Creating a modern brand.

Last week, Lightspeed got a brand new look. (Go ahead, check it out).

So, what does brand-building for a venture capital firm even mean? And what does the process of brand-building look like?

It’s a topic of conversation that I have daily with founders and their teams. And if I’ve learned anything, I’ve learned what it isn’t — slapping a logo on a nice color scheme and design, writing copy using familiar tech vernacular (“disruption” anyone?!), and calling it a day.

For founders and companies thinking about how to create a modern brand, here are my top three learnings on best practices from the process of building the brand of a venture capital firm:

1. Mission-critical. Messaging before design.

Venture capital is all about making big bets based on where you think the world is heading years before industries, trends or companies become realized. Creating a venture capital brand that is flexible enough to evolve alongside the companies and founders we work with, and reflects the plan for the next ten years and beyond, is a challenge. Furthermore, building a consumer brand on top of an enterprise heritage was a very real challenge for us. Lightspeed needed a brand that embodied what we stand for and the unique value we provide to our founders.

It might sound cheesy, but I was lucky enough to be professionally raised at companies with the ethos that an organization should be mission-driven (go read the initial Hulu mission statement — it’s inspiring). Some people call it drinking the Kool-aid — but the power of a mission statement to align an organization and define a culture cannot be understated, and it kind of stuck with me. Getting the messaging right was the first step in the process — and everything else grew from there. After looking back at the past twenty years, and daydreaming about the next twenty, here is where Lightspeed landed:

The future isn’t built by dreamers. It’s built today, by doers. It’s crafted by people who live on the edge of cultural trends and understand where things are heading. Building tomorrow is the work of many hands and minds, not one person alone. And the future hinges on the support of a partner who understands that. At Lightspeed we believe tomorrow is built today.

2. All business. All the time.

Marketing that doesn’t tie directly to the business goals of a brand, is just marketing. It can be effective, but not strategic. And it doesn’t work as hard for you as it could. In venture, you’re in the service business, with many different constituents, from founders to LPs. Every audience is important, and you’re only as good as the next big idea. Understanding how to be a brand that effectively speaks to founders, resulting in a successful partnership and outcome for all is a challenge — but it’s made easier if you understand the high level business goals, and how every external-facing touchpoint ties in to those goals.

3. Branding doesn’t happen in a silo.

Pick good partners. As a firm, we look to partner with visionary company founders with big ideas that have the power to shape culture — and our search for a creative partner was no different. The branding process is a creative one where many minds and hands are better than just one — and when so many components of a brand are subjective, it helps to have multiple objective opinions and voices at the same table. We chose Butchershop because of their strategic expertise — also because they’d never worked with a venture capital firm before, and we wanted a fresh set of eyes on our business and industry.

These takeaways, and so many more, helped us arrive at our new look and feel. But you don’t have to take my word for it…I sat down and collected some insights from Ian Ernzer, Global Brand Director at Butchershop and overall brand guru, about the good, bad, and the ugly of the process. Here’s what he had to say:

With roots in San Francisco, Butchershop is no stranger to Silicon Valley. Whether we’re helping startups secure Series A funding or reinventing brands for former unicorns, we know how important branding can be to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Most recently, we put ourselves in the shoes of entrepreneurs and company founders to help evolve the brand for Lightspeed.

Lightspeed is best known for seeing the potential and investing in companies like Snap Inc., The Honest Company, and AppDynamics, yet the firm’s own brand identity didn’t reflect its status as a top-tier firm or differentiate it from the dozens of other VC’s in Silicon Valley.

Backing into this, after interviewing several company founders and entrepreneurs about the process of selecting a VC partner, we learned that the biggest challenge was how competitive and transactional the relationships had become. Founders don’t just want a check — they want a true partner who’s supportive and can help them grow their businesses — which is why so many great companies choose to work with Lightspeed in particular. To bring this sentiment to life, we developed with Lightspeed a brand positioning grounded in the idea that venture investment is not just a business, but a craft. Part art and part science. EQ as much as IQ. The work of many hands and minds, not just one person alone.

From this idea, we transformed the brand’s identity using a bold, editorial, and iconic approach that captures the joy of this hard work and the dedication to the craft. The design system was conceived to feel both sturdy and iconic, with clean simplicity and deliberate juxtaposition that creates interest through open space and thoughtful layers. Bold colors are used subtly, and approachable photography emphasizes the editorial approach to showcase the effort of mind and labor of heart that defines Lightspeed.

Through the look, feel, and voice, the result is a Lightspeed brand to match their top-tier reputation and the caliber of companies they support.

— Ian Ernzer, Global Brand Director @ Butchershop

Our new positioning is grounded in Lightspeed’s belief that we are partners in supporting companies to shape the future. Ultimately, we arrived at a brand we are proud of, that captures the legacy of Lightspeed, while still being firmly focused on the future and the visionary founders who are defining it.

— Meredith Kendall, Marketing Partner @ Lightspeed