Five lessons for founders from my work on Fortune 100
Before I founded Bright + Early, I spent more than a decade inside the world of big agencies working on some of the most influential brands on the planet. American Express. UPS. Philips. Dove. Zendesk. These companies look massive and complex from the outside, but when you work on the inside, you start to see the simple principles that make them powerful.
What surprised me most is how transferable those principles are. You do not need a global budget to apply them. You only need clarity, courage, and the willingness to build your brand with intention.
These are the five lessons founders should take from the brands that shaped how I think today:
1. American Express: Do not sell your features, sell a future self
I spent five years working on American Express, and one idea repeated constantly inside that team: “Amex is the card you want, not the card you need”.
On paper, their product looks almost identical to Visa and Mastercard. Points, cashback, travel perks. Nothing revolutionary. Yet Amex charges more than almost everyone in the category.
How do they get away with it?
They never tried to differentiate the product. Instead, they differentiated the identity.
They positioned themselves as the card for a certain kind of person. Someone successful, discerning, confident. Someone with taste. They were not selling what the card does. They were selling who you feel like when you carry it.
That positioning alone - that vision of a future you - created nearly 20% percent of their market value, well over $40 billion dollars in brand equity. That’s the value of brand for Amex. Not their products or services, but the perception in the mind of the audience.
Founder takeaway:
People do not buy features. Rather, they buy a future identity, a dream outcome of who they want to be. So show your audience who they could become when they choose your business. Build a brand that elevates people into their future self.
2. UPS: Emotion makes even the most complex product unforgettable
When I worked on UPS in New York, the company was sitting on enormous technical power. Logistics networks. Temperature controlled transport. International coordination systems that were decades ahead of the competition.
The problem was, people didn’t understand it, know it, or care. Most people saw UPS as the brown box package delivery service. Reliable, but not inspirational.
To grow, we needed to show the impact behind the system. So we created the “United Problem Solvers” campaign and filmed stories of their feats around the world.
UPS delivering vaccines to remote communities at exact temperatures.
UPS coordinating parts to build a human flying machine.
UPS helping create a working prosthetic hand for a little girl using a 3D printer.
We made logistics emotional. We made people feel what the company actually does.
Founder takeaway:
Do not just show your product working. Show the human outcom: the journey, the relief, the progress, the transformation. Facts inform… but emotion - that converts.
3. Philips: Know your audience with more depth than anyone else
Philips is a giant, with divisions that span from hospital equipment to baby bottles to toothbrushes to kitchen appliances. I worked on several of these teams, including Mother and Child Care. What impressed me most was how obsessively each division focused on its audience.
They ran constant consumer research.
They built communities where mothers could talk openly.
They partnered with doulas and early childcare experts.
They listened more than they spoke.
Philips became number one in category after category because they never assumed they knew the customer. They learned the customer. Then they built around what they heard.
Founder takeaway:
Your audience should guide every decision you make. Study them. Talk to them. Build spaces where they can share. If you understand them better than anyone else, you will win.
4. Dove: Stand for something real and your audience will stand with you
Dove is one of the strongest examples of purpose meeting performance.
When I worked with the brand, the beauty industry looked identical….
Airbrushed skin, thin bodies, perfect imagery, narrow representation.
Dove refused to accept that standard. They made a commitment to real beauty: Real women. Real skin. Real shapes. Real stories.
Now this is normal, but at the time this was not just unexpected, it was radical.
People saw themselves for the first time. They felt represented, valued, and understood.
And the business soared. Brand love skyrocketed because the brand stood for something that mattered.
Founder takeaway:
Look for the people your category ignores. Serve the audiences who feel unseen. Take a stance that reflects their reality, not the industry stereotype. Purpose can be a growth engine if you are willing to be brave.
5. Zendesk: Tell the hard truth your competitors are afraid to say
Zendesk was one of my last clients before I left big agency life. They were losing market share. Competitors were louder and outspending them. And every single competitor was bragging about the same thing.
Great customer service. Better customer service. The best customer service.
Yet when we did the research, the truth was anything but that: customers hated customer service.
They hated being put on hold. They hated confusing robots. They hated every part of the experience. But no brand acknowledged any of it.
So we did: we created a campaign that channeled the frustration. We showed people shouting, irritated, completely fed up. Then we told them they deserved better. That someone finally understood how awful it felt.
It cut through the noise instantly.
The empathy and honesty we created gave Zendesk momentum again.
Founder takeaway:
Do not hide from the truth. Especially as a challenger brand, always lean into the frustration your audience feels. Acknowledge the problem everyone else avoids. Then offer the relief. Bcause honesty creates connection, and connection drives growth.
Recap: Five founder lessons you should steal from big brands
These brands look nothing alike, yet they share the same principles that help early stage companies win.
From Amex: Sell an aspirational identity shift.
From UPS: Lead with emotion, not complexity.
From Philips: Know your audience deeper than anyone else.
From Dove: Stand for something real and brave.
From Zendesk: Tell the truth your industry avoids.
You can apply these principles at any stage, with any budget. They are the foundations of brands that last, and they are the foundations I bring into every client partnership at Bright + Early.
Resources and links :
To see if your brand is ready for launch, download our 25 Task Launch Checklist.
If you want the full plug and play DIY process, we built the Founder’s Launch Toolkit just for that.
Want to hire us to develop your brand? See our services or get in touch.