You need a brand

A friend told me I don't need a brand for Edicek. People will use it because it's good, not because of the brand.

I get his point. We've both seen startups blow $4,000 on a logo. Sometimes $8,000. For something that looks like it was made in five minutes. Overdesigned. Overthought. Useless.

And that leads people to the wrong conclusion: logos are pointless. A good product is enough.

But then they start creating content. Twitter images. Blog post headers. Demo videos. Intro clips. Changelog graphics. Product screenshots.

And none of it looks related. Different colors. Different styles. Different fonts everywhere. You can't tell it's the same product. You can't tell who's behind it.

My friend was confusing expensive branding with having a brand at all.

I don't need an expensive brand. But I need a brand. A simple one. A symbol. A color. A typeface. Maybe two.

For absolute early days, you can do this yourself. Pick colors, pick fonts, keep it consistent. But if you have any budget at all, I'd invest €200-500, maybe €1,000 to get someone on Fiverr to do it properly. Not an agency. Just someone who can make it look cohesive.

For Edicek, I tried a few people on Fiverr—didn't work out. Then I found a local designer. I know I can't do this myself. I need someone reliable I can work with long-term.

A solid brand with a local creator runs $2-5k. That's more than Fiverr, but I'm entering a market with existing products people love. I can't just be slightly better. I need a solid foundation I can expand later.

When someone sees an ad for Edicek, then visits the website, then opens the app—they need to feel it's the same thing. The same product. The same person behind it.

If every touchpoint looks different, nothing sticks. You're building awareness from scratch every single time.

But with consistency, something else happens. People see you once. Twice. Three times across different places. By the fourth time, they already know. Oh, it's them again. They're still here. They're not going anywhere.

That recognition is what makes people trust you enough to actually try your product.

The expensive part isn't creating a brand. It's not having one. Because without consistency, every dollar I spend on visibility gets wasted. People see Edicek but don't remember it.

My friend was right about one thing: I don't need to spend thousands on branding. But I absolutely need a brand.