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Greetings all,

In this week’s episode of Ventures, I comment briefly on my evolving definition of “Brand” and pull in a clip from Episode 51 with Moshe Engelberg on loving customers (and whether they love you back). The best product leaders I know not only understand a market deeply and the value-add a product is bringing, but also think about “uplifting and connecting” people (Moshe’s definition of Love) in and around a product to create delightful experiences for customers.

Check it out: Love & Branding: Do you love your customers? Do they love you? Do you care? :: with Moshe Engelberg

Uplifting and Connecting

Moshe does a great job explaining in-depth during our discussion in Episode 51 about why he defines love as “uplifting and connecting”. When thinking about love and business in this context, we can think about the difference between, say, a generic grocery store and Trader Joe’s. One is more of a blank transactional experience, and one is clearly trying to uplift and connect their customers.

To add yet another thing onto the plate of startup founders, it’s too easy to forget about delighting customers and creating experiences for them that puts a smile on their face, surprises them in a good day, and connects them with others and the value they are genuinely looking for from a product/service.

The reason why the bar is so low out there is because it’s extremely hard to balance all the things in business. Between trying to manage your “brand”, your team, your vision, and keeping the lights on, there is rarely (if ever!) enough funding to hire all the best people to accomplish what you are trying to do.

The founders that “make it” and successfully balance everything are those that, not surprisingly, keep going. No person or brand is perfect, so it’s all about doing the best you can and keep moving in a steady direction as long as possible, especially when you know you’ve created something that people want!

If you are a founder out there playing this balancing act, I salute you. If there’s ever any way that I or my partners at Prota can help, please let me know.

Have a great rest of your week!

~Will