Branding agency for startups

HOW+HOW is a branding agency for startups that need to look like category leaders before they are. We work with founders from first name to Series B, building the strategy, identity and website that help you raise, hire and sell.

Since working with us, Trellis secured an $8M Series A, emm closed an oversubscribed $9M seed round, and Ideogram became one of the top five image labs in the world. Meteoric came to us with, in its co-founder’s words, “a company and a conviction. Nothing else.”

Credibility before you have a track record. Investors, early hires and first customers judge you on how you show up. A considered brand lets a ten-person company stand next to incumbents. As Snooz’s founders put it: “Snooz is new to market, but we’re showing up like we’ve been here for years.”

A position, not just a look. Early-stage companies are tempted to skip strategy. We keep it focused and fast, because the clearest story wins the room, whether that’s a pitch, a sales call or a hiring conversation.

A system that grows with you. Your brand will need to stretch to new products, markets and audiences. We build identity systems and guidelines your team can use without us, and websites your marketers can update themselves.

Senior people on your project. You work directly with our senior team. We’ve built brands from a blank page, names included, as we did for Meteoric and Wild Thingz.

Most startup projects combine brand strategy, verbal and visual identity and a website, delivered by one team. We scope to your stage: a pre-launch company might need a name, positioning and a launch site, while a Series A business moving upmarket might need a full rebrand.

A full identity project typically takes 10–12 weeks, with a website adding 8–16 weeks if you need one. We agree a fixed fee after a short discovery call.