LevelUp2027 - Lets Go!
Next cohort - Saturdays, 17th October to 22nd November
You've built a company people trust. Now build a name they know.
Six weeks to turn what you know into a point of view customers, investors and hires recognise - so the right conversations start before you pitch. Set yourself up for the best 2027!
You have a point of view. It has never had your name on it.
Six weeks to turn years of building into your own positioning statement, published under your name, so the right people find you before you need them to.
ROI: What this actually gets you.
Not another framework. Real, visible change.
By week 6
- ◆ Your personalised one-line positioning statement - who you help, with what
- ◆ A rebuilt LinkedIn profile and a 90-day content system
- ◆ Six weeks of published, public work
- ◆ Profile views & comments from the people who matter - buyers, investors, partners
Within 90 days
- ◆ Outbound system (Automated connection building & DM sequences)
- ◆ Key groundwork for inbound: sales conversations, partnership enquiries, warm intros
- ◆ High-quality connections in target circles
Note : These aren't guarantees. To give yourself the best chance of seeing these results, you need to be posting 2 to 3 times a week from Month 2. Relevance and pace vary by position, industry and ICP.
In their words
People who found their voice.
For anyone who wants to build an authentic presence online and doesn't know where to start, I'd point them straight to Karn.
Working with Karn is like working with a friend who understands where you're coming from and tries to build an identity that resonates with you.
In six months I'd grown a network of over 600 high-quality connections from my target industries, quite different from the random connections you find on other platforms.
600+ high-quality connections in target industries within 6 months
Karn suggested starting with once a week. He was clear throughout that my communication should remain deeply authentic and original.
Top 1% for Leadership content · 125 → ~6,500 followers · 600,000+ impressions
A potential lead told me they'd been reading my posts regularly without ever liking or commenting publicly. More than 30 business conversations followed.
30+ business conversations, ~40% connection acceptance rate across geographies
Instead of chasing opportunities, people start bringing them to you.
What we'll cover in 6 weeks
Position first, platform second, format third. Your positioning statement & profile, content strategy, formats, the algorithm, engagement and automations - one focus a week, built on LinkedIn and portable anywhere after.
The Six Weeks
- Week 1: Overview, Your Positioning Statement & Profile. How should people understand you?
- Week 2: Content Strategy. What should you become known for?
- Week 3: Formats - Text, Image, Audio, Video, Live. How should each idea be expressed?
- Week 4: Understanding the Algorithm. How do good ideas become visible?
- Week 5: Engagement - DMs & Comments. How do conversations become opportunities?
- Week 6: Automations. How does this continue without willpower?
This is for you if…
You're building a business, you're its best salesperson whether you like it or not, and your name should open doors before the deck does.
Not for you if…
You're chasing viral hacks alone, unwilling to show up for six weeks, or hoping AI will write it all for you.
Karn Malhotra - 20+ years helping founders and leaders turn hard-won experience into narratives that earn trust, from Exit Design to Humanly. He founded Exit Design (B2B branding for 3M, Decathlon, Accenture and Tata Motors), built an AI automation startup, and led marketing at two venture-backed companies, before bringing it all into Humanly.
Publishing starts feeling like documenting your thinking, not inventing content.
The ROI on this
What this actually gets you.
Outcome signals worth tracking. Not all will apply to every leader at every stage.
By week 6
- ◆ Your personalised one-line positioning statement, in writing
- ◆ Rebuilt LinkedIn profile (headline, banner, About, Featured section)
- ◆ 3–5 content pillars and a 90-day content calendar
- ◆ Automations and scheduling running in the background
- ◆ A set of reusable post templates across formats
- ◆ Six weeks of published, public work - not drafts sitting in a folder
- ◆ Early engagement from your desired network (likes, comments, DMs, saves)
Within 90 days
- ◆ Profile views from target stakeholders (e.g., buyers, investors, decision-makers at target accounts)
- ◆ Outbound system (Automated connection building & DM sequences)
- ◆ Key groundwork for Inbound opportunities (e.g., sales, partnership, podcast guest enquiries)
- ◆ High-quality connections in target circles (e.g., buyers, peers, VCs, founders, event curators)
Note : These aren't guarantees. To give yourself the best chance of seeing these results, you need to be posting 2 to 3 times a week from Month 2. Relevance and pace vary by position, industry and ICP.
In their words
People who found their voice.
I came in with a clear need: build a LinkedIn presence that felt like me, not a polished, generic version, that would give me energy rather than take it away. I'd tried other options and no one clicked. What made Karn different was that from the start, it felt like a peer-to-peer relationship. He asked me about my sales cycle, the product offering, the ticket size, what I liked, what I didn't like, what I was actually trying to solve, and only then got to solutioning.
Eventually the content we've created together, it feels like me, it feels right and I'm proud to share it. The "hero stories" approach made my life so much better because it allows me to reconnect with people. Karn also helped automate parts of my outreach and even made relevant business intros into his network.
For anyone who wants to build an authentic presence online and doesn't know where to start, I'd point them straight to Karn.
