 Hi everybody, how is the energy? It's the last session of the day. Well done. You guys have like stayed the course Big thumbs up. So my name is Natasha. I'm a Operator, I'm a brand builder. I'm a storyteller at heart I'm also a fitness fanatic former jazz singer and for the last six years I've been part of the team at seed camp European seed fund investors in a couple of the founders you may well have heard from today So the likes of Julian at we Fox and Nick at Revolut and lots of other incredible businesses and Today I'm here to talk to you about the magical dark arts of branding and The title kind of sums it up What the fuck is a brand? Literally like what is it and I just gave you as I came in like a few little cues about some of my brand Elements, if you like that I like certain things But they don't tell the whole story and they're things that have evolved over time Because your brand and your business evolves over time So how do we take all of the different elements that contribute to what it is to be a brand and Carefully and with intention think about those To make something that can really go the distance and have some serious longevity now There's a reason that you no doubt recognize the symbol of this company and That this little cheeky mascot maybe makes you feel a bit warm and fuzzy and that for some reason Even though if we're quite honest the technical spec of this product is not the superior one You still really want it because you covered it. You really desire it or Why you can take something and build an iconic shape around it, but you can have two things that are are really pretty much Exactly the same Some people might argue that one tastes better But there's a reason you really want this one and not that one as this video Which is magically gonna appear on the screen is hopefully gonna show you all if there's some volume, please for the video It's a really funny video, which maybe I can be the comedian and narrate through if we don't get sound Okay, so essentially what's happening here is this guy is going to the fridge and he's asked his friend for a coca-cola and His friend gives him a Pepsi and he's like I'll screw this I don't want a Pepsi. I asked you for a coke and his friend says well It's the same thing. In fact Pepsi probably tastes better But he doesn't want the Pepsi he feels like he really wants the coca-cola and the words he uses are the Pepsi is second rate and he does not want to be seen to be with the product that is second rate So you might think you have something that's exactly the same in a market I'm gonna send you all this video by the way afterwards because it is actually very good But the idea of being second rate or second best Nobody wants to be that brand and let me tell you nobody wants to have customers who feel like they're part of something second rate Why would you ever advocate for something that is second best? If they can Pepsi it's second rate. It's a good brand. Coke is better because it's coke. There'll be no more discussions You're going far beyond saving at least a lot drinking Pepsi like a flock Well, I mean you got a little bit of it But essentially that at least I'm not drinking Pepsi like wow you'd be that willing to reject the one thing just because you Don't want to be seen with it. Like you'd admit you don't even like the taste of it now when it comes to brands as well, we maybe have the Let's say Marmite. You might love it or hate it I think this this character possibly invokes some of those quite extreme feelings And also with a brand you'll have language and tone That means you can do things like take to Twitter to very clearly and succinctly map out your new policy for your employees because your brand is a brand that cares about Giving people the flexibility to live and work from anywhere and your brand is about that you say that to people So you need to live it and breathe it internally And also a brand Has a massive impact when it comes to doing some of the hardest things you'll ever have to do Such as layoffs now. Let's not be blind to the situation We're in in the world right now where this is happening everywhere But there is a way to do it that is in keeping with a brand and with a human tone and message That means that even journalists can look at it and say, okay layoffs suck But you know if you're gonna do it, this is how to do it and there can still Amazingly be positive brand sentiment for this company in spite of them having to do a really difficult thing and Then the counter here is here you have two layoff emails leaked emails from Two very large tech companies now you look at them and they say very much the same thing And in fact one of them when you actually delve into it is offering a slightly more generous severance package than the other however Because of the brand sentiment around the one being striped and the other being matter You can take the stripe one because of the reputation and what they've put into the world over years You feel more positively about this one than you do the other and you'll look at little nuances and Details like being more human in the tone and it will make you feel more positive now why do I give you all of this information because Really the kind of lesson number one is that your brand is absolutely everything and yes It may have elements of there's the color and the logo and the identity But your brand is what you put out into the world and it touches absolutely every part of your organization And so we have to be intentional about it at the beginning Now I know what I've shown you is lots of very large and very well established brands And you're gonna say Natasha. That's fine. But we're just starting like tell me what to do now So I'm here also I hope to give you some comfort that every single one of these brands has had to start somewhere and so Let's wind it all the way back to the beginning and think about well, how do we start and At the start you really don't need to over complicate or overthink things you need to build a Minimal minimum viable brand that will get you through to the next milestone of the business Because you're a startup and everything is about growth and getting to the next