Assembling the start-up brand: A process framework for understanding strategic communication challenges

The proliferation of start-ups and their contribution to the global economy is
well-documented as is their high failure rate, a paradox attributable in large
part to the inadequate attention start-ups ascribe to establishing a strong
brand. Premised on the idea that brand-building is an active process of
meaning-making and an assemblage of layers of professional and material
activities, our study offers an empirically grounded approach to start-up
branding. Based on an inductive analysis of interviews with co-founders of
15 start-up and scale-up brands, we propose a process framework of start-up
branding that highlights the strategic communication processes by which
entrepreneurs bring their products to market. Through this contribution, we
make clear that entrepreneurial brand building is not a one-size-fits all
process and that there is no linear pathway. While the framework is not
predictive of success, it is indicative of a new formulation of how strategic
communication can be used to understand and evaluate brand processes
within entrepreneurial organizations.