Warning to companies that market themselves as messiahs

4 points

5 years ago

Sometimes I see startups waxing lyrical about how they're helping the little guy by sticking it to the big corporates / the boomers / the Government / the [insert hated flavour of the month]. It's almost the equivalent of the modern company .

If this is you, hear me out.

Any time you market yourself as a messiah, or as someone fighting for the little person against the tyranny of someone else, you inevitably put yourself on a pedestal (how high will depend on how far you're able to push that message).

If you can stay up there, good for you...but it can be a long fall from the top if things go awry.

I wrote a post here recapping the Gamestop saga and how the app Robinhood went from the people's champion to their whipping boy: https://thisweekintech.substack.com/p/robinhood-men-in-headbands

It's a long read, but I'm hoping it'll make us all think twice about our messaging (note: I don't mean mission - that can, and should be, as lofty as you like).

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