stage and your brand is going to be evolving with you along that So, how do we start? Simply with looking at the four Ps of what it is to build your minimum viable brand your purpose So I is you exist your positioning Where it is you sit in the market Your profile of the customer you want to go after your ICP so who really wants this and Your personality how are you expressing yourselves and how does that come to life both? verbally and visually and So if we take these four things, it's like okay great these four things But then how do you start thinking about how to tackle these different areas? So We've got to ask ourselves a load of questions So for our purpose well, why is it that we exist? Why is that important? Why do you devote your energies to this like there are many easier things to do than start a company? Yeah, so you've made a choice to do something that's really hard and there's got to be a reason for it How much are you actually committing that to paper and telling that story to people? Why should others want to tell their friends and colleagues about it? You know, they don't want to tell people about that second-rate Pepsi and Why would investors want to invest in you? What's that story and and why would any employee want to work with you? And then how we positioned like what is it? We actually do make or provide and how can we be really clear about what that is in the here and now and one of the biggest concerns and I was actually having this conversation just earlier with a startup founder is It's how you take people on that journey from what is often a quite big and lofty Purpose and vision about the world to the reality of being a very tiny company That's doing a very limited thing in the here and now and the reality is your position will evolve over time And that's okay. You're moving it towards this North star big vision, but but the position does not stay static So what are the benefits of what it is you're doing in the here and now and what makes you special? What don't you do because as well one of the biggest mistakes you can make in the early stages is Trying to be everything to everybody you can't it's impossible so being very clear about what it is you do and don't do what would happen if you went away and What it's like to work here the who so who really wants this who's that? Disproportionately influential customer who are we competing with and like actually who do we want you to associate us with? And then how do we do it? How do we communicate? How do we bring it to life? How do we stand out from the crowd and how do we want people to feel when they interface with us and our product now? This is all great Lots of theory and stuff on a slide I thought what I'd do is I'd actually try and bring it to life a little bit to show you how it works for Us at seed camp and to show you if you like the back end and how that informs the front end that you might see So if we take our purpose, it's that we exist to Identify and support exceptional founders solving using technology to solve some of the biggest problems of tomorrow Oppositioning is all around the idea of Europe seed and being a network powered fund Our ideal customer has a strong founder market fit They're a great storyteller They compel other people to go on the journey with them because that's obviously integral to hiring a team raising your next rounds And they have massive ambition because if you're getting into the game of venture then obviously you need to be able to communicate that big ambition that people are going to see that massive pathway and then How does this translate into our personality and our values because your personality as a brand should really spin out From the values that are true to you and if they don't you'll fall down now for us They're quite simple. We have sort of three core buckets around being community-led Entrepreneurially-minded and teamwork-centric and there are different things that fall out of that So if we take all of this as the back end What does this then look like as the front end? So We describe ourselves as Europe seed fund We invest early and world-class founders attacking large global markets and solving real problems using technology Now to me this passes the ron seal test It does what it says on the tin If you took our back end of our purpose and why we exist and our positioning of what we're trying to do This feels like a genuine and real reflection of that and Then if you think about some of the activity that we put out because your your values are not things to be stuck on a Wall and like yay guys. We did our brand values It's like no what actually does it look like when you take those sort of things and start bringing them to life as Activity because your values need to drive your behaviors and so for us if we're talking about things like being network powered We talk about the seed camp nation and having this nation of a thousand founders Mentors amazing experts and people who've been there in the trenches at the first stages of the all important steps of building companies And so then a activity for us might look like something like this which we just launched the other week which is see camp firsts which is Using the knowledge and the hard-won knowledge gained from people from within the seed camp nation to take you through the various stages of company building Also when we break down our values and we talk about things like transparency and openness It leads us to do things like this which is share our fundraising deck and If we believe in those sort of things the founders have to do that then it's only right we do similar But we don't always get it right because on your journey to building your brand and trying to be authentic and stay really true To who you are you will fuck up along the way and that's okay And there are just like really small minor ones of how we've done that So if we talk about being very human and open and friendly and found a first and then you come on our website We're all like this and like really stiff and with our arms folded. It's like. Oh, yeah shit That probably is not a very good visual representation of what we're saying So if I'm telling you something