Former CEO turned executive ghostwriter
Your expertise is already there.
My job is to get it out.
I take the expertise already inside accomplished executives and turn it into thought leadership that builds authority, strengthens relationships, and creates opportunities.
Former CEO 2x Founder 1 Exit
Executive ghostwriting & thought leadership
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 give me context. I understand what it means to be responsible for employees, customers, revenue, strategy, and outcomes.
That experience helps me ask better questions, recognize commercially meaningful ideas, and understand the decisions behind the stories. It’s a useful place to begin when your job is to get someone’s best thinking onto the page.
Tom Schaeffer
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
For people whose expertise matters.
- CEOs
- Founders
- C-suite & senior executives
- Professional speakers
- Consultants
- Authors
- Subject-matter experts
This isn’t about becoming an influencer. It’s about making sure the people who matter to your career or business understand what you know, how you think, and what you stand for.
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.
Working together
Executive ghostwriting & thought leadership.
- Positioning
- Executive interviews
- Idea development
- Ghostwriting
- Editing
- LinkedIn publishing
- Account management
- Audience development
- Strategic engagement
- Performance review
Engagements are tailored to your goals, publishing cadence, and the level of support you need.
You already have the expertise.
Let’s build something around it.
If you’ve spent years becoming exceptionally good at what you do but haven’t built a body of thought leadership around your expertise, let’s talk.