Most startup brands are built twice. The first time is at launch, when the company needs something to put on a pitch deck and a website, and the founder or a freelancer produces a logo and some colors quickly and cheaply. The second time is twelve to eighteen months later, when the company has customers, a clearer sense of who it is actually for, and a brand that no longer matches either.
The rebrand-in-12-months trap is not a budget problem or a design quality problem. It is a strategy problem. The first brand was built before the company knew what it was, so the visual identity reflects a hypothesis about the market rather than the market itself. By the time the product finds its actual customers, the brand is speaking to the wrong audience — and no amount of good design can fix a positioning problem.
Splash Creative is a branding agency in New York City that works with startups at launch and Series A. We build brand identities that start with positioning strategy — who this company is actually for, what it is claiming, what visual language communicates both — before any design work begins. David Herskowitz leads every project personally, copywriting included. Projects start at $15,000; startup brand plus website typically runs $35,000–$60,000. Talk to David about your brand.
Related: Best branding agencies in NYC compared | What a Series A rebrand actually costs | Rebrand vs. refresh: how to decide | The founder-led rebrand | Talk to David
