When One Founder Says Red Bull and the Other Says Goldman Sachs
"I want us to feel like Red Bull. Edgy. Disruptive. We're shaking up the industry."
"I want us to feel like Red Bull. Edgy. Disruptive. We're shaking up the industry."
"I want us to feel like Goldman Sachs. Institutional. Authoritative. Clients need to trust us immediately."
Same founder meeting, three hours apart. Different founders. Same company.
This is the moment most brand projects die.
Why Founder Vision Splits Get Worse
Three things make it worse:
1. Hiring an agency too early
You hire someone because they have a beautiful portfolio. They have ideas. They're excited.
What they don't have: alignment from the founders.
So they propose a direction. Founder A loves it. Founder B hates it. Agency redesigns. Founder B loves this one. Founder A hates it.
You've just turned the agency into the translator of a founder disagreement, instead of hiring them to solve the problem.
By the time you've paid for five rounds of revisions, the budget is gone and you're no closer to alignment.
2. Designing before deciding
This is the same mistake. Skip the strategy. Jump to aesthetics.
"What do you like? What do you dislike?"
Founders send Pinterest boards. One sends photos of tech startups. The other sends photos of law firms. Both are "right" about their customer.
Designer tries to find the overlap. This is impossible. There is no overlap between Red Bull and Goldman Sachs that doesn't look like a compromise.
So you get a logo that's trying to be both edgy and institutional. It succeeds at neither.
3. Asking "what do you like" instead of "what does the buyer trust"
This is the root error. You're not asking the right question.
Don't ask: "Do you like this logo?"
Ask: "Does your customer trust this logo? Would they feel confident buying from this company?"
Those are completely different answers. A founder might like edgy and irreverent, but their customer (a CFO making a $500k purchase decision) might need authoritative and formal.
The 5-Question Pre-Engagement Quiz
Before you hire any brand partner, both founders answer these separately. No talking. Just answers.
1. Who is our primary customer?
Not "financial professionals." Specifically: their job title, company size, industry, what problem they're facing, how much they're spending.
If the founders give completely different answers, you have a bigger problem than branding. You have a customer strategy problem.
2. Why would they choose us over a competitor?
What is our actual moat? Speed? Price? Trust? Innovation? Relationships?
Red Bull positioning says "we're innovating and pushing boundaries." Goldman Sachs positioning says "we've seen every market condition and we're still here."
If one founder says "we're the cheapest" and the other says "we're the most sophisticated," you're not aligned on value prop. Brand won't fix that.
3. What should a customer feel the first time they see our brand?
One founder says "excitement and possibility." The other says "stability and expertise."
These are incompatible. One brand can't make someone feel both.
4. What is one competitor brand that we absolutely do not want to be compared to?
This clarifies what you're not.
If one founder says "we don't want to look like a fast-food chain" and the other says "we don't want to look like a funeral home," you're still aligned (broad agreement on tone). If one says "we don't want to look corporate" and the other says "we don't want to look casual," you're not aligned.
5. If we had to choose one customer segment to serve first, and it meant the other segment might not feel like we're for them, which would it be?
This forces the trade-off conversation.
If one founder says "early adopters" and the other says "enterprise," you've identified the problem. You can't win both. Which one matters more?
If both founders give the same answer, you're aligned. Proceed.
What the Answers Tell You
All five questions give similar answers?
You're aligned. Hire the designer. You'll finish faster.
Three out of five aligned, two divergent?
You're close. Do the ICP workshop. Resolve the customer definition. Then hire the designer.
Less than three aligned?
Stop. Don't hire anyone yet. You need a founder alignment session before you hire a brand partner.
Spending $25k on a designer while you're fighting about who the customer is doesn't fix the fight. It makes it worse.
The Real Conversation
This is what needs to happen before branding:
Founder A: "I want us to feel like Red Bull."
Founder B: "I want us to feel like Goldman Sachs."
Then, not "let's find a compromise," but:
"Who is our customer, and what do they actually need to feel?"
Pull customer interviews. Real quotes. What do they say about trust? About reliability? About whether they felt understood?
Most of the time, the data settles it. Founder A's intuition was about a customer segment that matters, but it's not the primary customer. Or Founder B's intuition was right, and the positioning should be institutional, not edgy.
Data breaks the tie. Founders stop fighting. Designer gets a clear brief.
Before You Call the Designer
Send each founder these five questions. Ask them to answer independently. No talking. Set a 24-hour deadline.
If their answers align, you're ready to brief a designer.
If they don't, you're going to waste money on design rounds that founder B will kill because you never agreed on customer truth.
Spend two hours resolving the answers. Then call the designer.
What You're Actually Deciding
Brand is not taste. Brand is not "what feels good to me as a founder."
Brand is what your customer believes about you. What they feel when they see your logo. What they remember about your company.
If your customer is a 65-year-old CFO, they need to feel Goldman Sachs, not Red Bull.
If your customer is a 28-year-old founder, they need to feel Red Bull, not Goldman Sachs.
You can't be both. Pick one. Let data pick for you.