Platform Deep Dive
Medium for Founder Content: Is It Worth It in 2025?
Medium still drives meaningful discovery for some categories of founder content. Here is when it is worth publishing there — and when you should put that energy elsewhere.
Medium's authority has declined since its peak, but it still ranks for certain long-tail searches and delivers distribution through its internal recommendation algorithm. Whether it is worth investing in depends heavily on your topic category and whether Medium is where your target customers read.
When Medium works for founders
- Startup and entrepreneurship topics. Medium still has a large audience for startup content, founder stories, and growth lessons. If this is your content category, you can reach readers who specifically browse Medium for this content.
- When you want secondary distribution quickly. Cross-posting your existing blog content to Medium (with canonical URL set to your original post) can capture Medium's internal readers without impacting your own SEO.
- Tech product tutorials and technical deep dives. Medium's Towards Data Science and Better Programming publications still rank well and accept article submissions. If your audience overlaps with their readers, submission can provide significant distribution.
When Medium is not the right platform
- Your target customers are businesses, not individual practitioners. Medium skews toward individual readers, not procurement teams.
- You want to own your audience. Medium articles build Medium's audience, not yours. Readers follow you on Medium, not subscribe to your site.
- You are building for SEO. Medium articles can compete with your own domain in search results. A well-managed own-domain blog outperforms Medium for SEO over time.
The canonical URL strategy
If you cross-post to Medium, always set the canonical URL to your original post. Medium's import tool does this automatically. This tells Google that your own site is the original source, preserving your SEO value while still reaching Medium's audience. Never publish to Medium first — write for your own domain first, then cross-post.
Content drives discovery only if your product is listed where readers look
Medium readers who follow a link to your product often check G2 or Product Hunt before signing up. UpStart ensures your product is where they will look next.