and then I'm showing you something else You're gonna break trust and you're not gonna believe me so Now when you go on our website, it looks much more like this because we are a team we do smile we don't just fold our arms and The thing you need to know more than anything is like this is the seed camp brand now that isn't where it started 14 years ago and Your business and your product do not stay still and neither should your brand now I think about building a brand a Little bit like and the life cycle of a brand Kind of like the journey of growing up So you start as a baby a bit of a blank canvas can't do anything for yourself You're a lion on standing upon the shoulders of giants to lift you up And you need to leverage them to help you to do practically everything because you're right at the beginning You can't be expected to do it all You then got that testing toddler phase Trying to find out what your product market fit is throwing things at the wall seeing what sticks So that awkward teenage like What we do now we're gonna like try and you know screw things around a little bit or like test some different things be a bit bolder You then need to start growing up you become a bit of an adult you need to start taking a bit more responsibility then a proper grown-up stuff shig as real when you're a proper grown-up and There's a danger when you're reaching this grown-up stage that if you don't Stay true to your brand and your proposition and what your customers want from you and who you are that you have a bit of a midlife crisis and you don't really know what you're about and People if you don't know what you're about. How does anybody else? So I thought I would just take you on a little bit of a journey About how some of the brands that are no doubt brands that we all know and love have evolved over time if anything just as a reminder that you will evolve over time and Do not drive yourselves crazy sweating the small stuff in the beginning because it will and it should change so Our baby our blank canvas everything to play for it's like oh Cup launch it's so exciting, but so scary and look here are three brands that in the very early days And I'm sure we we know them all This is what they looked like We had transfer wise what was Mondo and what was the Facebook and now like what we should say to lots of people But no one wants to hear about their baby. It don't always look that pretty Okay, but it will grow out of that awkward phase and so when we look at this in that very early stage You've got really good examples of two very different schools of thought you've got transfer wise again Doing that run seal test does what it says on the tin. It's peer-to-peer currency exchange Bang you as the end user know what you're gonna get from that the vision and what they were selling as a dream to investors was much Bigger, but as the customer you don't need or want to know that right now You just want to know what it can do for you in the here and now You also maybe Went the opposite and it was like okay. What are we gonna name our bank guys and you went full-on Made-up name because well, nobody's gonna know what it means to look at you can build everything that you want around it You know, it might take that little bit more time and investment But again, it's that carte blanche is that blank canvas? So from the early days to that blank canvas and what is the world gonna become we then maybe have a few more tests that get thrown our way and And maybe these include things like Having to change your name because you didn't invest in doing the proper IP checks at the beginning and he thought oh Yeah, it'll be fine and nobody will notice and then it catches up on you And so there are ways of how you can approach something like this And if you are a brand that has a value around customer centricity Then you can think about how you can take a negative or a potentially negative Such as an IP like conflict and turn it into something positive and that's a great reflection of your brand So what was Mondo that we all now know of as Monzo? They decided to use their customers as part of that name change now You could argue that it wasn't exactly the most innovative name change in the world from a D to a Z But it doesn't matter People loved it because they were involved in the journey and it made you feel positively about them And when they say we're all about our customers Well, you look at things they were doing from the earliest days and you can't contradict it and then as well you often You know able to acknowledge that you're limited by what it is you can do in the here and now and in 2005 Zuckerberg said like I think Facebook is an online directory for colleges That doesn't have to be more and at that point there didn't have to be more There was a huge market and brand opportunity and land grab to be had To go in at that early stage and start saying we're going to be doing this that and the other people wouldn't understand Whereas to build a brand and a feeling that's so resonated have such a clear idea about who your Ideal customer was and it being the university's student and having it grow like that made a lot of sense And he could also in those testing phases do things like this now Maybe you are in a macro climate when you're thinking about your positioning that enables you to do something very bold so at the time when transfer wise was Launching the banks were like public enemy number one. It was quite easy to want to hate on the banks We were coming off the back of the financial crisis Going into another one. So let's see what stuff we see coming out of this But like it made it that the setting in the context because context is everything was quite right to have a brand with a tone and a boldness that was going to push and test the limits of what's around and Go to extremes of saying we have nothing to hide and At that early stage you can do things like that. You're still relatively small You're a disruptor and you can be disruptive But only if it's true to the message of the brand and what it is you're putting out there as well as the context of What's happening in the macro environment and what it is that people want from you