How bad branding actually killed this startup.

A few years ago, I was working with a startup that had just raised a fat seed round.

The founder called me up, buzzing.

“Bro, we need a full rebrand. Website, logo, ad campaign — the works. I want to look like a unicorn.”

I paused. “Cool. What’s the core story? Why should someone care?”

Silence.

Then he said something I’ll never forget: “Dude, let’s figure that out later. We need to look big first.”

I wish I was making this up. But here’s the thing. I agreed.

Back then, I believed branding was like frosting. Make it look pretty. Stack the pieces. Hope it holds.

We launched quickly.

Slick site. Bold ads. Fresh colors. The works.

For a month? Looked promising.

Then came the first customer complaint. Then money-back requests. Then the churn. Then investor calls.

Turns out, the shiny exterior didn’t hide the cracks in the product, the confused team, or the lack of positioning.

The whole thing collapsed like a Jenga tower.

And it hit me:

We didn’t build a brand. We built vibes.

You know the sad part?

We couldn’t sustain, couldn’t raise the next round — and the company shut down within 8 months.

So many founders fall for the same trap, because we confuse scale with readiness.

We think if we just “look big,” people will trust us.

But trust doesn’t come from design. It comes from clarity. From consistency. From truth.

And that truth is boring. It’s made of ops, systems, and story. Not slogans and color palettes.

Want a solid brand? Then forget the sexy stuff.

Start with the unsexy:

• Clear positioning

• Real differentiation

• Customer-first ops

• Word-of-mouth strategy

• Internal team alignment

That’s your base.

Everything else is Jenga blocks.

And you don’t build a tower from the top.

You build it from the ground up. Piece by solid piece.

I wish I knew this sooner, a good brand doesn’t need to look like a unicorn. It needs to work like one.

Because when your foundation is strong?

Every layer you add makes it stronger.

Not shakier.

And that’s how you build a brand that stands the test of scale.

Not one that topples when the next funding round dries up.

Hit reply and tell me the biggest Jenga moment you’ve had in business. I’ll share mine too.

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