How Do You Actually Grow on Social Media?
Part of Twin Cities Startup Week 2026, September 14–18.
Social media has changed how companies find customers, but the old playbook of posting from a brand account and hoping people pay attention isn't working particularly well anymore. People follow people, algorithms determine what gets seen, and content that feels personal and unpolished can travel much further than traditional company marketing.
This panel brings together three different perspectives on how businesses can build reach through social media today. They'll talk about what makes people stop and pay attention, the role founders and employees can play in building an audience, how to create content people actually trust, and most importantly, how to turn that attention into something useful for the business.
Attendees should leave with a better understanding of how social media distribution is changing and practical ideas for building an audience that can lead to customers, users, and advocates.
Speakers & Perspectives:
Stephen Regenold, Founder @ Regenold Co. — How media and distribution are changing: Stephen will bring the broader view of what's happening to media, including the shift from publications and company accounts toward individual creators, algorithms, direct audiences, video, and community-driven trust. His perspective helps explain why the old ways of earning attention are changing and what companies need to understand about the new ones.
Vikas Sabbi, Technical Co-Founder @ Dino Initiative — Turning organic attention into product users: Vikas will use Dino as a case study for what organic social growth can actually produce. He has built an audience of roughly 380,000 across Instagram and TikTok, including one TikTok that drove approximately 1,300 people to the product in a week, giving him a concrete way to talk about what content gets attention and how that attention converts into users.
Jennifer Shawgo, Founder @ PostAutoPilot — Turning employees into distribution: Jennifer will bring the company perspective of expanding social reach through the people already inside the business. She'll talk about helping employees share company content through their own networks, maintaining an authentic personal voice, and using many individual audiences rather than relying entirely on one corporate account.
Charlie Light, Social Media Strategist & Former Head of Content @ Enduring Ventures — Using social media as a customer acquisition channel: Charlie has built social strategies for some of the most visible entrepreneurs on X and currently runs social media for 5+ venture-backed startups. He'll bring the operator perspective on how founders can use social media as more than a brand-building exercise, including what to post, how to build a founder-led presence people actually want to follow, and how to connect attention and audience growth back to customer acquisition and business growth.
Getting here on Tuesday. Parking, Basecamp, lunch, and the rest of the day: tcstartupweek.com/tuesday