Adapted by Dani Shuval from a workshop hosted by Initialized and Day&Age, a partner of Initialized and design firm purpose-built for startups.

At Initialized, we understand that as a founder, your initial experiences matter deeply, and every decision can feel like it carries significant weight. That’s why our founder impact team is launching a new blog series, ‘Your First…,’ aimed at guiding founders through key moments in areas such as marketing, PR, talent, go-to-market strategies, design, community/events, storytelling, content creation, and more.

We have already published posts to assist early-stage founders in crafting and launching their first funding announcement and hiring their first 10 employees. Today, we are excited to share strategies on how to effectively approach positioning, branding, and marketing.

In the startup world, making quick and effective decisions is (obviously) crucial. We believe that having high conviction and consistency around positioning, branding, and marketing can support a company’s long term success. How do you approach these concepts and considerations when starting your company? How do you identify your unique value proposition? Most importantly, what assets and messaging are essential for a successful launch? We will explore these questions along with the concept of “lean design” — an approach that emphasizes prioritization, efficiency, and high-impact activities — to help you develop a strategy for building your brand under time and money constraints.

Concepts

Let’s set context with some definitions before we dive in. You’ve likely heard these ideas thrown around, but here are some brief descriptions to solidify how we think about some brand concepts:

Positioning: Positioning is establishing where a brand fits in its market or category, by defining who and what it is—and is not, and what makes it different from its competitors. A prime example is Apple’s strategic positioning, which sets it apart from competitors by emphasizing innovation and user experience. Think Mac vs PC, “we’re cool, we ‘get it’…while the other guys are uncool and don’t.”

Branding: A brand must reflect the union of what it offers, what its audience desires, and how it differentiates from its competitors. It signals what people should expect, wrapping the experience of interacting with its product or service in a distinct and consistent vibe. Afterward, it serves as both an anchor and a reminder of everything — delivered value, differentiated experience, and positive emotions from a promise kept.

A strong brand acts as a force multiplier for every single thing the business does. It’s a surefire way to make a startup look as big as the idea and vision behind it.

Missteps, such as the infamous Pepsi-Kendall Jenner ad, highlight the pitfalls of inauthentic branding. On the other hand, successful branding, like Apple’s, resonates deeply with users. Imagine driving a scooter made by Apple. What does it feel like? Whatever you imagined is Apple’s brand, to you.

Marketing: Marketing is all about understanding your customers’ needs, desires, and pain, then creating and delivering value in ways that resonate with them in powerful ways unique to your company. Effective marketing creates emotional connections that form lasting impressions. Consistently and delightfully providing people with value and utility in ways differentiated from your competitors will help you form lasting relationships and brand loyalty.

Lean Design: Lean design is a prioritization mindset inspired by Lean Startup methodologies. It revolves around moving quickly and streamlining the creative process by focusing on what truly matters. It’s about having the courage to eliminate unnecessary and wasteful activities — often in the initial discovery and exploratory phases — and zeroing in on high-value tasks.

Lean design prioritizes rapid decision-making and the efficient use of resources. It’s how to succeed amid scarcity. Examples of this can include skipping traditional design ‘steps’, focusing only on highest-impact, highest-value activities and assets — like naming, positioning, and visual identity — and relying on the expertise of an experienced team. The Lean Design approach tends to favor small, experienced teams comprised of virtuoso contributors unencumbered by excess processes or layers of management.

Where To Start

Startups should follow a clear prioritization framework, beginning with essentials like naming, positioning, identity, and voice and tone. These steps should be completed before any formal launch or announcement. Skipping them can lead to disjointed branding and marketing efforts. It’s also beneficial to follow the order outlined below for optimal cohesion. You can initiate this process with an agency, like Day&Age, or, if your budget doesn’t permit, gather key stakeholders in a room and trust the most “design savvy” person to lead the brainstorm. There are several resources online that are helpful when leading naming and positioning exercises. It’s trickier to “fake it til you make it” with visual identity work, but if an agency is out of budget, ask people in your network to introduce you to trusted freelance designers who can support your launch efforts.