and want to hear from you Then the awkward teenage phase we Maybe get a little bit big for our boots and like yeah We're gonna move fast and we're gonna break things and yeah We're really cool like teenagers and this is what we're doing now and you can be with us or against us And maybe some people will love it But maybe others won't or maybe you get a little bit sweary and you know, you push that boldness You're not quite taking your clothes off anymore because after you're a baby or a toddler You probably aren't allowed to do that in public so much But you still are like pushing because it's integral to your DNA and what your brand is about you are pushing the limit of what others around you are doing because that is who you are and it's like back that moment when because You've felt it and you know you're speaking you're not selling what it is the product does You know that feeling because we all have feelings and it's back to that example with the coke and the Pepsi You feel emotions and 80 of our decisions where we like it or not are emotionally driven apologies to anybody here Who thinks they are very deeply rational? But we're all emotional people and so being able to communicate and have your brand talk to people in a way that actually really speaks the emotional thing Their feeling has way more possibility and power to convert than you might think But there comes a phase where we all have to start growing up We have to step out on our own a little bit more And we need to think of a little bit more seriously about our brand About what we're putting out in the world and the stories that we're telling at this point, right? Your product is evolving the business is evolving so You still for example can say we're beating the banks and we're going after the banks But again, we're really tapping into what our customer wants and feels about themselves and so If you're somebody using an innovative New tech company or who's open to using especially in heavily regulated markets like fintech If you're open to using new services and financial services There's got to be something about you that makes you like new things And and they cotton on to that and so on their website. They're telling you this is the clever new way to beat bank fees And by reading this or engaging in this it's like, oh, yeah, I'm clever Therefore and or I'm winning or I'm beating them and I'm doing something new I've got all that bragging rights of Of what I'm doing and and they've really understood me and how I think about myself And so they set that up first and then they give you all the additional proof points around Here's the money you save and here's how you can see it brought to life And here are all these other trust points of why you should back us because others do But they're not starting with the very like Here is the way we are doing this. It's not just that every single brand can say they're doing something bigger better faster But what's the emotional benefit that that's giving you? And also when you start to grow up a little bit you need to think about how your brand Even though you might have very iconic colors like there isn't really a brand I think that has owned a color in the last five years as strongly as monzo has owned this like hot coral Like if ever I have my nails that color people are like, oh, you've got monso nails I'm like, okay. That is some like serious brand penetration there But even the visual design will become limiting at some stage And so you need to refresh and think about well, why is it limiting us? What is it we're wanting to do or push into or what is it? We're wanting our brand to convey here and now That we need to change it up a little bit to bring that to life And then when we become a grown-up Responsibility and things really do become real and especially if you become a public company you Probably can't take your clothes off in public anymore or be swearing on ads And also you might realize at this point that the brand name that had got you so far And had done so well at passing that ron seal test We talked about Is actually now a limiting factor And you want to be seen as much more than just transferring money You'll do so much more of that And so you need to solve the brand name so that people realize that the Proposition has moved along with you So maybe you do a rebrand a very subtle rebrand but a rebrand And you make the messaging a lot simpler and cleaner and more grown up Because again, if you're going to go after a really big land grab you need people to trust you and then If you don't be intentional and think about the way you stay true to the brand what you've said you're going to do and the way you've positioned yourself It can all go downhill and you can suffer a bit of a midlife crisis as We may be seeing a little bit here right now And again, it's a another rebrand We all have I saw some like Faces some little smirks as I put this slide up But the thing here is that This isn't necessarily a bad rebrand It's a missed positioning for what the market understands and wants now And what they've made the entire brand promise about And I think a lot of the pushback is coming from that There is a journey back to the early point we said about how you take people with you and balance the Where it is you want to get to and what it is you do now And if you go too far down into something that's 10 years away that most people can't engage with or really comprehend right now You're going to lose people So To sum up Oh, my slide went away to sum up Really your brand is absolutely everything Please do be intentional about it But don't sweat the small stuff like It does not need to be that complicated in the beginning stages Hold yourselves as your like teams accountable Like check in with yourselves ask yourselves those questions and see like how aligned are we when we answer these questions Are we saying the same thing because if we're not saying the same thing How can customers possibly or investors possibly understand what it is we're doing? And know that your brand does not stay static keep it evolving over time But keep checking back to make sure it's still aligning with who you are Thank you very much