When I started my journey as a Legal AI founder, I realized that Adidem's first sales need to be made by the founder. And the first thing the founder needs to do is sell themselves - to share their expertise, their knowledge, and their insights into the field. I saw this but I did not have a deliberate approach towards actually achieving this.
When I connected with Karn, he helped me develop a posting cadence, a strategy for engaging with the people who I wanted to reach, and a way to expand that reach. He quickly helped me establish a presence on LinkedIn through his strategic insights and his persistent (and friendly) follow-ups.
Working with Karn is like working with a friend who understands where you're coming from and tries to build an identity that resonates with you. Karn also helped me create a modified version of my writing style - from a more technical, complex style honed by legal writing to one that would communicate with a larger audience in a language that was accessible to them.
I would recommend working with Karn to anyone who sees the importance of LinkedIn for communicating their thought leadership and insights, but doesn't have a roadmap on how to get there.
Before working with Karn, I was using Instagram and Facebook to promote my coaching work, but found both platforms frustrating and not well suited to what I offer. After trusted colleagues recommended LinkedIn, I reached out to Karn for support in setting up my profile and learning to navigate the platform.
He guided me through every step, visual identity, headline, banner, bio. In six months I'd grown a network of over 600 high-quality connections from my target industries, media and fashion, quite different from the random connections you find on platforms like Instagram. His holistic, thoughtful approach genuinely inspired me. More than just setting up a new platform, he helped me understand how to show up consistently while staying true to my identity.
600+ high-quality connections in target industries within 6 months
I had no understanding of social media and no clarity on how or what my presence should be, or honestly, whether I even had enough to share.
Karn suggested starting with once a week. A few hours were spent understanding me as a person, what I wanted to achieve, and what I could offer others from my own experience. He was clear throughout that my communication should remain deeply authentic and original.
When I found myself drawn to the style of accounts with large followings, he pushed back, insisting our journey should stay original, not be in a hurry. That conversation kept us on the right track. Within three months, the profile reached the Top 1% for Leadership content on LinkedIn. We started at 125 followers and are now approaching 6,500, with over 600,000 impressions.
Top 1% for Leadership content · 125 → ~6,500 followers · 600,000+ impressions
I knew LinkedIn was important but I was starting from zero, with very little activity, no consistency, and a lot of confusion around what to post. I was essentially posting without any clear positioning.
Karn helped me both strategically and tactically. He didn't just focus on writing posts, instead he helped me think clearly about what I wanted to say and why it mattered. He also helped me look back at my earlier experience and translate years of work into narratives that now form the foundation of my LinkedIn presence.
A potential lead told me they'd been reading my posts regularly without ever liking or commenting publicly. More than 30 business conversations followed, multiple direct inbound leads, and a connection acceptance rate of around 40% across geographies. I would likely have taken more than two years to get here on my own.
30+ business conversations, ~40% connection acceptance rate across geographies
Instead of chasing opportunities, people start bringing them to you.
Your signal is already being read.
Five stages decide what it says.
Most senior people are still sending proof, when the room is waiting for a point of view.
Most people start at stage four, picking a platform and a format before deciding what they stand for. For someone with a track record, that's thinking short-term. Source and Power are already full from building the business. The note is the part nobody has ever asked you to write down.
You've built the experience. Now build the signal.
Where this goes
A portfolio, not a platform.
People don't form an opinion about you from one post. They form it from a series of touchpoints, and each audience pays attention in a different place. We start with LinkedIn, because it is where your thinking becomes legible fastest and where you will have something published within six weeks. The note you write there is what ultimately resonates.
Professional identity and network
Articles / Media
Depth and credibility
Podcasts
Context and personality
Keynotes / Speaking
High-trust, high-impact
Email / Newsletter
An audience you own
It's not about more content. It's about more relevant encounters.
The six weeks
What we actually cover, week by week.
Position first. Platform second. Format third.
90-minute live calls (30min learning, 40mins creation, 20mins feedback).
You create 1 post minimum per week.
Overview, Your Positioning Statement & Profile
How should people understand you?
- ◆ Quickfire overview of all 6 weeks
- ◆ Craft your one-line positioning statement: who you help, what, how
- ◆ The anatomy of a profile that positions you
Content Strategy
What should you become known for?
- ◆ Find 3–5 content pillars from your own experience
- ◆ Build a repeatable system, not random posting
- ◆ Plan 30 days out, learn to scale to 90
Formats: Text, Image, Audio, Video, Live
How should each idea be expressed?
- ◆ Match format to message
- ◆ Hands-on practice in every format
- ◆ Build reusable visual templates
Understanding the Algorithm
How do good ideas become visible?
- ◆ How LinkedIn ranks and surfaces content
- ◆ Dwell time, early engagement, comment quality
- ◆ How LinkedIn treats AI-generated content
- ◆ Post with intent, not guesswork
Engagement: DMs & Comments
How do conversations become opportunities?
- ◆ Comment with intent
- ◆ Open DMs without sounding salesy
- ◆ Turn inbound interest into real conversations
Automations
How does this continue without willpower?
