The reality is that in a crowded market, where capital is often a commodity, brand is what sets firms apart. It influences how founders perceive you, how LPs evaluate you, and how your ecosystem engages with you.

The role of brand in venture capital

There’s a common misconception that brand is just the logo, your colours, and the graphics or photos. But it couldn’t be further from the truth. A brand is the sum of your firm’s reputation, values, and the experience stakeholders have when interacting with you. The visuals are simply a reflection of the true brand. So why is it important? A strong brand signals consistency, credibility, and differentiation. It tells founders why they should choose your firm over another. It helps LPs understand the value you bring beyond returns. And it attracts top talent, partners, and co-investors who align with your philosophy.

What a brand is:

A well-articulated brand is a force multiplier: it reinforces thought leadership, sharpens your investment thesis, and ensures that when people talk about your firm, they know exactly what it stands for. In contrast, a weak or inconsistent brand can dilute your message, make it harder to attract the right opportunities, and leave your firm struggling to break through the noise.

Why we decided to refresh our brand

I joined Oxx in 2023, and it immediately became evident that we had a strong brand overall – but that it wasn’t consistent in all channels. Our visual identity didn’t fully represent who we are and what we stand for. Since the firm’s founding in 2017, our investment strategy had sharpened, our portfolio had grown, and our positioning as a boutique investor with deep expertise in B2B SaaS had crystallised. We needed a visual identity that reflected this – one that was bold, distinctive, and unmistakably Oxx.

So we decided to embark on a brand refresh, and as you may have gathered by now, it isn't just about aesthetics. It’s about ensuring that your outward expression – including your website, your logo, your design language, your tonality and language overall – aligns with your internal identity. It’s a chance to refine how you present yourself to the world and make sure every touchpoint reinforces your firm’s core values.

How to successfully conduct a brand refresh

We kicked off our journey in 2024 and were done at the end of the year, but finally presented the new look in January 2025. Here are some – but crucially not all – key lessons from our journey:

1. Define the scope clearly

Before you start, be explicit about what you are updating. Are you overhauling your entire brand – values, messaging, positioning, and identity? Or are you focusing on a visual refresh? At Oxx, we decided to refine our visual identity while maintaining the essence of our brand. Being clear about this from the outset prevents misalignment and ensures expectations are managed internally.

2. Build internal trust first

Brand is deeply personal. Everyone in the firm will have an opinion on it, whether they realise it or not. And compared to larger companies, VCs are full of partners where they all have a real stake in the business. So, before kicking off the project, engage key stakeholders to understand their perspectives. Take the time to do the prep work, to get informed. Their insights will shape the direction, but ultimately, you need a clear direction and decision-making process. As Head of Marketing, this was my job, and in our case, final decisions rested with me and our two co-founders.

3. Choose the right agency – and stay involved

A brand agency is a critical partner, but they can’t do everything for you. They don’t live and breathe your firm’s DNA – you do. We took the time to find an agency that truly understood us, and which matched our ways of working. We also set up multiple communication channels to ensure direct collaboration. My role as the sole marketer at our firm meant that I essentially had two teams – Oxx, and the agency team which served as my extended marketing team. If you are running a process like this as a sole marketer, you need to be the bridge between the agency and your firm, translating internal feedback into actionable direction while protecting the integrity of the vision.

4. Be honest and collaborative

Running a brand refresh requires being a trusted partner to both your internal stakeholders and the agency. That means being transparent about what’s working and what’s not. It also means knowing when to push back. In branding, consensus can be dangerous – trying to please everyone often results in something generic. The strongest brands take a stance.

5. Set clear objectives and deliverables

As mentioned, there’s more to a brand than visuals. So a brand refresh isn’t just about a new logo or website; it’s about achieving strategic objectives. Good marketers realise the brand is a part of a greater strategy, and setting a refresh project in motion is not a task they take lightly. So, define what success looks like early on (hint – it’s not about just making it “look pretty”). For us, it was about ensuring our visual identity matched our positioning as a boutique, expert-led VC firm, and that it would be evident in every touchpoint. We also prioritised deliverables that mattered most to stakeholders – whether that was a new website, refined messaging, or updated investor materials – and made sure to finalise them first.

6. Control the flow of communication

One of the biggest challenges in a brand refresh is managing feedback. Branding and copywriting are areas where everyone thinks they are an expert. If you open the floodgates, you’ll get endless (and often contradictory) opinions. Be selective in who you involve and at what stage. How much information you share, and what information (I had numerous chats with the agency and cut a lot of information, and options, out of the mix. If it wasn’t something I could contemplate, I wouldn’t share it further. Internally, I found that giving sneak peeks to key people along the way helped me secure buy-in without derailing the process.

7. Have a senior-level sponsor

To get a brand refresh over the finish line, you need internal champions. Having senior leadership support ensures that decisions are made efficiently and that the project is prioritised. At Oxx, our co-founders were deeply engaged, providing invaluable input while trusting the marketing team to drive the execution.

8. Prepare for pushback – and stand your ground

Not everyone will agree with every design decision, and that’s okay. A strong brand needs a point of view. If you try to accommodate every piece of feedback, you risk diluting the impact. Throughout our process, I made sure to communicate in a way that resonated with each stakeholder – using visuals, comparisons, and rationale to justify decisions. The result? A brand that felt true to Oxx, without unnecessary compromises.

The outcome: a brand that matches who you are

The result of our refresh is a visual identity that, in our opinion, is sophisticated, confident, and aligned with our core values. It reflects the Oxx that founders, LPs, and partners know – deeply knowledgeable, highly selective, and committed to scaling SaaS businesses in a thoughtful way.

Branding in VC is often underestimated, but in a competitive industry where relationships and perception matter, it’s one of the most strategic investments a firm can make. A well-executed brand refresh isn’t just a design exercise – it’s a statement of intent. It tells the world who you are and where you’re going. And when done right, it strengthens every interaction, every pitch, and every deal you do.

For VCs looking to stand out, investing in brand isn’t optional. It’s essential.

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