Take a Walk on the Dark Side: Positioning & Branding 4 Startups & Sith Lords

Branding & Positioning 4 Startups & Sith Lords

Take A Walk On The Dark Side

@DaveMcClure @500Startups #GoaP Bangkok, July 2014

WARNING:

WARNING!!! this deck is guaranteed to offend, provide tragically incorrect advice,

and perhaps get you arrested.

so Fucking Deal with it.

[This Talk]• WTF is a BRAND?!? • Be Different, Take Risk!!! • Stand 4 SOMEthing. (or u stand 4 NOthing.) • Tap Into Humanity: Fear, SEX, Power, etc. • Be a Hero, or a Villain. (just don’t fucking BORE me.) • Pictures, Text, Music: they all say 1000 words. • When It Works, Double Down. • Be Yourself… Only More So !

KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Dave McClureFounding Partner & Chief Troublemaker, 500 Startups

00’s & 10’s: VC: Founders Fund, Facebook fbFund, 500 Startups Angel: Mashery, Mint.com, SlideShare, Twilio, Wildfire, SendGrid Marketing: PayPal, Simply Hired, Mint.com, O’Reilly !!80’s & 90’s: Entrepreneur: Aslan Computing (acq’d by Servinet/Panurgy) Developer: Windows / SQL DB consultant (Intel, MSFT) Engineer: Johns Hopkins‘88, BS Eng / Applied Math

500 Startups Global Seed Fund & Startup Accelerator

What is 500? $100M silicon valley VC fund + startup accelerator 30+ people / 10 investing partners Locations: SV, NYC, MEX, BRZ, IND, CHN, SE Asia 1500+ Founders / 200+ Mentors Community + Content + Conferences !

800+ Portfolio Co’s / 40+ Countries Wildfire (acq GOOG, $350M) MakerBot (acq SSYS, $400M) Viki (acq Rakuten, $200M) Simple (acq BBVA, $117M) Twilio SendGrid Credit Karma Udemy Barkbox HomeJoy Builk Taamkru Playbasis Eko Noonswoon

[Interesting Shit]

Read Geoffrey Miller.Sex + Evolution + Consumer Mktg = Awesome Sauce.

More Great Shit. Psychology + Comics ☺

[Start(up) + Heart]

NEGATIVE Emotion ExamplesFear, Anger, Sadness, Pain, Pathetic, Pariah

POSITIVE Emotion ExamplesHumor, Sex, Power,

Daredevils, Babies & Kittens

DO! Marketing & BRANDing(it’s not Evil… most of the time ;)

• Tell a Story, Build a Storytelling Culture • Identify by a Color, Animal, Number, Word,

or other SINGULAR element • Create Unique Position in Mind of the

Market, relative to [Visible] Competition • Embrace & Adopt Negative or Shameful

Positioning when Necessary • Know When to Get Back to Product

What is BRAND?• Brand (def): a name, term, design, symbol

that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.

• Branding began as way to tell one person's cattle from another by a hot iron stamp.

• Branding is usually full of PAIN.

Q: Who FEELS Your Brand?

• Customers • Partners • Investors • Employees • Press

Be Different

Take Risk.

Be Different.• Take Risk Early. U Have Nothing 2 Lose. • Playing it Safe = Death. • Pissing People Off is OK. (in fact, #WINNING) • U Can’t Build Brand around INDIFFERENCE. • “Niche 2 WIN” (see blog post) • Love *or* Hate are Ok. Both are Good Signal.

Stand 4 SOMEthing.(or stand 4 NO-thing)

CHANGE.

POWER. SEX.

PEACE.

SEXIST!

Ronda Rousey

FIGHT. 19

Stand 4 SOMEthing, or Stand 4 NOthing.

• Be Iconic. • Single word or emotion. • Don’t be afraid 2b Hated. • Don’t be afraid 2b Shamed. • Aim for the Moon. [Land on the Roof]

Tap Into HumanityFear, Sex, Power

Tap Into Humanity• Fear: What u run from • Sex: Who we love, lust 4 • Power: Ability 2 Control Ur World • Family: Find Ur Tribe. • Anger: Fight 4 Ur Right [2 Party]

Be a Hero

Be a Villain

Be a Hero… or Villain• Who do u LOVE, Admire, Want 2 B? • Who do u HATE, Despise, [secretly] jealous? • Whatever u are Drawn 2 • Just Don’t Be BORING. • Again: Indifference = Death.

Say 1000 words.[or just 1 Finger]

Say 1000 words.• 1 awesome picture. • 3 powerful words, or a few sentences. • 30 sec meaningful music or video. • Less is more. !

note: these slides are not less.

If/When It WorksDouble Down.

When It Works, Double Down.• If someone loves u, it’s working. • If someone hates u, it’s working. • Once u get signal, try iteration, repetition. • Once u get repetition, try variation. • Good artists COPY; great artists STEAL (from themSELVES!)

Be Your SELF.(But Be Ur SUPER Self)

Always Be Your [SUPER] Self• Start from the Heart. • Be Yourself. Be Authentic. Be Comfortable. • But: the MOST AWESOME, PASSIONATE u. • Find a feeling or emotion u can sustain • [sometimes even weakness can be ok]