose, Adam is on a mission to help founders, VCs, and brands alike find their voice and leave a lasting impact online.

In this conversation, he pulls back the curtain on the art of storytelling, sharing his unique process, insights on the evolving landscape, and a bold message for those who dare to build and contribute to the new internet.

Elan: Tell me about Ghost—what it is and what inspired you to start it?

Adam: We’re a content and communications agency for founders, VCs and brands. Our tagline: “Where Brilliant People Scale Their Best Ideas.” Practically, that means coming in to support folks on the most important storytelling moments of their careers: launching the company, raising funds, revamping the product, going public, etc. These moments demand introspection, a sense of craft, and of course excellent writing. I feel really lucky to have had the time and flexibility to explore a bunch of careers, from working in politics for Barack Obama to a traditional marketing career at creative agencies, before finding my sweet spot these last four years running Ghost. I feel most at home, and most creative, when I’m working on a meaningful piece of writing with a client. 

Elan: What kind of clients do you work with? What kind of projects get you the most fired up?

Adam: It’s a mix of tech founders, VCs and then a few big legacy brands. Right now, I’m writing a book with Duolingo about their principles, the story of the company and its very unique way of working. But our most common work is helping founders and VCs figure out how and where they should be showing up, and then producing great written content for them. We usually do some positioning and strategy work upfront, and then help them across all their public-facing channels on a retainer basis: Twitter, podcast appearances, long-form writing, and more. 

Elan: Who’s your dream client? What kind of work would you want to do with them? 

Adam: I’m already working with them! :) The best clients have a trove of juicy stories and gigabrain insights, but for whatever reason just haven’t had the right reason or inclination to put pen to paper. I love helping these kinds of folks extract their best ideas, shape them into great writing and eventually press ‘publish’. 

Elan: What does your process look like? What are some of the specific methods & tools you use to unpack a founder’s vision?

Adam: I think of our work as a healthy mix of therapy and journalism. We create space for you to explore lessons from your past, visions of your future, your spiciest opinions, really whatever comes up. The work is really in finding the right story, and it happens through multiple brainstorm sessions. After years of doing these, you learn how to move past the “throat clearing” and quickly identify the stories and threads that are worth double-clicking on.

One of my favorite questions about looking forward is: “What does the world look like if your product succeeds?” For diving into the past, I like: “How is this current project an expression of ideas and curiosities you’ve had your whole life?” 

Elan: It feels like storytelling and narrative is starting to have a moment in the zeitgeist. Why do you think that is?

Adam: People don’t care about brands—they care about people. You literally see this in follower count, where Elon or even many early-stage founders have 5x the number of followers compared to the brands they lead. For founders, investing in building their profile and getting out there is now a well-paved path toward bringing in better talent, investors and customers. 

But more generally, I think folks are increasingly exhausted and turned off by traditional, company-led advertising. We are interested in the humans who are actually building the thing—their values, stories and idiosyncrasies. I think we’ll continue to see an increased investment in the marketing of people over brands during the next decade. 

Elan: I really enjoyed your recent post, “Tell the internet a story.” In it you talk about how you can build an entire career off of one idea. What’s yours?

Adam: One of my clients at Duolingo asked me this the other day. I think the idea I keep coming back to is: “Writing is a means of self-actualization.” It’s not just an avenue for promoting yourself and your business, it’s through the act of writing that we actually figure out who we are and what we want. Most of my work—and our work at Ghost—is an extension of this core idea. 

Elan: You have such a unique background—writing a book with the Founder of Hinge, leading marketing at VC fund & now running your own studio. I’m curious, where do you see founders struggling the most with storytelling? What advice do you have for them?

Adam: Sometimes, quality of readers matters more than quantity. If your writing can inspire 5 people to upend their life and join your team, that’s worth it, and the same goes for attracting investors. It’s not always about going viral, it’s about striking a nerve with the perfect people. 

Another piece of advice: writing doesn’t have to be a solo endeavor. Riff with a friend, record it, then go over the transcript and map out a draft from there. Before you publish, get a few friends to review your work. The old stereotype that the best writers work alone in some remote cabin, penning these brilliant manifestos without any help—that’s ridiculous. More often than not, the best writing happens through community and collaboration. 

Elan: If you could build a billboard targeting founders building the new internet, what message would you want to get across to them?

Adam: “Stop lying.”

Too many founders and VCs are peacocking and stretching the truth in order to look like their project is some unstoppable juggernaut. (And in my business, many of the people selling services to those founders and VCs are doing it too.) Some amount of this can be healthy, but readers are just as attracted to honesty and being open—no matter how things are going. Be authentic, or funny, or insightful, all of those are better than the endless, shameless plugging. 

Elan: What’s a misconception about writing/storytelling that rubs you the wrong way? :) 

Adam: I think there are a lot of people who hold back from writing or pressing “send” on a piece because of how they think a few select friends or peers will react. First off: we just don’t know how readers will respond. But more importantly, even if this prediction comes true, there are also dozens (or thousands!) of folks out there who can derive value from your work. I stay up at night lamenting all the ideas that never go public because of this silly, specific kind of fear. 

About Adam Delehanty

Adam Delehanty is CEO at Ghost, a leading content and ghostwriting agency for founders, investors and brands. 

Twitter: @Adam__xyz | IG: @Adamisaghost