Photo by Skye Studios on Unsplash

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On our second date, which also happened to be our last one, a young investment banker pitched his startup idea. He had primed our meeting with a message: “I have an interesting business idea. It’s a bit unorthodox, so it’s better to discuss it in person.”

For the background, the founder-to-be studied for a Master’s while working for an intergovernmental organization.

We met at a cozy cocktail bar where he proudly announced his startup idea: a Tinder-type of app solely for prostitution.

He called it “Lobster”.

He chose the brand name because he liked it. Brand strategy and contextual incentives stepped aside. How could they not? Lobster claws would be an app icon of the “unorthodox” business.

As a true founder, he had two personal problems to solve:

1. Men favored paid sex on dating platforms.
2. Women wanted to engage in paid activities discreetly away from professional sex work.

So he came up with a solution — a social network that connected those who wanted to date casually. It sounded familiar, didn’t it?

The platform would neither convey red-light offers nor facilitate bookings. It would only encourage people to date casually. But only people who wanted to pay and be paid would use it.

The purpose of his venture was to make him much money by placing ads.

USPs:

1. There was no explicit content in profiles because he found photos on escort sites grotesque.
2. Dates could only occur in private apartments or hotels.

Marketing would consist of Google Play SEO, targeted online marketing, and social media marketing.

He offered me a 20% company share for designing a logo.

In his opinion, the success was inevitable because:

1. It was a multi-million euro opportunity. The app would bomb the industry.
2. There was a massive market for it in his imagination. The research had no data at the moment.
3. He would help an unaddressed market of desperate women.
4. His friend, a lawyer, had already signed up.
5. His university professor encouraged him to proceed. However, he warned that the school would refuse to fund him because it was a “Christian establishment”.

I rejected his offer at the end of our date. He disapproved by calling me uptight.

Nevertheless, he kindly offered multiple opportunities to rehabilitate me. He kept pushing for a logo design for two weeks. Because in his mind, a logo design would take less than an hour.

Aside from some moral issues, Lobster is a treasure chest of wisdom on building a startup brand:

1. Keep your values, beliefs, and moral compass in check.
   The startup begins with a founder. You are a magnet for like-minded people and the heart of your future startup.
2. Don’t start a business to make a lot of money. Startups aren’t profitable for years. In addition, 90% of startups fail based on Investopedia.com. Do it if you have a vision for a better future, small or big.
3. Building a startup isn’t about you. If you need to solve a problem, google the solution. If you want to build a startup, solve a problem for someone else.
4. Make sure you’re solving the right problem. Favoring a platform isn’t a problem. It’s a personal preference.
5. Respect your idea. Don’t pitch on dates or over beer. Dedicate time to craft it. Then assign times to present it in the most beneficial conditions.
6. Give your idea a twist. Are you making “an app like Tinder”? Or “something like LinkedIn, but better”? Then make sure there is enough twist to it. Address an urgent challenge that your competitors haven’t.
7. Focus on one USP. A tree grows from one seed. Focus and niche keep your startup brand consistent at the beginning.
8. Fundraising isn’t building a company. Your startup needs to build relationships with employees, investors, and partners. People want to support a purpose, not a growing pocket. Keep that in mind when you build a startup in science. The biggest challenge for BioTech startups is internal culture. Give people a more significant reason to do their job than a paycheck and a cool startup name on their resume.
9. Be nice and empathetic. Your measurement of success is happy customers whose life has improved.
10. Be sincere in your desire to help. If you want to help someone, find a way to improve their quality of life. Don’t use it to hype your future business.
11. Respect the “no”. People reject your ideas, not you. If you are considerate and avoid pushing, they will be more likely to help you out.
12. Leave your ego out when making decisions. It isn’t about what you like. It’s about what will be the best for your startup brand.
13. The name and the logo are your brand’s strategic assets. They deserve more than your approval. Give them meaning, identity, and context to make them memorable and competitive.
14. Do your research. Thinking about a problem doesn’t make it real.
15. Have a purpose. Stand up for a cause that keeps you up at night. Making money is a consequence.
16. Differentiation = unique benefit + reason. Doing things differently isn’t enough for startup brands anymore. People want to know why and how they win.
17. Go full in or don’t even try. If you want to do something unorthodox, be bold and take responsibility for your actions.
18. A business plan doesn’t guarantee the success of your startup. Your success is in the hands of your audience and at a whim of luck. A brand will help your startup build a favorable image. A brand strategy will find ways to connect your startup to your audience. For example, startups in science struggle with connecting to their audience because of the perception of science. A brand can change that perception by making the brand “consumable” for people.
19. Marketing isn’t about SEO. It’s about being of service to your audience.
20. Placing ads on your platform is an outdated model. It works, but people learn how to block ads mentally and manually.
21. Support your ideas with research and an action plan. If it’s a multi-million dollar idea, prove it. Show your calculations, potential pitfalls, and examples to support your claims.
22. Remain humble. People aren’t obliged to get on board with your idea. Leave this choice to them.
23. People are less desperate to engage with your product than you think. But if you help them understand the benefits and build a community, they might be willing to try.
24. Be curious. Always learn. Then apply your knowledge. Consuming information without application is just knowledge hoarding.
25. Apply your knowledge for something genuine. Making the world better starts with deciding to do something good for someone else.

Key Takeaway

Figured-out business plan, encouragement, and funding don’t signify a startup’s success. Instead, a startup succeeds when it turns into a brand that new and old customers want to engage with. So your measurement of success is the number of lives your startup has improved.

A brand is the “soul” of your startup. Base it on philosophy, values, and beliefs. It will be challenging to turn a startup into a respected brand without them.

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