Issue #2 • May 6, 2025 • 6-minute read

As I analyze discovery call data from my first month building Keynote, a revenue-killing pattern keeps emerging. CEOs keep saying they're losing qualified prospects who seem to disappear mid-process, only to surface later having selected competitors they'd never heard of.

When I ask these executives about their online presence—specifically video content that demonstrates their expertise—the response is consistent: minimal to none. Meanwhile, their competitors who won those deals have strong video presence that builds trust and authority during the buyer research phase.

After diving into G2's 2024 Buyer Behavior Report and Gartner's latest B2B buying research, I realized what's actually happening. 75% of B2B buyers prefer conducting vendor research without sales interaction, and they're making preliminary vendor selections based on what they can find about company leadership online.

The CEOs & founders who understand this shift and invest in executive video content that builds trust and authority during research are capturing opportunities that invisible competitors never access.

The Revenue Impact of Research Invisibility

The latest buyer behavior data reveals how research invisibility directly impacts revenue.

G2's 2024 research shows that 49% of buyers now consider only 1-3 vendors in their final evaluation, down from 45% considering 4-7 vendors just one year ago. This vendor filtering happens during independent research—before buyers contact sales teams.

Gartner research confirms that 75% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free sales experience, meaning they want to form opinions about vendors and leadership before engaging directly. During this research phase, buyers are evaluating not just solutions, but the credibility and authority of the people behind those solutions.

McKinsey's 2024 B2B Pulse found that buyers now use an average of 10 different touchpoints across their purchasing journey. Companies with limited online presence—especially video content that demonstrates leadership expertise—are invisible across most of these research channels.

The revenue math: When founders remain invisible during the research phase, they're eliminated from consideration before sales conversations begin. For growth-stage companies, this typically represents 20-35% of potential deal flow that never materializes into pipeline.

Why Video Authority Drives Revenue Opportunities

Video content creates trust, authority, and credibility that directly translates to revenue opportunities.

46% of B2B buyers now use AI tools like ChatGPT when researching vendors, and AI systems increasingly surface content from sources with substantial online presence. Founders with consistent video content explaining their expertise appear in AI-powered research results, while invisible founders get filtered out entirely.

90% of B2B buyers research 2-7 websites before making purchase decisions, and they're specifically looking for evidence of leadership competence and industry expertise. Video content provides the depth and authenticity that text-based content cannot match.

Trust acceleration through video: Buyers can see how founders think, communicate, and approach industry challenges. This builds the trust foundation that typically takes multiple sales meetings to establish. 83% of buyers who purchased AI platforms report positive ROI specifically because they could evaluate leadership credibility before engaging.

Executive video content serves as 24/7 credibility building that works while founders focus on running their businesses. Each piece of video content potentially influences multiple buyer research sessions across extended buying cycles.

The Platform Advantage for Revenue Generation

Different platforms provide different revenue-generating opportunities for video-enabled founders.

LinkedIn prioritizes video content in its algorithm, giving founders with consistent video presence significantly more reach to potential buyers. The platform's professional context means video content directly reaches decision-makers during their research activities.

YouTube functions as the second-largest search engine, and B2B buyers increasingly search for industry expertise and solution explanations. Founders with video content addressing buyer challenges capture search traffic that competitors miss entirely.

31% of buyers now use public review and information websites as their primary research source, up from 23% in 2023. However, these platforms increasingly feature video content and founder interviews, giving video-enabled leaders additional credibility signals.

Industry-specific platforms and communities where buyers research solutions favor content from recognized thought leaders. Video authority positions founders as the experts buyers turn to during evaluation phases.

How Authority Translates to Revenue

Video authority creates multiple revenue-generating mechanisms that invisible founders cannot access.

Inbound opportunity generation: Buyers who research industry challenges discover founders through video content and initiate contact themselves. This reverses traditional outbound prospecting dynamics and creates higher-quality pipeline.

Accelerated sales cycles: When buyers have already established trust through video content consumption, initial sales conversations start from credibility rather than skepticism. This reduces the time and effort required to move prospects through evaluation phases.

Partnership and referral opportunities: Other industry leaders discover founders through video content and initiate strategic partnership discussions. Video authority creates compound revenue effects beyond direct customer acquisition.

69% of buyers expect to see positive ROI within 6 months of software implementation, with 57% expecting ROI within 3 months. Founders with established video authority can demonstrate track records and expertise that support these ROI expectations, improving close rates and deal sizes.

The Competitive Advantage Window

The founders who invest in video authority now are building sustainable competitive advantages.

AI Power-Users—executives who actively use AI tools—spend 27% of their time on discovery versus 17% for typical buyers. These influential buyers are actively seeking new solutions and vendors, making them high-value targets for video authority efforts.

42% of respondents in McKinsey's research use more than 11 different touchpoints during buying journeys. Founders with video presence across multiple platforms capture attention that single-channel competitors miss.

The window is closing: As more founders recognize the revenue impact of video authority, the competitive advantage of early adoption diminishes. The companies building systematic video authority now will dominate industry mindshare for years.

Current market conditions favor founders who can demonstrate expertise and build trust at scale through video content. Economic uncertainty makes buyers more cautious, but also more thorough in their research—creating larger opportunities for founders with strong video authority.

Strategic Implications for Revenue Growth

Video authority isn't optional marketing—it's revenue infrastructure for modern B2B companies.

Pipeline generation shifts from outbound to inbound when founders build consistent video authority. Instead of chasing prospects, qualified buyers initiate contact after consuming video content that demonstrates relevant expertise.

Deal quality improves because video content pre-qualifies prospects and builds initial trust. Buyers who engage after consuming founder video content have higher intent and clearer understanding of value propositions.

Market positioning becomes defensible through consistent demonstration of thought leadership and industry expertise. Video authority creates barriers that competitors cannot quickly replicate.

The Bottom line

Revenue-focused founders who treat video authority as business infrastructure will systematically capture opportunities that invisible competitors never access. This isn't about content creation—it's about building the trust, authority, and credibility that modern B2B buyers require before making purchasing decisions.

Next week: The Trust Infrastructure Crisis—how AI and content saturation are forcing buyers to seek authentic expertise signals, and why professional video content is becoming the new competitive moat for revenue growth.

These insights come from building Keynote, where we help B2B founders build trust and credibility in an AI-saturated world. When everything feels automated, authentic video authority drives real revenue.

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Research Sources

• G2 2024 Buyer Behavior Report • McKinsey B2B Pulse 2024 • Gartner B2B Buying Journey Research • Blue Noda B2B Marketing Statistics 2024

The Visible Founder • Market intelligence for B2B leaders who turn visibility into revenue