LinkedIn Ads Targeting Founders: 5 Live Examples
last updated: Feb 21, 2026
Most B2B advertisers burn their first $2,000 targeting the "Small Business Owners" interest category. That gets you local pizza shops and franchisees, not the SaaS decision-makers you actually need. If you are serious about reaching the c-suite, you need to stop guessing and start engineering your audience. For a broader overview of the ecosystem, read our Founders Guide to LinkedIn Ads first.
TL;DR
LinkedIn ads targeting founders is the technical execution of using Boolean search strings to isolate high-equity decision-makers while aggressively excluding lower-level employees. It replaces native "interest" targeting with strict job title and member group filters.
How-to: Use the strings below directly in your Campaign Manager.
- Benchmark: Expect high costs for this tier. CPCs for senior decision-makers often land in the $12 - $25 range for Tier 1 countries, significantly higher than the global average for standard roles.
- Rule: Always uncheck "Audience Expansion" and "Audience Network." These are often considered wasted spend for high-precision campaigns.
- Warning: Targeting "Owner" without exclusions will pull in "Owner of a used Honda Civic" if their profile is messy.
How-to: Use the strings below directly in your Campaign Manager.
Glossary
- Boolean Logic: The use of operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine or exclude keywords in a search string. It is the only way to bypass LinkedIn's fuzzy matching.
- Audience Expansion: A setting that allows LinkedIn to show your ads to people similar to your target. Always keep this disabled for founder targeting.
- Member Groups: LinkedIn communities users voluntarily join. This is a high-signal proxy for affinity (e.g., "SaaS Founders" vs. generic "Business").
How to Use The Asset (copy this)
Copy these Boolean strings directly into the "Job Titles" or "Member Groups" search bar in Campaign Manager. Do not type them manually; the syntax is fragile.
1. The "Pure Founder" String
This captures the top-level titles while removing the most common false positives.
Use for: Broad awareness campaigns where you need maximum reach within the c-suite.
("Founder" OR "Co-Founder" OR "Cofounder" OR "Owner" OR "CEO" OR "Chief Executive Officer" OR "Partner")
NOT
("Assistant" OR "Intern" OR "Student" OR "Consultant" OR "Freelance" OR "Chapter" OR "Club" OR "Retired" OR "Looking for" OR "Seeking")
2. The "SaaS & Tech" Overlay
Generic founders include retail and construction. Use this intersection to force a tech context.
Step 1: Select Job Titles (Use the string from #1).
Step 2: Click "And must also match" (Narrow Audience).
Step 3: Select "Member Skills" and input:
"SaaS" OR "Software as a Service" OR "Cloud Computing" OR "Enterprise Software" OR "Start-ups" OR "Go-to-Market Strategy"
3. The "High-Growth" Proxy (Group Targeting)
Job titles can be self-assigned. Group membership indicates active interest in scaling.
Use for: Retargeting or high-intent tiers.
Input these into "Member Groups":
4. The "Exclusion List" (The Money Saver)
If you do not exclude these, you will waste 20% - 30% of your budget on non-buyers who use vanity titles.
Input into "Exclude" > "Job Titles":
"Coach" OR "Consultant" OR "Recruiter" OR "Talent Acquisition" OR "Real Estate" OR "Broker" OR "Franchise" OR "Store Manager" OR "Account Executive" OR "Sales Manager"
1. The "Pure Founder" String
This captures the top-level titles while removing the most common false positives.
Use for: Broad awareness campaigns where you need maximum reach within the c-suite.
("Founder" OR "Co-Founder" OR "Cofounder" OR "Owner" OR "CEO" OR "Chief Executive Officer" OR "Partner")
NOT
("Assistant" OR "Intern" OR "Student" OR "Consultant" OR "Freelance" OR "Chapter" OR "Club" OR "Retired" OR "Looking for" OR "Seeking")
2. The "SaaS & Tech" Overlay
Generic founders include retail and construction. Use this intersection to force a tech context.
Step 1: Select Job Titles (Use the string from #1).
Step 2: Click "And must also match" (Narrow Audience).
Step 3: Select "Member Skills" and input:
"SaaS" OR "Software as a Service" OR "Cloud Computing" OR "Enterprise Software" OR "Start-ups" OR "Go-to-Market Strategy"
3. The "High-Growth" Proxy (Group Targeting)
Job titles can be self-assigned. Group membership indicates active interest in scaling.
