What distinguishes a genuine brand from a company that merely has visibility or recognition?

Harry Stebbings · published Aug 10, 2022

The best brands create armies by being clearly for or against something; the worst position is sitting in the middle

25:52 20 Growth: Why You Need a Growth Hire Pre Product-Market-Fit? Why Every Company Will Be a Media Company and How To Do It | Communities; What Really Are They? How To Build Them? What Makes The Best? Why Do Many Not Work? | Kieran Flanagan, SVP Marketing @

Harry Stebbings · published Mar 8, 2023

The best brands build armies that people are for or against, and Shopify should become a media company showcasing empowered merchants rather than positioning itself as infrastructure

A polarising, identity-based message creates a powerful collective of people who feel enabled by the brand

36:03 20Product: Shopify's VP Product on Why the Founder is Always the Head of Product, What Makes Truly Special Product Managers, Why The Majority of Product Managers Need to Change, Why Top-Down Decision-Making in Product is Good & How Shopify Will Be Bigger

Harry Stebbings · published Aug 21, 2023

Great brands are either loved or hated — what matters is that people feel something

No great brand elicits indifference

16:25 20VC: The Biggest Lies of Silicon Valley, Why Entrepreneurship is Not For Everyone, Why VCs are Out of Touch, Why Many Would Be Great Entrepreneurs Will Burn Out, Why You Should Let Your Children Suffer and Why You Will Choose The Wrong Partner with Nick

Harry Stebbings · published Jun 17, 2024

A real brand is one people feel for or against; indifference is the signal that something is wrong

People identify as a Burger King or McDonald's person, Nike or Adidas, Apple or Android — that partisanship is what marks a brand

31:41 20VC: Index's Danny Rimer on Investing Lessons from Hits like Figma, Discord and Etsy to Missing Snapchat, Airbnb, Facebook & Spotify | Why Valuation is a Trap and Market Sizing, Signalling and Sector/Geo-Specific Funds are all Noise

Harry Stebbings · published Jul 24, 2023

Chanel is the most admirable brand because it transcends time, geography and budget, drawing very different customer bases and inspiring people who can't afford it to save for it

Its power is aspiration — Chinese and French customers alike love it, and people stretch financially to buy it

64:19 Aspirational power across budget and geography defines the greatest brands

Matteo Franceschetti · published Sep 12, 2026

Silicon Valley understands product excellence but systematically underestimates brand; the right order is product first, then an aspirational brand that can command a premium

A great brand on a shitty product goes nowhere, but a great product without an aspirational brand cannot hold price

34:30 Product excellence must precede brand but silicon valley underestimates brand importance

Danny Rimer · published Jun 17, 2024

Most so-called brands are not real brands; very few companies have true brands, and reaching brand relevance takes a long time and enormous scale

Even across Index's large portfolio of great entrepreneurs, he isn't sure any company truly has a mainstream brand yet

31:33 True brands are rare and require long time and massive scale