B2B startups need to build a brand now more than ever

Top brand myths busted with examples from Notion, Deel, Maze, Twilio, and Stripe.

Hello, I’m Hema, and welcome to my newsletter First Impression. Each month, I write an in-depth post on positioning, brand, or GTM strategy for early-stage startups. Join startup founders, GTM leaders, and practitioners, and subscribe to get the newsletter in your inbox.

If you are reading this, then you, like me, are all too familiar with the current mantra of the startup world — efficient growth. Cut burn. Focus on revenue and profitability.

This makes good business sense in the best of times and certainly makes sense in this climate.

In such austere times, can anyone indulge in the luxury of brand building? Most founders don’t think of brand even when our world is frothing with cash. It’s all PLG, MQL, and CAC, isn’t it?

But I’m here to preach the counter-wisdom of startups investing in brand building during hard times because they can pay great dividends both in the near term and long term.

I can already feel many of you tuning out at the sound of the word brand. Hear me out. There…