The Alter Ego Controversy: Fake Writers with LinkedIn Profiles
The Story
In The Hustle’s early days, Sam invented fake writers with full LinkedIn and Reddit profiles to make the newsletter look bigger and publish edgier content.
He created fictional bylines: “Steve Garcia” wrote about using LSD to treat depression. “Steph Whitfield” wrote about men hitting on her through LinkedIn. “Sidd Finch” covered other topics.
Each persona had backstory and social profiles. Sam took real stories people had told him and published them under these alter egos to express opinions that might be too provocative for the company’s single-person brand.
He later acknowledged the approach was “exhausting and unsustainable” and pivoted to straight business news in 2016.
Lesson for Creators
A creative (if ethically gray) growth hack. The lesson isn’t “create fake identities.” It’s about the underlying problem Sam was solving: a one-person operation can’t credibly look like a publication. Instead of alter egos, today’s creators use guest contributors, curated perspectives, and AI-assisted research to add depth and variety to a solo operation. Solve the same problem without the ethical risk.
Related
- Building in Public - The Competitor Betrayal That Backfired — Yannick’s experience shows the trade-offs of transparency, the opposite approach to Sam’s fake personas
- The Reddit-First Growth Strategy — Another creative early-stage growth tactic Sam used when The Hustle had no brand recognition