How weird books and bad pizza fuel great brands

Last evening, I met my buddy Epaphra for pizza.

People meet for coffee. We meet for pizza.

Midway through the boring pizza, we started talking about creativity, content, and why some creators feel stuck after a point.

That's when Epaphra dropped a line that made me pause chewing for a second: “Consume 80%. Create 20%.”

At first, I laughed. Sounds like the lazy person’s dream, right?

But then he explained, “The real trap isn’t that creators aren’t producing enough. It’s that they aren’t absorbing fresh ideas, unfamiliar viewpoints, or unexpected ways of seeing the world. Reinvention comes from inputs. Not just outputs.”

It hit me hard.

Because the same thing applies to branding.

When I work with founders on their brand strategy, there’s one mistake I see on repeat.

They build in isolation.

They cut-off consuming the moment they start creating.

The moment the logo is done, the deck is ready, the tagline is set — they put themselves in a creative lockdown.

No books.
No podcasts.
No exploring what’s happening outside their bubble.

The result?

Generic positioning.
Copy-paste language.
A brand that sounds like it was built on autopilot.

Here’s the thing:
Your brand isn’t just what you say.
It’s what you see before you say it.
It’s what you notice before you say it.

The stories you gather. The questions you explore. The patterns you pick up on.

If your inputs are coming from the same industry, the same circle, the same Twitter threads — you’re just recycling what’s already out there.

Standout brands feel alive because the people behind them stay curious.

They wander.
They steal like artists.
They mix biriyani with jazz music.

Philosophy with fintech.
Basketball with branding.
That’s not randomness.
That’s reinvention.

Epaphra wasn’t saying stop making content.

He was saying: If you’re not consuming enough, your content won’t evolve.

It’ll become stale.

You won’t notice.

But your audience will.

The same applies to your brand.

Your positioning, your voice, your story — these need to be fed.

Fed with films, books, conversations, failures, and bad pizza decisions.

The more you consume, the more dots you have to connect.

The more dots you connect, the more original your brand becomes.

If you’re laser focused on the last part, you’re running on fumes.

Reinvention isn’t magic.
It’s maintenance.

The smartest creators and strongest brands don’t just create.

They gather.

P.S. Take this as your permission slip. Read that weird book on mythology. Watch that documentary on sushi chefs. Go down that rabbit hole on 90s wrestling intros.

Every bit of it goes into the mix. And one day, it shows up exactly where you need it.

In your writing.
In your pitch.
In your brand.
Right when it matters.

Reply and tell me: What’s the most unexpected thing you consumed that helped your work?

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