🗿 Messari CEO Ryan Selkis Steps Down

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GM. Ryan Selkis of Messari Crypto has officially stepped down as CEO. Good timing because I was just writing a piece on why brand identity is a critical component to the success of technology companies (even B2B) in the social-first Internet era.

Let’s add the Selkis political meltdown to the endless examples of good products/companies facing existential threats from bad marketing.

Feels like everyone’s still in build mode, so let this be a fresh reminder about the power of storytelling, and how good brand marketing can supersede good product in an increasingly automated world.

Remember, you are selling to humans, not robots. For now. And humans are emotional, irrational creatures capable of changing their minds at a whim.

Without Further Ado. ☕ *knuckle cracks* ☕ Let’s get into it.

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I’ll use a little twitter drama to explain why branding matters more than product.

Messari CEO and Founder Ryan Selkis went a little off the rails this week amid the Trump assassination attempt, saying some pretty harsh comments about immigration and civil war.

Why did he step down? Because it’s more important than Messari maintains its image than any unique leadership or operational advantage Selkis may have for the business side of the organization. Because businesses are only as good as their reputation.

Now let’s use a less sensitive, but equally revealing example of a technology company facing bad marketing.

A disgruntled Webflow customer received an unexpected $15K bill for an enterprise plan after years of only paying ~ $468/year. He was understandably upset and shared his story online this week. It blew up.

This is a make or break moment for a Silicon Valley company. Tech Twitter is an echo chamber, and once you're ostracized as anti-founder, it's very hard to bounce back.

The CEO of Webflow promptly responded and said she would resolve it. "We want to grow with you". Why did she respond? Because she is trying to maintain the brand image.

So if Webflow and Messari understand the value of marketing after something bad happens, why don’t more technology companies focus on good marketing when things are going right?

As a brand marketer traveling the world to dozens of different technology conferences, I meet so many product and technology leaders that are hyper-focused on building. They simply aren't interested in hearing about marketing. Even if they're the founder.

And listen, I get it. Marketing. It's not their bag. But overlooking the storytelling aspect of your business and solely focusing on product (after it's market ready of course) is like being the world's greatest chef and living in rural Montana. Sure, you'll get some customers, and some people will fly out to Montana just to have a great meal, but millions of people will never see you or care.

To round out my point, let's take it back to Webflow.

It doesn't matter if Webflow transforms their enterprise plan overnight and makes it free for all teams under 10 people.

With out a good brand identity, it doesn't matter if Webflow builds the greatest product on Earth.

The tech community will develop whatever perception of Webflow "the brand", and that will carry more weight than anything they do from a product perspective. The same goes for Messari. And it's not hard to understand why product experience is losing priority to brand identity in the software space…

It's never been easier to build a product.

100 years ago, it would take you months to figure out how to engineer, design, and distribute. Now you can hit a few buttons in an afternoon and ship your idea to millions of potential buyers in seconds.

This is a good thing. More people can pursue their creativity and express themselves in the marketplace. The bad thing? A good product is a dime a dozen. It's simply not enough to build something with PMF that works.

So when you're deciding whether to use, let's say Fiverr or Upwork to hire a freelancer, or comparing monday.com versus Asana as a project management tool, what's the difference? They all do the same thing.

The X factor for winning in the long-term? Good brand perception.

Brand identity is where you win or lose your lifelong customer. It's not about upgrading that UX/UI to improve load speeds or productivity by 2s anymore. No one cares. The modern business needs to focus on brand-building and vibes.

Customers will even go through extra steps and obstacles to represent and support brands they like and "join their tribe".

And to build a tribe you have to vibe.

What We’re Reading

• ‘He’s Changed His Tune’—Trump Reveals JPMorgan CEO’s ‘Sudden’ Bitcoin And Crypto Flip Amid Huge Price Surge

• Donald Trump Comments On Crypto Pivot: 'If We Don't Do It, China Will'

• Scoop: Meta won't offer future multimodal AI models in EU

• Why AI Lawsuits May Have a Lot to Do With Andy Warhol, Prince & a 1981 Photograph

• The Data That Powers A.I. Is Disappearing Fast

• Apple, Nvidia, Anthropic Used Thousands of Swiped YouTube Videos to Train AI

• Meta decides to suspend its generative AI tools in Brazil

• After 'Civil War' and Anti-Immigrant Tweets, Ryan Selkis Told to Cool It by His Crypto Startup's Leadership

• Winklevoss twins donate $1M in Bitcoin to support Sen. Warren's pro-crypto challenger

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