Founder-Led Ads vs Brand Ads: What We Learned Testing Both

Most ecommerce brands default to running ads from the business account. It feels clean, professional, and “on brand.” The logo sits in the corner, the brand name is the page, and everything feels controlled. That has been the default playbook for years.

But lately, a shift is happening. Founders are running ads through their personal accounts instead of the brand’s. On the surface, it looks like a small change. In practice, it changes how the ad feels in the feed — and the numbers show it can change performance too.

One brand that caught my attention doing this was Lectric Ebikes. Their founder-led ads didn’t read like corporate spots. They looked like a person speaking directly to the audience. That inspired me to test it myself, because in ecommerce, if you see something working for a high-growth brand, it’s worth experimenting with in your own account.

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The Test: Same Creative, Different Source

To make the test clean, I kept everything the same:

• Same creative and copy.
• Same targeting.
• Same budget.
• Launched at the same time.

The only difference was the account the ad came from. One set ran from the official brand page. The other ran from the founder’s personal account.

The results were not subtle. The founder account delivered a 12% lower cost per conversion compared to the brand account. Nothing else had changed. Just the perception of who was speaking to the audience made the difference.

Why Founder-Led Ads Outperform

Seeing the numbers is one thing, but the real insight comes from watching how people interact with the ads. Here’s what stood out:

• Trust - People have a natural resistance to corporate advertising. A founder’s face and name builds instant credibility. It signals that there’s a human behind the product who is willing to put their reputation on the line.
• Pattern Break - Social feeds are filled with logos and polished brand handles. A personal profile photo interrupts that flow. It looks more like a regular post than an ad, which gives you those crucial extra seconds of attention.
• Conversation, Not Broadcast - The comment section is a different story altogether. Under a founder-led ad, comments feel more conversational. People ask real questions. They direct feedback to the founder. That kind of back-and-forth makes the ad feel alive, and the added engagement signals quality to the algorithm.
• Parasocial Connection - People buy from people. When the founder is the one talking, customers feel like they are buying into a story and a person, not just a faceless store.

When Brand Ads Still Make Sense

I don’t want to overstate it: founder-led ads aren’t a magic bullet. Brand pages still have their place.

• Consistency - If you’re running a wide mix of campaigns, the brand account keeps the voice and look consistent across all channels.
• Professional Settings - In B2B or wholesale conversations, the brand account can carry more weight and formality.
• Retargeting Customers - For existing buyers, brand recognition and trust cues often convert better than personal outreach.

The lesson here isn’t to abandon your brand account. It’s to layer in founder-led ads where they can move the needle most.

Practical Takeaways

Here’s how I’d approach it if you want to test this yourself:

• Identify your top-performing brand ad.
• Duplicate it and run the exact same ad from the founder’s account.
• Track the metrics side by side — CTR, CPA, and how people engage in the comments.
• Scale the better performer, or keep both running if they complement each other.

In my case, the 12% drop in cost per conversion was meaningful enough to fold founder-led ads into the standard mix. And it didn’t require extra creative or more budget — just a different account as the source.

Why This Matters Beyond Ads

This is bigger than just lowering CAC by a few percentage points. It reflects a larger trend in ecommerce: customers want more direct, authentic relationships with the people behind the brands they buy from.

Founder-led ads blur the line between performance marketing and brand building. They can cut acquisition costs today, while also strengthening your long-term positioning as a brand with a face and story. That compounds.

Final Word

Founder-led ads are worth testing. They work because they feel different, and that difference shows up in the numbers. For me, running the same creative from a founder’s account instead of the brand handle cut costs by 12%. That’s not theory. That’s real efficiency you can take to the bank.

As ad costs rise and competition for attention only gets tighter, every lever matters. This is one of the simpler ones to test, and the payoff can be immediate.

Talk soon,

John Sciacchitano

Ecom Heads: Scale or Die Trying

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