Growth Expectations #011
On lessons from most visible brands...
I found Axios’ recent ranking of companies’ reputation fascinating not only for the methodology but also some of the results. A few results in particular caught my interest.
The first was Patagonia’s rise to the top proof once again that this highly purpose driven operator is resonating with American consumers who are rewarding it not only with their custom but also in their belief that this it has the best brand.
On the flip side, the performance of Family Dollar, Dollar Tree and Walmart was penalised over reports that have come out regarding the safety conditions of their employees as well as their general workplace culture.
Going the other way was Costco which registered the biggest rise in the table, with their success fuelled by the cost-savings which they offer that, in an economic environment of rising prices has become increasingly important.
Then there was Tesla whose reputational stock fell drastically, something that was arguably driven by owner’s Elon Musk’s handling of and proclamations on Twitter / X.
Does any of this matter for startups? After all the bulk of the list is made up of giant corporations set up decades back.
Yet I think that there is a lot to take away particularly for B2C founders. The obvious one is the need for a strong purpose that resonates. Most founders I meet are driven by the need to fix a problem that they feel no one else is looking at it. How they communicate this with the rest of the world and in every aspect of their branding can have a deep impact in building a community of fans, not simply clients.
This is also linked to a company’s culture. In his book Masters of Scale, Linkedin founder Reid Hoffman argues that a startup’s initial employees will also be the people who will drive its culture. So, for founders who want to have a strong culture driven organisation - and reputational results seem to be rewarding these startups - then they have to take particular care on who they employ.
And, lastly, if the founder is going to become the ‘face’ of a startup to an extent that their reputations are intertwined, then that same founder has to be a bit more careful about the impact of what they do.