When to Invest in Branding for Startups? How Minimum Viable Branding Builds Strong Roots For Growth.

I heard a podcast recently about a company that went into administration after spending millions on branding before they’d commercialised their product.

The hosts’ conclusion? “This proves you shouldn’t do branding early.”

They’re half right. And completely wrong.

Two Different Root Systems

Here’s what they missed: there are two entirely different approaches to early-stage branding, and confusing them is like mistaking a hothouse orchid for a pioneering wildflower.

Branding-as-monument is building the finished structure before you understand the terrain. It’s commissioning the logo suite, shooting the brand photography, writing detailed guidelines, and mapping target personas down to their coffee preferences. It’s investing in the mature tree before you’ve tested if the soil can support it.

Branding-as-seed is something else entirely. It’s planting the essential genetic code that will adapt as it grows. Not to look established, but to know which direction to reach for light.

Because here’s the biological truth: without that core DNA, without a clear belief system about who you are and what you stand for, you’re not testing hypotheses. You’re scattering energy randomly, hoping something takes root.

Why Minimum Viable Branding Works Like Pioneer Species

In ecology, pioneer species are the first to colonise disturbed ground. They’re not the tallest or most elaborate. They’re fast, adaptable, and purpose-built to gather feedback from harsh environments.

You need a Minimum Viable Brand for exactly the same reason.

Not a polished identity. A living system you can test and evolve.

Think of it as your seedling—hardy enough to survive early conditions, flexible enough to adapt as you learn what the environment actually needs. You’re not planting a mature oak. You’re germinating something that will shape itself to the reality it encounters.

Your MVB includes:

- A hypothesis about who your customer is (not a rigid specification—a living sketch that evolves with each conversation)

- A clear vision of the ecosystem you’re creating (not a static mission statement—a belief strong enough to attract others into your orbit)

- A distinct position in the landscape (not just brand messaging—the unique niche only you can occupy)

This is about investing attention in understanding which direction to grow before you commit your full resources.

The Feedback Loop: How Living Systems Learn

Here’s where MVB mirrors how natural systems evolve:

Thriving companies establish their core identity, then enter immediate dialogue with their ecosystem.

The cycle looks like this:

1. Establish your genetic code → Who are we? What do we stand for? What ecosystem are we designed for?

   
   

2. Test in real conditions → Put roots down with actual customers. Feel what the soil responds to.

   
   

3. Absorb feedback → Not “do people like us?” but “are we solving a real problem in this environment?”

   
   

4. Adapt and strengthen → Adjust your growth pattern. Reinforce what works. Prune what doesn’t.

It’s cyclical, like seasonal growth rings. Each iteration adds strength without requiring you to rebuild from scratch.

Companies that fail don’t make the mistake of establishing identity early. They make the mistake of crystallising their form before they understand what the environment demands.

When Belief Outperforms Data

When Richard was raising money for d3o, he pitched 97 investors with detailed business plans and financial projections.

97 rejections.

He had created elaborate forecasts - essentially weather predictions for a climate he’d never experienced. He was presenting maps of territory he hadn’t walked, trying to manufacture certainty about an ecosystem that didn’t exist yet.

Then he changed his approach. He stopped trying to predict the unpredictable and started demonstrating the core principle. He hit himself with an avalanche shovel, showing the fundamental property of the material. He described the ecosystem where d3o would thrive—as ubiquitous as Gore-Tex, as essential as waterproofing.

The next investor said yes in ten minutes. £500,000.

Here’s what shifted: At the seed stage, showing why your idea will matter to the ecosystem is more important than predicting exact growth patterns.

You’re not operating in a controlled greenhouse where every variable is known. You’re a pioneer species in new territory, where your ability to adapt matters more than your initial specifications.

Your Minimum Viable Brand is the essential DNA that lets you survive and evolve in that uncertain terrain - fast.

The Strategic Question

So when should you "do branding?"

The real question is: are you building a monument or planting a seed?

If you’re investing in the polished, finished identity before you’ve tested anything - stop. That’s building the canopy before you’ve established roots. That’s the path to exhausting your resources on a structure the environment doesn’t support.

But if you’re establishing a clear, adaptable belief system that can strengthen as you learn? Start now.

Because without a Minimum Viable Brand, you’re not just invisible in the market. You’re directionless within your own organisation. Every decision becomes random adaptation. Every conversation sends you in a different direction. Every pivot tears up the root system you should be strengthening.

Your MVB is your internal guidance system before it’s your external signal.

It determines:

- Which customers to engage first

- What story attracts the right investors

- Which opportunities align with your growth pattern

- How to make decisions when the terrain is still unmapped

Companies that wait for “enough data” to start branding never get there. Because without clear identity, they can’t recognise which data matters. They’re measuring soil pH when they haven’t decided what they’re trying to grow.

From Seed to System

The mistake isn’t establishing identity early. The mistake is treating it as something you build once and protect from change, rather than something living that must adapt to survive.

Your Minimum Viable Brand isn’t your final form. It’s your genetic code - the essential instructions that guide how you respond to reality.

It’s the belief you test, the identity you refine, the vision you sharpen with every environmental feedback loop. It’s just enough clarity to grow with intention instead of random mutation.

Establish your core. Test against reality. Adapt with purpose. Repeat.

This is how you build something resilient without burning resources on premature structure.

The Choice Every Founder Faces

There are two approaches to early-stage growth:

Wait until conditions are “perfect” to establish your identity - which means making a thousand directional decisions without a compass. By the time you’re “ready,” you’ve already grown in whatever direction the wind was blowing. You’ve already created patterns you can’t undo.

Or plant your seed early. Establish clear, testable DNA. A hypothesis about who you are and what ecosystem you’re designed for. Then let the environment teach you how to thrive.

Are you waiting for certainty before you begin? Or are you planting early, adapting fast, and letting reality strengthen your form?