Why your pre-seed startup needs a strong brand (not just a product)

You’ve got an MVP. A deck. Maybe even a few early users poking around your product.

So why bother with branding? You’ll “get to it later,” right? Think again.

At pre-seed stage, your brand is the startup. And if you’re not shaping it deliberately, you’re leaving trust, traction, and opportunities on the table.

Your product isn’t the story—yet

You might have a smart solution. But here’s the thing: most people won’t get far enough to care.

They’re not looking for features. They’re looking for signals.

• Does this company look credible?
• Do they know what they’re doing?
• Do I trust them with my time, money, data?

Your product can’t answer those questions alone. But your brand can.

Example: Arc

A pre-launch job platform for remote tech talent, Arc built early traction not just on product, but brand. Their clean, confident site, consistent tone, and focus on trust—not just tech—meant developers were willing to sign up before the marketplace was even live.

Branding at pre-seed is about clarity, not cosmetics

Let’s kill the myth early: branding isn’t just a fancy logo and a colour palette. It’s the way you show up. It’s your point of view, your values, your ability to communicate with confidence and consistency.

A strong brand makes you easier to understand, easier to believe in, and easier to remember. That’s gold dust when you’re fighting for early attention.

Example: Notion (circa 2018)

Even before they had mass adoption, Notion stood out. Minimal design. Calm tone. Pages that felt usable and human. People didn’t just try the tool—they became fans. Their brand created early believers who told the story for them.

Investors are backing the way you think

At pre-seed, your numbers are hypothetical. Your roadmap is ambitious (and likely to change).

So how do investors judge your potential? They look at how clearly you frame the problem. How confidently you talk about your market. How coherently your product, pitch, and brand line up. That’s what gives you an edge when you’re still early. A brand that says:

“We know who we are. We know what we’re here to do. And we’re already acting like a company worth betting on.”

Example: Levels

Before raising $12M seed, Levels (metabolic health tracking) had no public product. But they had a sharp mission, detailed blog content, a high-trust tone, and founder visibility across podcasts and LinkedIn. They felt bigger than pre-seed—and investors took notice.

Early adopters want to feel something

You’re asking someone to take a risk on something unproven.

To do that, you need to earn more than interest—you need to earn belief.

And belief is emotional. It’s instinctive. It comes from things like:

– A homepage that doesn’t sound like ChatGPT

– An onboarding experience that feels like someone gave a sht*

– Product copy that sounds like a human, not a hype machine

If the whole thing feels intentional, people lean in.

If it feels thrown together, they bounce.

Example: Tella

Tella (video recording for startups) launched with a personality-packed brand: playful visuals, friendly UX, and copy that sounded more like a creative founder than a SaaS robot. Users didn’t just trust the tool—they liked it. And that made them stick around.

Great branding attracts better people

You’re not just building a user base. You’re building a team.

And early hires aren’t just employees—they’re believers.

A clear, confident brand helps the right people find you and say:

“I get what you’re about. I want in.”

Forget startup clichés. If your brand actually communicates your mission, ambition, and values in a way that feels real? That’s a magnet for talent.

Example: Clay

Clay (relationship intelligence CRM) didn’t just build a pretty product.

They built a brand that felt deeply thoughtful—from the visual identity to the storytelling to the founder blogs. That helped attract the kind of mission-aligned team most early-stage startups dream of.

Your brand is doing the talking when you’re not

You won’t always be in the room. Your deck won’t always be passed on.

But your brand lives on your website. On your job ads. On your Notion docs and cold outreach emails and demo requests.

If it’s all saying the same thing—and saying it well—you earn trust faster.

If it’s a Frankenstein of mismatched tone and generic messaging? People notice.

Example: Vanta

Before they were a compliance powerhouse, Vanta’s early website was razor-sharp: clear copy, trust-building visuals, and a no-nonsense tone that made even SOC 2 sound doable. That brand coherence turned curiosity into demos—fast.

The best brands punch above their weight

You might be early. You might be bootstrapped. You might not even have a logo yet.

But if you’ve got a strong point of view? If your messaging is sharp, your UX is thoughtful, and your story makes people stop scrolling?

That’s the kind of early signal people pay attention to. Because it says this isn’t just a project. It’s a company. And it’s going somewhere.

Example: Linear

Linear didn’t just build a fast issue tracker—they built a brand obsessed with speed, clarity, and design precision. Even as an early-stage product, it felt like a category leader. And that perception helped it become one.

Don’t wait until you’re “ready”

The best time to invest in brand isn’t after your seed round. It’s before people start Googling you. Before your first press hit. Before your product lands on Product Hunt. Because if they land on your site and it feels half-baked?

That’s the story they’ll tell themselves. Strong brands don’t just look the part. They are the part. They make early-stage feel established. They build momentum while the rest of the business catches up.

TL;DR? Your brand is the signal

• It shapes how investors see you
• It helps users believe in you
• It attracts the right people to build with you
• It earns you trust when you’re not around to explain

So don’t wait. Build a brand that makes people pay attention—before you’ve even earned it.

Building something ambitious?

So are we. We work with early-stage startups that want to show up with clarity, confidence and edge—before the hype kicks in. Let’s talk!