How to name, position, and build a brand for your startup

Executive overview

Most founders treat brand as logo and colors. It's actually how people perceive your company — and you can shape that perception deliberately. Arielle Jackson's framework covers three components: purpose (why you exist), positioning (what role your product plays in customers' lives), and personality (how you show up in the world).

Done early, this work saves time on every downstream decision — from web copy to hiring to PR.

A bad name won't kill a good company, but a clear purpose, tight positioning, and consistent personality will compound into a durable brand.

Naming your startup or product

• Good names are suggestive or evocative — when you hear what the company does, the name clicks (Seesaw, Maven). Descriptive names do more work upfront; empty-vessel names (Yahoo, Eero) require more marketing spend over time.
• Empty-vessel names can work but cost more to make meaningful — every dollar spent on brand is also building the name.
• Names exist on a spectrum: descriptive → suggestive → evocative → fanciful. Know which type you're aiming for before brainstorming.
• A name with equity in the company brand (Square, Google) means product names can be boring and descriptive — don't dilute the master brand.
• Use a ridiculous code name when incorporating; it prevents premature attachment to a weak name.

The naming process

• Start with positioning — it informs the naming brief and brainstorm themes.
• Write a naming brief: what are you naming, what should it communicate, what should it avoid, who are competitors, any additional constraints (e.g., pronounceable in Mandarin).
• Seven criteria that always apply: trademark clearance, domain availability, distinctiveness, timelessness, reflective of key messaging, sound and ease of pronunciation, visual appeal.
• Brainstorm in two passes: (1) synonyms, antonyms, and associations from words in your positioning statement; (2) thematic brainstorm — pick 7–10 Jeopardy-style themes related to your space and free-associate.
• Aim for hundreds of bad ideas and a few worth exploring. Score a shortlist of 10–25 against criteria using red/yellow/green, narrow to 3–5 finalists before pursuing trademark and domains.
• Avoid naming trends (the "-ly" suffix, dropped vowels) — they date quickly.

Purpose: why you exist

• Purpose is the one thing that makes people want to root for you and align employees around a shared direction. It replaces mission, vision, and values as a single memorable statement.
• Format: "We exist to ___." It should work as a natural conference intro and as the header of your about page.
• Operates on a 10-year frame — it stays stable while positioning evolves every 18 months.
• Strong examples: Google ("organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful"), Stripe ("increase the GDP of the internet"), Nike ("bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world — and if you have a body, you are an athlete").
• To find yours: list cultural tensions relevant to your business, then list your brand's best-self attributes. Pick the most resonant item from each side, then complete "We exist to ___" and "The world would be a better place if ___."

Positioning: the space you occupy in customers' minds

• You have a positioning problem if 10 people at your company give 10 different answers to "what does your product do?"
• Start with your audience using concentric circles: total addressable market → segments → target audience (who you'll actively acquire in the next 18 months) → model persona (a specific, named individual with real context — job, location, habits, priorities).
• Going narrow on your target audience is a feature, not a bug — dominating a focused segment is more achievable than being everything to everyone.
• Define: who is it for, what problem do they have, how do they address it today, what do you make, how does it work, and what would a happy user tell a friend?
• Condense into the classic "for" statement: For [target audience] who [need/opportunity], [product] is a [category] that [key benefit], unlike [alternative], our product [differentiator].
• Apply the bar test: role-play as a target user having drinks with another target user. Say "I just started using [product]. It's a [category] that [benefit]." If the other person would actually say those words at a bar, the copy is ready.
• Avoid corporate language ("leverages", "empowers") — write how people actually talk. "Turns your iPad into a point of sale" beats any jargon-heavy alternative.

Brand personality

• Brands are like people — they need a personality or they end up forcing awkward campaigns (the ADP summer fun email).
• Use Jennifer Aaker's five dimensions of brand personality: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, ruggedness. Strong brands spike in exactly two.
• Most tech companies default to sincerity + competence. That's fine as a foundation, but adds no differentiation.
• Add five brand attributes as tension statements: "We are X but not Y" (e.g., "playful but not silly", "daring but not stupid"). Tension makes the brand interesting; redundant synonyms add nothing.
• These attributes directly inform copy tone, visual design, illustration style, and photography.

Bringing it all together

• Combine purpose, positioning, and personality into a creative brief — the document you give to agencies, writers, and new hires.
• Include positive and counter examples for visual and written direction alongside the strategy components.
• Revisit when launching new products to check alignment or flag the need to update.
• A visual style guide (logo, colors, fonts) alone is not a brand guide — Volvo's style guide wouldn't help you understand why it owns the word "safety."

Getting PR at launch

• Get your story straight first — if you can't describe your company in a sentence, reporters won't cover it.
• Ensure your website is ready for traffic before pitching; don't drive press to a name you plan to change.
• Embargo launches (briefing multiple outlets simultaneously) rarely work for early-stage startups anymore. Default to an exclusive with a single outlet.
• Funding alone is not a story. Use it as a news hook within a larger narrative — product availability, reference customers, momentum, a notable partnership.
• Make the story interesting to the outlet's readers, not just to you. Tie your launch to a cultural trend, a local angle, or a customer hero story.
• Don't overlook local press — they are hungrier for stories and more accessible than national tech outlets.

Hiring your first marketer

• For sales-driven businesses: wait until you have a repeatable sales motion before hiring a marketer.
• For marketing-driven businesses: typically around 10 employees, when ongoing work outgrows what founders and freelancers can manage.
• Think about what kind of marketer you need: product marketer, performance marketer, comms, or creative. Prefer a T-shaped generalist who goes deep on one function.
• Red flag: hiring a marketer before finishing positioning — they'll spend their first months fixing foundational work anyway.