Former CEO turned executive ghostwriter
Buyers don't buy from companies. They buy from people.
I build the LinkedIn presence that lets prospects, partners, and everyone else see what you stand for, how you see the world, and why you should be trusted.
Former CEO 2x Founder 1 Exit
Executive ghostwriting & thought leadership
By the time someone does business with you, they've already decided whether they trust you.
They've read your competitors. They've read people in your market with a point of view. If your thinking isn't out there under your name, you're not in that conversation yet. This work puts you in it, with your face and your worldview attached, so prospects, partners, and everyone else understand what you stand for before they ever meet you.
The raw material is there
You don’t need more things to say.
You’ve spent years making decisions, solving difficult problems, and learning what works. You have stories, strong opinions, and judgment that someone else would find invaluable.
But most of it lives in meetings, conversations, presentations—or your own head. Very little exists publicly under your name.
The missing piece is time, perspective, and an editorial process: someone who can ask the right questions, recognize the ideas worth developing, and do the writing.
“The best executive thought leadership isn’t manufactured. It’s extracted.”
How it works
What you know is the beginning.
Expertise
Your experience, stories, opinions, and hard-earned judgment. The things you’ve learned by doing.
Thought leadership
Those ideas, drawn out in conversation and shaped into compelling writing in your own voice.
Authority
A consistent body of thinking that helps the right people understand what you know.
Relationships
Ideas that open conversations and deepen meaningful professional connections.
Opportunities
Relationships that can lead to customers, speaking, advisory work, partnerships, and more.
Tom Schaeffer / Founder & writer
I’ve sat in the chair.
Founder and CEO experience.
Interviewing and idea extraction.
Executive writing.
In 2009, I co-founded and bootstrapped a software company that built first-generation Roku applications. I ran it for approximately a decade before it was acquired by a public company, then stayed another two years before leaving.
After that, I became a writer—and built a six-figure independent ghostwriting business. Today, I write for accomplished executives and experts.
Having been a CEO doesn't automatically make someone a better writer. It does change the interview. I understand what it means to be responsible for employees, customers, revenue, strategy, and outcomes, so I don't just take down what you say. I test it against what I've seen myself, ask the questions a peer would ask, and hand it back clearer than you said it. That's the difference between transcription and thinking made public.
Tom Schaeffer
A boutique practice, not an agency.
I work with a small number of executives at a time, and I do the work myself. No handoffs, no junior team, no account manager between us. You get the person you hired, on every call and every draft. I'm not trying to be the biggest ghostwriting firm. I'm trying to be the right one for the executives I work with.
Why not just use AI for this?
You could. Anyone can generate a post now, and that's exactly the problem. Word generation isn't the moat anymore. Publishing every day isn't the moat anymore. Follower count isn't either. What is scarce now is judgment: real expertise, added to a real conversation, by a person with a point of view. Readers can tell the difference. This work starts with a conversation, and there's a human behind every piece. AI can't sit in that chair.
What the work looks like
The writing starts with a conversation.
The process begins with you: what you know, what you believe, and what you want your work to stand for.
Position
Clarify what you should be known for and whose attention matters to your goals.
Extract
Through interviews, uncover the stories, experiences, opinions, and frameworks worth developing.
Write
Shape those ideas into thoughtful writing that sounds like you. Edit together until the thinking and the voice are right.
Publish
Build a consistent body of thought leadership around your name. LinkedIn is the primary distribution channel today; the writing is the foundation.
Learn
Look at what resonates, who is paying attention, and which conversations or opportunities emerge. Use that insight to inform the next piece.
Who this is for
Your experience goes beyond your title.
- CEOs & founders
- C-suite executives
- Fractional executives
You’ve led teams, made difficult decisions, and developed a point of view. You want the people who matter to your career or business to understand that thinking—whether you’re deepening your reputation in your current role or exploring executive, board, or advisory opportunities.
I also work with established consultants, speakers, and subject-matter experts whose writing draws on substantial professional experience.
A client example
One post a week. Read mostly by people who didn't know him yet.
A fractional CFO wanted his network to recognize more than his finance expertise, including how he thinks about leadership and running a business.
Over six months together, we’ve turned that experience into one LinkedIn post a week.
92% of impressions came from outside his existing network. That's the point. Not more noise in front of the same people, but the right people meeting his thinking for the first time.
Over six months: 124,526 impressions, 67,552 people reached, 98 saves. LinkedIn results: June 1 to October 19, 2026.
And you'll see who read it, not just how many.
Beyond the post
Authority is valuable because of what it can lead to.
- Stronger professional relationships
- Customer conversations
- Consulting opportunities
- Speaking invitations
- Advisory work
- Partnerships
- Recruiting conversations
- Industry visibility
- Unexpected opportunities
Not every opportunity can be traced to a single post. Professional reputation doesn’t work that way. The goal is to deliberately build a body of ideas around your name so that when the right opportunity appears, people already understand your expertise.
Who this is (and isn't) for.
This is for you if you want to be known for how you think, not just what you sell. If you want prospects, partners, and the world to understand what you stand for. If you're willing to spend real time in conversation about what you actually believe.
This isn't for you if you want content to generate leads directly, if you're measuring success by follower count, or if you want to hand the whole thing to AI and be done with it. Those are different services, and I'd rather tell you now than waste your time.
Working together
Executive ghostwriting & thought leadership.
Every ghostwriting engagement includes a profile audit, positioning, and a content strategy that connects what you publish with what you want to be known for.
- Executive interviews
- Idea development
- Ghostwriting in your voice
- Collaborative editing
Presence
$1,875 / month
Entry-level ongoing executive presence: a consistent weekly piece built around your experience and perspective.
Authority
$3,500 / month
Deeper strategic thought-leadership partnership: more room to develop your ideas and share the breadth of your expertise.
Partner
$5,000+ / month
Highest-touch strategic editorial partnership: writing for multiple executives, or for an executive and the company page. Scope and publishing volume are agreed together.
Account management and engagement support, where needed, are scoped separately from ghostwriting. The packages above are for writing.
Prefer email? Write to [email protected]. You can review the details before deciding whether to talk.
You already have the expertise.
Let's build something around it.
The first step is a 30-minute conversation about what you want to be known for, and whether I'm the right person to help you say it. Useful whether or not we end up working together. If you've spent years becoming exceptionally good at what you do but haven't built a body of thought leadership around your expertise, that's the conversation to have.