The Blade

As your company grows, don’t let it become “tired.”

As a youngster growing up in Raleigh North Carolina, my down-home college team was the N.C. State Wolfpack. My buddy Byron’s father had season tickets in the charming Reynolds Coliseum. Hardly sophisticated, it was more like an old-school gym than a modern basketball facility. The place was hot, its seats were too small, and it didn’t have adequate restrooms. But it was loud, energetic, and felt like home to me. Byron and I howled like wolves as the team scored baskets. Hoowwwwwwllllll. I loved that team, that setting, that…brand. It was simple and likable.

But today, the Wolfpack’s likability and charm are gone. The ‘Pack has gone corporate and is constantly trying to sell me something. The old Reynolds Coliseum has been replaced by the swanky, modern “PNC” arena. Advertisements flashing constantly across screens cloud the old-school charm. Each timeout is used to recognize some sponsor or some donor who did something great. I just received an offer to join N.C. State’s “Legacy” Club” by donating $240 to honor all those who wore #24. Really?  In order to buy tickets, I have to donate to have the right to buy the tickets?

Priority shift

And it’s all about the money. The Wolfpack’s athletic director, Debbie Yow, recently received a $174,000 raise to $690,000 per year. N.C. State’s chancellor, Randy Woodson, said with Yow’s “tremendous dedication…our student-athletes have gone a long way to help fuel N.C. State’s upward trajectory.” Debbie in turn called Woodson a “superstar.”[i]

Nice job, public relations firm. Everyone is happy. The ‘Pack’s coaches earn millions. The school just spent $14 million on an indoor practice facility for the football team—destroying hundreds of epic tailgating spots. The NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference, N.C. State’s “governing bodies,” harvest billions of dollars each year and have recently been busy bullying their way into politics—bowing up about a recent state law stipulating where people use the bathroom. Wow, they are confident, bordering on arrogant. The more N.C. State’s marketing bombards me with solicitations telling me how great everything is, the more I despise their brand. My beloved Wolfpack has become “tired.”

Related: I was going to put a picture of N.C. State’s logo in this post, but if I did, I’d hear from their lawyers about trademark violation. Sheesh.

A victim of your own startup success

As your startup grows up, don’t let your brand become tarnished by all your financial success. If you do, eventually you’ll be replaced. (I’ve been enjoying high school basketball games – the simple magic is still there.) One challenge to remaining charming is that investors will persuade you to earn more and more and more money. For example, if you partner with other companies and therefore push their products to your customers, understand that it could tarnish your original brand. If you’re making press announcements about increased sales numbers and driving around in a Porsche, you could turn customers off and damage your brand. If you become too confident and start wasting time with political views, you might sully your brand.

In his popular LinkedIn post “Why we still keep our team small after 10 years of growth,” Wes Aiken, founder of Schedulefly, says it well: “Being a customer of a big company almost always sucks. …Somewhere along the way, the people who started the company got so wrapped up in dollar signs ahead and the ever-growing complication of running the company that they stopped caring (or somehow no longer know) about the experience their paying customers are actually having.”

Amen, Wes. I wish the Wolfpack had heeded your advice.

[i] http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/ncstate/article18772455.html#storylink=cpy