Totally agree, and I’d like to share my story. Ten years ago, I started a small, four-person game development studio. Branding - or more accurately, positioning - was what ultimately blocked our progress and led to shutting down the operation. Our first game turned out to be a huge success, especially for something built in just 10 days. It started as a one-day prototype, evolved into a mobile game, and within its first week got to the top 3 iOS games in Poland. That’s when the problems began. The regional success gave us the confidence to pursue a global version of the game. However, some of my teammates began comparing our small-scale efforts to the AAA mobile games dominating the market at the time, like Angry Birds or Monument Valley They wanted us to compete on every front - branding, social media presence, visuals, and overall polish. I think fear played a big role too. Fear of a reality check, because if you release and fail, your "idea" will be called bullshit and worth nothing, while when you don't you can still live your dream, or so you think so. This was the start of a slow decline. Despite amazing feedback, our follow-up game never made it past closed playtesting. The mindset of “not being ready to compete with AAA games” paralyzed progress and kept us in a loop of trying to perfect everything. Eventually, we lost momentum, trust in each other, and the studio had to close. Looking back, I’ve learned that trying to mimic what top players are doing when you’re just starting out is one of the biggest pitfalls for founders. And this isn’t something only inexperienced people struggle with. As the saying goes, you either learn the hard way or the very hard way. I think I can call myself lucky to have only learned it the hard way.

Rebuilding a UI is a similar, even bigger version of this mistake that often comes from the same line of thinking.

Early Stage Brand Design — Interesting reflection by @jaredhecht.eth in this article on the timing, investment and timing of building a brand in the early stages of the project. Many founders struggle to find the value of having a consistent brand that is perceived as a guarantee for their first targets. This is something we at @floc have been thinking about and evolving for a long time. Also in terms of Brand3 processes. So we simply try to keep learning and come up with new solutions that adapt to these new circumstances. https://jared.xyz/early-stage-brand-design

We recently launched a large rebrand & redesign at /paragraph. I believe I've historically underrated good branding. When I asked users what they prefer about Mirror over Paragraph, they often said "the vibes". Hard to quantify and break down "vibes". The culture, the logo, the colors, the UX, the story? I think all of this feeds into an overarching brand. "Good brand" is impossible to measure directly but can manifest in better retention, higher user satisfaction, and ultimately "better vibes". Of course, good brand without a good product is useless, and focusing on solving a real problem is by far the most important thing to do, but I now believe a good brand can help elevate good products. I'm not yet convinced on if it was worth it, especially for early stage companies, but I do believe I've historically underrated it.

Oftentimes, I see founders caught in the trap of looking at a competitor or company that they think has terrific visual design, and they say, “I need that.” So they go and try to find the best design agency out there, or the one the flashy company that just raised $100m used and get on a waiting list and pay $80k-$100k for a full 3 months long brand design work endeavor. Then they relaunch their brand and expect the world to shake and literally nothing happens. Time and money down the drain. But most importantly time and energy. https://jared.xyz/early-stage-brand-design