A book on brand for product teams

Every startup and product team I’ve worked with has in some way or another interacted with and shaped their product’s brand. And yet, while most of us have an instinctive understanding of the whole brand thing, I’ve found that most of us don’t have a full conceptual model or the language to anchor that understanding around.

Brand is remarkably high leverage—even from day one of a new startup or product. But without a deep understanding of brand and without knowing how to act on it, we can’t apply this leverage well.

Products teams that deeply understand brand can make better, higher-leverage decisions faster. They can reduce ambiguity and subjectivity and ship more effective, consistent, and coherent product outcomes. They can attract and retain a world-class team.

There are other books and resources on brand and the practice of branding. But in my experience, these tend to be focused on an audience adjacent to startups and product teams: agencies, visual designers, marketing specialists, or a generalized business persona. Many tend to focus on one aspect of brand—particularly visual expression—and don’t provide the conceptual tools needed to understand and act upon brand in the context of a startup or product organization.

I’m writing a book on brand for product teams, founders, product designers, engineers, and product managers. I hope this book will be valuable for anyone working in a startup or product organization.

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