Why Branding Brings So Much Value To Early Stage Tech

An easy way to wrap your head around building your brand early is to think of a branding road map in connection with your product road map.

Think of a brand as the interface between your product, business and market. It’s critical for the two — your brand and your business — to be in sync.

A common misconception is that a brand is essentially a collection of important artefacts — mission, vision, a tagline about making the world a better place and a logo. There’s hope that these individual artefacts will add up to a greater whole. 

Having a mission, vision and values written down is not wrong. At the end of the day, well-defined brands do have those. But more important than the artefacts is the substance, however, you decide to make it clear to your audiences. 

When thinking about your first stab at building a brand, keep your early adopters in mind — your investors, partners, talent — and answer these questions:

1. What is my way of seeing the opportunity?

2. What gives me the advantage to capture the opportunity?

3. What is the job to be done on my audience’s behalf?

4. Why does what I build matter?