· David Senra, Peter Rahal
[00:00:00] S0: Yeah [00:00:00] S1: ... just like a human, the social circle matters. And so in creating a brand, that identity, both from tone of voice, visual, what clothes it wears, who's its friends, its values, vision, you define that clearly and that there's like a North Star to it. The most important factor in building brands, it just takes time. So if you keep this identity, it can be dynamic in nature as it grows, but you are consistently doing that over time and with really great quality product and service. The timepiece is critical. You just have to be doing that over time. David's values are around intelligence, beauty, and discipline. And that's rooted in the story of Michelangelo's masterpiece, the sculpture of David. Those values are rooted in the symbolism of that masterpiece. And then the tool, the chisel, which is like this crude nail. But the meaning of a chisel is intelligence, discipline, and if you apply those things, you get a masterpiece, something beautiful. So that's the logic for David's brand and brand identity. So, if you have a crystal clear identity for a brand and its product offering, its position, the marketing actually becomes really easy. You just constantly hammer those points over and over and over again.
· David Senra
[00:00:00] S0: I want to tell you about the presenting sponsor of this podcast, Ramp. I have been reading a lot about SpaceX lately. SpaceX is one of the most valuable businesses in the world, and one of the main themes in the history of SpaceX is constantly attacking and questioning your cost. Ramp helps many of the most innovative businesses in the world do exactly that. The median company running on Ramp cuts their expenses by 5%. And one thing SpaceX has demonstrated is that a religious dedication to controlling costs can help actually increase revenue because you can pursue opportunities you couldn't otherwise. And we see that in the Ramp data, too. The median company running on Ramp also grows their revenue by 16%. So when you're running your business on Ramp and your competitors are not, you have a massive competitive advantage that compounds over time. Ramp is the only platform designed to make your finance team faster and happier. Many of the top founders and CEOs I know run their business on Ramp. I run my business on Ramp, and you should too. Go to ramp.com to learn how they can help your business save time, save money, and grow revenue. That is ramp.com. Deel is how the best founders turn the world into their talent pool. I've been studying how history's greatest founders operate for a decade, and one thing they all have in common is they understand that recruiting and hiring the very best talent is your most important priority. A players recognize other A players, which is why top companies like Ramp, Shopify, ElevenLabs, Uber, and DoorDash all use Deel. Many of the top founders I know have personally invested in Deel after using their product. And what they discovered is that Deel is the best company in the world at building infrastructure for global hiring. Deel will help your business hire, pay, and manage any worker anywhere in the world so you can retain the best talent anywhere and spend the rest of your time focusing on what you do best, delivering value to your customers. The founder of ElevenLabs has a great description of the value Deel can give your company. He said, "We built ElevenLabs to break down language and communication barriers.
· David Senra, Peter Rahal
With Deel enabling us to hire and support exceptional talent anywhere, we can accelerate our innovation and bring more voices, stories, and ideas to every corner of the world." Deel is trusted by over 40,000 companies and growing fast. Learn how they can help your business by going to deel.com/senra. That is deel.com/senra. How much time did you put into planning this brand identity for David? [00:00:00] S1: Six months, maybe. [00:00:00] S0: Okay, so then once you have this clearly defined set of qualities for the brand, and then you're saying, "Okay, then we just extend this over decades." [00:00:00] S1: Yes. [00:00:00] S0: Is the plan? [00:00:00] S1: Yes. You just hammer it. [00:00:00] S0: Okay. [00:00:00] S1: Keep going. [00:00:00] S0: How did you learn the importance of maintaining the same brand identity over a long period of time? [00:00:00] S1: Just studying, like just studying brands. If you look at the best brands, they're all old. And so time's a factor that's really, really important, and the consistency of that. And the thing is, there's an asymmetry where those brands are super fragile. So if you fuck around on quality or something else, it's over really quickly.
· Peter Rahal, David Senra
[00:00:00] S1: Just studying, like just studying brands. If you look at the best brands, they're all old. And so time's a factor that's really, really important, and the consistency of that. And the thing is, there's an asymmetry where those brands are super fragile. So if you fuck around on quality or something else, it's over really quickly. [00:00:00] S0: The reason I asked that is because I was obsessed with this guy named David Ogilvy, and I've read every single one of his books. He built one of the greatest advertising agencies of all time, and he would hammer exactly what you... You sounded exactly like him if you read his autobiography or if you read Ogilvy on Advertising. And his whole thing was just like, people jump around too much. Like, you pick one brand identity, and you do it over and over and over again for decades. [00:00:00] S1: Yeah. [00:00:00] S0: And you came to the exact same conclusion. It's like the best brands are the best brands because they did this for decades after decades. [00:00:00] S1: And it's fundamentally about the values of the brand. Like, for David, it's about intelligence, beauty, and discipline. [00:00:00] S0: Why'd you pick those three traits, though?
· David Senra, Peter Rahal
[00:00:00] S0: Why'd you pick those three traits, though? [00:00:00] S1: They're close to me. I love beauty, I love intelligence, and I love suffering and discipline to a negative point of view almost. Protein bars are where I start. So what do people come to protein bars for? They come to it for body composition. Like, no one really eats protein bars as like, "Oh, I'm just going to enjoy this treat." It's very, very functional. Like, "I need to transform my body, either increase muscle or decrease fat." So the category in protein in general is very oriented around those values as well. And so with David, one of the things I wanted was a weight loss company or a body composition company without being one. So if you look at the great, they're not really great, but the '90s brands in weight loss, like Atkins, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, like, they're super tacky. But people went to them for body composition stuff. So the question was like, all right, well, how do I make that more refined? Really more European, like higher, better taste. And so did that. And then the other side, I don't know, but when I turned 35 and just looked around my friends, I just realized everyone I knew had some issue with weight. Like, everyone had struggled with weight loss as you get older. Everyone wanted more muscle. Like, everyone I've ever talked to, and it's whether it's a issue they're honest about or they're in the closet about it. So it's like a ubiquitous problem. So the idea is like, how do you create a brand that really embodies that in a refined way?
· David Senra, Peter Rahal
[00:00:00] S0: Well, I'm going to get back to the masterpiece in a minute, so don't let me forget that part. But you said that you're almost attracted to suffering in almost like an extreme, ridiculous way. What the hell does that mean? [00:00:00] S1: I always choose the hard path. Even when I exercise, I choose the most painful exercises. When I take my son out, I refuse to take a stroller. I just always carry him. I just like being strong and doing hard things, and I think there's something spiritual about suffering that I find very gratifying once you get through it. And I think physical suffering is easy because you just get really hot, get really cold. But what's nice about building a company is it's like emotional suffering. It's like a lot of tough conversations. And so I think what I've learned early on is if you face those things, there's growth on the end of it. And so I found this relationship, the more you suffer, the stronger and the more growth you experience. And so when I see it and I feel it, I lean into it. [00:00:00] S0: Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber, was on this podcast, and he said something that resonated with a lot of people, and he's like, "The life stuff and entrepreneurs, I can take more pain than this guy, and I'll prove it to you." [00:00:00] S1: Yeah. [00:00:00] S0: Do you agree with this? [00:00:00] S1: Yeah. It's fun. Yeah, I love it. Pain tolerance, yeah.