Use for: Retargeting or high-intent tiers.
Input these into "Member Groups":
- SaaS Founders & CEOs
- Y Combinator Alumni
- TechCrunch
- Startup Specialists
- Cloud SaaS Startups
4. The "Exclusion List" (The Money Saver)
If you do not exclude these, you will waste 20% - 30% of your budget on non-buyers who use vanity titles.
Input into "Exclude" > "Job Titles":
"Coach" OR "Consultant" OR "Recruiter" OR "Talent Acquisition" OR "Real Estate" OR "Broker" OR "Franchise" OR "Store Manager" OR "Account Executive" OR "Sales Manager"
Benchmarks
Sample Math: The Cost of Precision
Narrowing your audience increases CPM but decreases wasted spend. Before launching, run your own numbers with our LinkedIn Ads Budget Calculator.
Note: Audience sizes under 30,000 may struggle to deliver daily budget. Combine strings if the audience is too small.
Narrowing your audience increases CPM but decreases wasted spend. Before launching, run your own numbers with our LinkedIn Ads Budget Calculator.
- Broad Targeting (Interests):
- Audience size: 100,000
- CPM: $50
- Total Cost: $5,000
- Relevant Leads: 2
- Cost Per Relevant Lead: $2,500
- Boolean Targeting (Titles):
- Audience size: 15,000
- CPM: $120
- Total Cost: $1,800
- Relevant Leads: 6
- Cost Per Relevant Lead: $300
Note: Audience sizes under 30,000 may struggle to deliver daily budget. Combine strings if the audience is too small.
Interests vs Job Titles
Why Specificity Wins
Most novice advertisers rely on Interest targeting (e.g., "Interests: Technology"). The problem is that an "interest" in technology is held by everyone from a CTO to a college student who likes iPhones. Boolean strings targeting Job Titles (e.g., "CTO") are binary: either they hold the title, or they don't.
While interest-based targeting is cheaper on a CPM basis, the effective cost to reach a decision-maker is often 5-10x higher because of the waste. In B2B, you pay for the identity, not the impression.
Most novice advertisers rely on Interest targeting (e.g., "Interests: Technology"). The problem is that an "interest" in technology is held by everyone from a CTO to a college student who likes iPhones. Boolean strings targeting Job Titles (e.g., "CTO") are binary: either they hold the title, or they don't.
While interest-based targeting is cheaper on a CPM basis, the effective cost to reach a decision-maker is often 5-10x higher because of the waste. In B2B, you pay for the identity, not the impression.
Risks
Even with perfect Boolean strings, there are pitfalls:
- Frequency Spikes: Because these audiences are small (often 20k - 50k), your ad frequency can jump to 5+ within a week. You must rotate creatives aggressively.
- False Positives: The "Partner" title is dangerous. It captures law firm owners (good) but also Starbucks employees (bad). Always pair "Partner" with an industry filter like "Software Development."
- Platform Bias: Relying solely on LinkedIn can be expensive. Sometimes it is cheaper to retarget these same users on Google. Check our comparison of LinkedIn Ads vs Google Ads to see when to switch channels.
Conclusion
Precise targeting is the only way to make unit economics work on LinkedIn, but it simply amplifies the quality of your offer. If the offer is bad, you are just showing it to smart people faster. Master the targeting to stop bleeding cash, but focus on your strategic positioning to actually hit $10k MRR.
FAQ
- You:What is the minimum audience size for founder targeting?Guide:LinkedIn recommends 300,000+, but that is for their benefit, not yours. For specific founder targeting, audiences in the 20,000-50,000 range are acceptable. Any smaller, and your frequency will spike too fast, causing ad fatigue.
- You:Should I use "Job Seniority" instead of Boolean titles?Guide:No. LinkedIn's "Seniority" classification is algorithmic and often wrong. A "Partner" at a law firm is an owner; a "Partner" at Starbucks is a barista. Relying on "CXO" seniority buckets often captures entry-level employees with inflated titles. Stick to Boolean strings.
No-BS guides
📉 Avg founder's probability: 12%
What if your startup is doomed to fail? ò_ô
You spent 5 minutes reading about tactics. Don't leave without checking if your current strategy can get you to $10K MRR in the next 90 days.