Here’s the hard truth #7: if you don’t advocate for your brand, no one else will.
Have no shame about it. Nobody—no employee, no contractor, no freelancer—will ever fight for your mission the way you do.
When you’re starting out, you don’t have millions in VC money to throw around. And even if you did, it comes with a boss—investors to report to, targets to hit, stress you probably didn’t sign up for. So what’s left? Storytelling. Building community over chasing capital.
I’ll be honest: for a long time, I hesitated to put my face behind Oishya. I thought: “If I show myself, maybe people will think the brand is too small, too scrappy, not polished enough.” So we leaned on glossy chef collaborations, perfect product shoots. And you know what? They looked great—but they didn’t connect.
When I finally started showing up myself—talking about why I started, what drives me, and even the messy behind-the-scenes stuff—suddenly people got it. They didn’t just buy knives; they bought into the story.
Same with Untrite. We don’t really “sell to the government” or “sell to the Home Office.” You don’t sell to faceless institutions. You sell to John or Thomas from a department—real people who need to believe in you before they believe in your product. That belief starts with your voice, your face, your story.
Because people buy from people, not logos. That’s why every perfume brand borrows actors and models—you’re not buying the fragrance, you’re buying the story tied to a human.
So what if your app isn’t the biggest yet? Speak as if you know exactly where you’re going. Confidence is contagious. People want to follow someone who believes in their mission.
And yes, most founders hate hearing this, but in the beginning you cannot outsource your voice. Agencies can’t tell your story because they haven’t lived it. Your struggles, your quirks, your wins—that’s what makes your brand magnetic.
Is it time-consuming? Yep. Uncomfortable? Damn right. But your authentic voice builds trust no paid ad ever can. Because ads stop the moment you turn them off—your story doesn’t.
So show up. Be unapologetically you. Share the highs and the lows. That’s how you build not just customers, but a community of advocates who grow with you.