- ◆ Set up lightweight automations and AI tools for drafting
- ◆ Build scheduling and follow-up systems
- ◆ Design for consistency, not motivation
*We won't strictly wait till week 4 to talk about formats, for example, but we'll go into them in depth then. Similar for all six weeks.
This is for founders whose customers know the product, but not yet the person behind it.
This is for you if…
- → You're a founder or business owner - early-stage or established - and most new business still depends on who already knows you.
- → You're getting active on LinkedIn for your next customer, investor or hire.
- → You walk the walk more than you talk it, and you quietly undersell yourself.
- → You spend 45 minutes on a post and still aren't happy with it.
It's probably not for you if…
- ✕ You're only chasing viral hacks or vanity follower counts. We have nothing against those, just that pure visibility doesn't compound. Meaning does.
- ✕ You're not ready to show up for six weeks.
- ✕ You're hoping AI will simply write it all for you.
The honest bit
Do these sound familiar?
"Shouldn't the company page do this?"
People engage with people. Founder profiles routinely out-reach company pages, and buyers want to know who they're trusting before they trust the product. The company page amplifies - you lead.
"Everything on LinkedIn sounds like ChatGPT."
That's because people start by giving ChatGPT the idea, we'll do the opposite. When you build your voice from your own life, values, and the way you actually frame a problem, nobody else can copy that.
"I don't have time."
By the end of the 6 weeks, your new knowledge + the automations can help cut idea-to-final draft to under 30 minutes. Show up for yourself for 2 hours each week and reap the rewards. The best on the platform spend 3+ hours per post.
"I don't want to sound salesy."
When you write in a way where you're sharing what you actually know and what you can help with - with a clear focus on your core client persona - this builds trust and credibility. Which in turn helps you ease into an 'ask' later.
"I'm not outgoing."
Good. Most of your buyers, and most investors, read quietly and reach out when they're ready. Most conversions happen on LinkedIn with people who have never engaged with your content. Quiet consistency beats loud performance, every time.
"Will it actually lead anywhere?"
If you promise to do the work for the 6 weeks alongside your peers, it'll only lead to something tangible and measurable within 90 days. The best content factors in signals that matter - unsolicited inbound, references, introductions, buyer/investor DMs - the right rooms, not just likes.
"My product already speaks for itself."
To the customers you already have, yes. Everyone else meets the product through a person first - and right now nobody outside your pipeline knows what you think.
Your facilitator
Karn Malhotra
Across 20+ years of working with founders, executives and independent professionals, one thing has remained true: you might have great expertise, but if you struggle to express it in a way others understand... you're leaving a LOT on the table.
That's a tangible gap, and I've spent my career on bridging it. I founded Exit Design, a B2B branding firm that worked with 3M, Decathlon, Accenture, Tata Motors and others for 17 years, so I know the in's and out's of trust building in B2B communication, for which LinkedIn is the No.1 platform.
I've built an AI design automation startup called Outlined, so I understand the challenges of tech entrepreneurship and dealing with AI in these fast changing times.
And I've even headed marketing at 2 growth-stage venture-backed companies, Talent500 and Neol, so I understand the pressure and the challenges that appear every single day in those environments.
Today, I'm taking all that experience into Humanly, so founders and leaders can turn their experience into narratives that earn trust and open doors.
I live in sunny Goa with my 2 dogs, where I'm building Poai, an AI community in Goa, and also serve as India Lead for Asia Startup Network.
Publishing starts feeling like documenting your thinking, not inventing content.
The investment
Two ways to do the six weeks.
Program runs on Saturdays - 17th October to 22nd November.
Join the October cohortWhat's included
- ◆ Six weekly 90min live cohort calls. Recordings available for 90 days.
- ◆ Live post teardowns on the calls
- ◆ Access to a peer group and community, with feedback from them and Karn on your posts
- ◆ Your positioning statement and content system for the first 90 days
- ◆ Templates, prompts and format playbooks
- ◆ Notion page access
- ◆ An alumni group to keep the accountability going after week 6
The moment you sign up
You get immediate access to a Notion page with:
- - Pointers to optimize your LinkedIn profile page
- - Templates to start a few test posts before the cohort begins
- - Guidance on leveraging AI tools
- - Key insights from 20+ live podcast conversations between Karn and thought leaders
- - A 90-day content calendar template
- - A short guide to spotting and avoiding AI-generated LinkedIn slop
FAQ
Questions, answered.
{{ item.a }}
Join the 17th October cohort.
Tell us a little about you and what you want on the other side.
Whatever you build in these last 90 days of 2026 is what jumpstarts your 2027.
Thank you, {{ submittedName }}. One step left.
You're being redirected to secure payment to lock your seat.
If nothing happens, click here to pay.
People engage with people they know, like and trust. In a feed full of noise, being your true self is what makes someone pause, and remember you.
People engage with people they know, like and trust. In a feed full of noise, being your true self is what makes someone pause, and remember you.