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B2B · AI · Founder brand

65K TikTok followers in four months. 31K on Instagram in 10 weeks.

Ben Gusberg co-founded Cape, an AI startup that raised $4M from VCs. He posted his first TikTok on May 29, 2026, to a brand-new account. Four months later he has 65K followers and 707K likes, and his top video has 1.8 million views. On Instagram, where we started posting in August, he's gone from 745 followers to 31K in just 10 weeks, with 2M views.

@bengusberg on TikTok
65K
TikTok followers
707K
TikTok likes
1.8M
Top video
30K
Instagram followers added in 10 weeks

The starting point

A brand-new account.

Ben was running Cape and, by his own description, was new to TikTok. His account started with no followers and no videos. His story splits into two periods: a first stretch of mixed results, then a focus on AI that drove nearly all of his growth.

  1. Part one: mixed results

    Before anything was scripted, Tatem, who runs his account, did a deep dive on creators already doing well in his space: how they post, why it works for them, and details down to what time of day they publish. She walked Ben through it as a presentation.

    The first videos covered a lot of ground: founder advice, debates, interviews, and some AI tools. Through June, most got a few thousand views, and the account grew slowly.

  2. Part two: focus

    Then Ben told Tatem he really wanted to make videos about AI. It was the topic he was most excited about, and it showed on camera.

    So we focused the account on it. Through July the videos moved to practical tips for using Claude and other AI tools, and by August every video was one. At the end of July we moved him to three videos a day.

  3. The growth

    On August 1 he posted a video that has since passed 1.8 million views, and a partner at a16z reposted it to X. Within days the account was past 10,000 followers.

    He's kept posting about three a day since, and the account is at 65K followers. He's grown fast enough that brands now reach out asking to sponsor his videos.

  4. Instagram needed a different start

    We started posting to his Instagram on August 3. It had been a personal account for years, with 745 followers, and the same videos that worked on TikTok weren't reaching anyone there.

    Tatem's read was that Instagram had already filed him under the wrong category. Her plan: post enough that the page reads as a creator's, have him follow and engage with accounts in the AI niche so Instagram re-files him, and rebuild his hashtags from the ones those accounts use. 10 weeks in, he's added 30K followers there, with a best post at 249K views.

Top performing content

More reels from the account.

More of his most-watched videos.

  • 315K

    Four Claude agents

  • 249K

    Claude is show and tell now

  • 241K

    Stop asking Claude

The result

Where TikTok and Instagram stand.

Four months after his first post, his TikTok has 65K followers, 707K likes, and 11.6M views. Nearly all of that growth came after he focused on AI. Brands now reach out to sponsor his videos.

On Instagram, he's gone from 745 followers to 31K in 10 weeks, with 2M views and a best post at 249K.

“We've had a great experience working with Tatem. She's highly responsive, has creative ideas, and is always willing to brainstorm and update strategy based on my input. Strong start for our work together when she did a deep dive on relevant creators in my niche and gave me a presentation with details on how they post content, why they're successful, and nitty-gritty details like what time they post.”
Ben Gusberg, co-founder of Cape

The results

Four months since his first post.

65K
TikTok followers, from a brand-new account
1.8 million
Views on his top video
31K
Instagram followers in 10 weeks, up from 745

Instagram

His Instagram had 745 followers when we started posting in August. It's added 30K in 10 weeks, with 2M views and a best post at 249K.

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