Naming: What is the significance of your name? Is there a story you can build around it? Is it distinct enough, especially in a market with several competitors? Can you acquire the website domain? Are there any copyright issues? How does it translate in other languages? Are social media handles available?

Positioning: What positioning can you develop that separates you from your competitors? What’s a clear statement that articulates your differences and value proposition?

Here is Apple’s positioning statement:

“For individuals who want the best personal computer or mobile device, Apple leads the technology industry with the most innovative products. Apple emphasizes technological research and advancement and takes an innovative approach to business best practices – it considers the impact our products and processes have on its customers and the planet.”

Here’s an example from Basalt, a company in our portfolio:

“Space is the stage for the next century of innovation, and we need powerful solutions to take control of missions further. Basalt powers in-orbit operations by simplifying how you control every element of mission development, from information request to satellite management. Our unified platform offers autonomy in orbit so you can bring prosperity back home.”

Visual Identity: What is the look and feel of your brand? Your logo, your color palette, your typography? How does it stack up against your competitors? Does it evoke the proper emotions you’re trying to exemplify with your brand? Do you think it will resonate with potential customers?

Here’s an example of Alix’s brand manual, a portfolio company, which includes logo (and different use cases), color palette, typography, graphics, and illustration styles.

Voice and Tone: What is the foundational voice and tone for your brand communications? Are you funny or serious? Is your business more inclusive or exclusive? Are you mature or youthful? Classic or innovative? Complex or simple? What news publication might you best resemble? What are some voices on social media that you admire? Consider all of these components as you define your voice and tone.

Fundraising Deck: A well-designed pitch deck is critical for securing investment. Your fundraising deck is, very likely, your most important piece of marketing at this stage. This deck is about storytelling with the aforementioned assets — your positioning and differentiators — not just outlining your metrics and market. It tells a bigger story about how and why you’ll win.

Website: A website should bring to life all of the above, quickly appealing to and educating your potential customers about what you’re about and how you can help them.

Social: Visuals, consistency, and voice and tone are key for social media — both to build the brand and to build a following. Find a point of view that feels authentic and useful for your brand to project to the world. Make it look good. People will follow.

Make all these documents and assets readily available to your team so they can access them whenever they need them. A mix of Google Drive and Notion works well for a lot of cross functional teams.

Day&Age Lean Design Process and Practices

Lean design emphasizes working in sprints, allowing for quick feedback and iteration. Tools like Google Slides, Figma, Notion, etc., help to keep teams moving quickly. Here are some other considerations.

Founder(s) Vision: It’s important for the design team to understand and believe in the founder’s vision. Challenges, therefore, revolve around expressing the vision, not altering it.

Embrace Limitations: Constraints can fuel creativity and efficiency. Accepting and working within limitations can streamline processes and drive innovation.

Truth and Authenticity: Startups must be honest about their strengths and limitations. Authenticity in branding and communication saves time and builds trust.

Iterative Process: Incorporating feedback quickly allows for continuous improvement. This iterative approach ensures that startups stay aligned with market needs and expectations.

Lean ≠ Cheap: It’s fewer things, each of greater value. We use the time saved from not doing some things at all to make the things we choose to do maximally impactful.

Perfectionism Wastes Time: Perfectionism is, in a sense, the opposite of agile software development. Don’t gum up the works with perfectionism. Get to a hypothesis, then test it.

Key Takeaways

  • Getting your “brand” house in order can save you thousands of future hours and lead to a more successful and consistent company launch.
  • Having a framework not only keeps you and your team on the same page but also ensures your customers clearly understand your brand, value propositions, and differentiators. If you’re able to pay for an agency to help you build these assets, it’s well worth the investment, both short- and long-term.
  • Throughout a startup’s early days and beyond, lean design offers companies a powerful framework for making impactful decisions quickly and efficiently.
  • By embracing limitations, focusing on high-value tasks, and incorporating feedback, startups can position themselves for success.
  • If you’ve launched and skipped some of these early steps, that’s ok. It’s never too late to focus on your brand.