Building a strong brand identity is crucial for every tech startup, whether you’re launching your MVP or scaling toward Series B. Yet, many founders fall into common branding traps that lower their startup’s credibility, growth, and recognition. Here are five branding mistakes tech founders frequently make and practical ways to overcome them.
Pitfall 1: You’re neglecting change (especially for your logo)
Some startups have a special request for their rebranding exercise: “Please don’t touch our logo.”
While this respect for the existing logo is understandable, it can hold your brand back, especially as your company evolves. Often, established companies become resistant to change, fearing any update will damage hard-earned recognition.
Accepting the challenge to rebrand your baby is already a big step ahead, but adapting the logo?
The resistance to change often comes from the assumption that brand recognition will suffer.
While it is true that the logo is essential for brand recognition, at some stage it needs an overhaul. Refusing to adapt can make your brand appear outdated or stagnant in a rapidly changing tech landscape.
Solution: Find a middle ground and make small adjustments
A logo change doesn’t mean that you need to make a 180-degree turn for your logo. The evolution can be subtle, such as adapting the typeface, spacing between letters, etc.
Even minor logo updates can communicate innovation and growth without alienating your audience. A refreshed logo signals agility to both investors and customers, aligning your visual identity with your current vision and market trends. The key is evolution; subtle changes can go a long way.
Think about the small adaptations big tech companies like Google, Dropbox, or Spotify have been making to their logos: it was mostly about flattening designs and adjusting typefaces.
Pitfall 2: You’re evaluating your competitors only based on their product
No doubt that you know everything about your competitors’ products… but what about their branding? Many founders focus solely on product features when analyzing competitors, missing the strategic role of branding.
Evaluating competitors only by product specs ignores how they position themselves in the market. Strong tech brands succeed not just through product capabilities, but through unique visual identities and clear messaging that connects emotionally with users.
Analyze how they communicate benefits, address pain points, and establish emotional connections. Observe how they differentiate visually and verbally. A holistic view helps you understand their real strengths and weaknesses and will help you get a better understanding of what works in the market.
Pro tip: Instead of relying solely on a USP positioning map, create a “Brand Perception” map like the one below.
While this approach is more subjective than a product-based comparison, it is crucial for understanding how competitors are perceived in terms of storytelling and branding. Mapping out market perceptions will help you identify gaps: areas where your competitors may be underrepresented or lacking emotional resonance. These white spaces present opportunities for your brand to stand out. Focusing your brand communication on these under-served territories can help you differentiate and build a more compelling presence in the market.
Learn how to create a “Brand Perception” map in this article.
To make this more concrete: Imagine you are a Biotech startup and most of your competitors are positioning themselves around innovation and speed, using technological, sharp, and clean brand identities. While these attributes highlight efficiency and progress, they often lack a human touch. This opens up space for a softer, more approachable, yet still forward-thinking brand to differentiate in the market. By emphasizing the people behind your innovation or highlighting real-world impact, you can create a distinct identity that resonates on an emotional level. This strategy allows your brand to stand out beyond product features alone and build a stronger connection with your audience.
Solution: Tie strategy and visual identity together
It is essential that your visual identity and overall brand perception are always aligned with your brand’s core purpose and values. Before moving forward with design, revisit your foundational strategy: Does it still reflect who you are and where you are headed?
Without a clear brand strategy, your visual identity can become fragmented and confusing, both for users and stakeholders. Investors and partners look for startups that present a unified, coherent brand aligned with their values and design choices. For example, if one of your brand values is “human,” relying solely on abstract or technical visuals can create a disconnect or even mistrust.
Brand strategy is not optional; it is a fundamental part of tech startup success.
Pitfall 3: You’re copying competitors
It’s easy to fall into the trap of mimicking what seems to work for others, especially after analyzing competitors’ branding.
While we recommend analyzing your competitors’ branding, be careful when comparing your startup to them. We’ve heard many clients say: “Competitor X does this and our value proposition is nearly the same, so we also need to do this.” Hold on there.
There are best practices that work in a specific sector, but you’re not required to follow these conventions to succeed. Take Klarna as an example: there is no classic Fintech blue in there, while being one of the most famous Fintechs of this decade. Also, think of Notion: the SaaS solution gives preference to a hand-drawn illustrational style over typical tech visuals.
Solution: Have a look beyond the visuals and explore the messaging
But how do you reach a style that’s recognizable on the one hand but also effective on the other? To find a style that is both recognizable and effective, look beyond your immediate sector. Explore branding approaches from other industries and consumer brands, where there is often more room for creativity and closer connections with audiences.
You can pass elements you like from other companies on to your design team or your startup branding agency, which will use them as inspiration.
Remember, it’s not only about the visual identity; branding is the full package. Have a look at the messaging of your competitors.
Long before ChatGPT, the tech industry was already flooded with standard terminology and generic phrasings. With the rise of generative tools, brand copy is becoming even more uniform. In a landscape crowded with talk of “innovative technology,” “user-friendly dashboards,” and generic AI slang, creativity is your strongest asset.
Avoid falling into standardized language or visual clichés if you want your brand to make a genuine impact.
Pitfall 4: You’re still using stock images
A bright office atmosphere with two middle-aged men working together on a tablet. You can’t be more generic.
Relying on generic stock images is a shortcut that undermines brand authenticity. While convenient, they often lack authenticity and fail to create a strong visual identity. Websites start to blur together and lose impact. When every competitor uses the same style of visuals, it’s hard to build recognition or trust.
In the age of Midjourney, Freepik, etc., the standard office setting with the same people is an image that gives our brand designers shivers. And probably your stakeholders as well.
Solution: Create on-brand visuals for your startup
Branded illustrations or AI-generated imagery are the way out. However, these assets require a bit more design expertise. They need to be aligned with your startup’s overall branding; if not, they seem out of place.
If you’re not working with a startup branding agency, you can use AI image generation tools to create new imagery, new characters, and new office settings. You’ve tried to create AI imagery, but the results you get are somehow … weird?
Use our Prompt Guide to create on-brand images ready to use. Without making your co-worker choke on their coffee.
Pitfall 5: You give weak design feedback
Feedback like “I don’t like this color” or “Can you try something different?” will drive your brand designers nuts. It creates frustration and inefficiency for both internal and external teams.
Vague, subjective comments lead to endless revisions and often result in visuals that do not align with your brand’s goals or values. Strong design feedback is specific, actionable, and connected to your brand strategy.
Personal preferences should not dictate your branding decisions. Design choices for tech startups must be rooted in market realities. What appeals to you may not resonate with your users or target customers, or simply look… weird. Of course, in the end, you will have to like your brand and feel comfortable using it. The challenge here is to find a balance between your preferences and design expertise.
Solution: Provide useful and actionable design feedback
By grounding feedback in brand strategy and providing a clear rationale, design teams create more effective visual identities and ensure the outcome supports both the business objectives and user needs.
- Take your time for feedback. Don’t rush just for the sake of speed. Good design takes time and so does feedback.
- Go back to the branding moodboards. When working with a startup branding agency, you usually receive moodboards before the concrete brand proposal. Check if there are elements you said you liked about it and whether they were implemented.
- Be specific. Explain what isn’t working and, most importantly, why. Reference concrete elements.
- Use examples. If there’s a design style or feature you like, share visual references or competitor examples, explaining what works and why.
Avoiding these common pitfalls will help you build a stronger, more coherent, and more competitive brand. Regularly review and reflect on your branding, invest in an authentic visual identity, and provide constructive, strategic feedback to your team. And, most importantly: Don’t be afraid of change.
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