Does brand matter for early-stage companies?
Yes, but only if you care about the creation of massive advantage through language, design, and imagination.
We’ve often heard, “Branding—isn’t that just for consumer products? How is this relevant for B2B or early-stage venture-backed companies?” It’s an understandable question. Branding often conjures to mind Super Bowl commercials, flashy logos, or taglines, and these aren’t terribly relevant.
But branding is much more than that. At its best, branding shapes a new way of seeing the world in your mind. It frames a way of looking at things that puts the company and its products in the best possible light. And it creates a relationship that is emotional, enduring, and incredibly valuable.
A great recent example of this is Apple’s branding of Vision Pro. I’m not talking about the name—although it works in so much that it’s very clearly an Apple-like name. I’m talking about how it’s framed:
This is Apple establishing a new category, a new way of thinking about and using a device that many others have produced beforehand. But which many now evaluate based on criteria that Apple set and which favor Apple: Computing and Interface design.
A month after its release, Spatial Computing is already becoming an industry. It’s now entirely possible to see how it could be as large as smartphones and could ultimately be as important as the iPhone. And when competitors start using your term, you have already won. Because now everyone else will be judged against criteria that you have established to advantage yourself.
I suspect that Spatial Computing was not simply applied after the product was done and handed to the marketing team. Instead it was a guiding philosophy and vision (no pun intended) that drove myriad decisions. Indeed, our ability to truly understand Spatial Computing is provided by Vision Pro. It has launched a new way of thinking and seeing headsets by being a new way of seeing and using a headset.
But there’s more to this than that. Spatial Computing is also classic Apple in that it’s brilliantly simple, yet hugely evocative. In order to get there, it was crafted and sharpened endlessly. (I have no insider knowledge of this other than knowing how Apple works on everything.) It is a visceral demonstration of everything that we love about Apple at their best. A reminder that this is still the Apple we’ve always known and loved and a commitment to delivering the kind of magic that we’ve come to expect.
I could go on, but this is what I think about when I think about branding. The creation of massive advantage through language, design, and imagination. The framing of evaluation criteria that force everyone else to be judged relative to you. A unique lens that guides every decision you make toward solidifying and continuing to establish your differences. And the building and strengthening of an emotional relationship that binds your most important stakeholders to you more strongly over time.
Early-stage venture and B2B decision-making share a number of things in common. They tend to be competitive environments with information-rich criteria. There will be many different ideas on how to solve a problem with very little clarity or objective research on which is actually the best. They also rely heavily upon trust and relationships.
There are few guarantees, but ultimately what typically succeeds over the long-term is a strongly defined and executed vision that enrolls investors, partners, stakeholders and customers into your ecosystem and creates relationships that deliver even more value over time.
Brands create advantage for every company. If you’re interested in creating advantage for your early-stage company reach out to us at hello@demosfunds.io.