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Performance Gets You a Date, Brand Gets You Married with Brian Wakabayashi, Head of Brand at CōLab
What happens when you embed a creative agency inside a private equity firm? Brian Wakabayashi, Head of Brand at CōLab, joins Alexander to explore this unique model and share hard-won insights about startup marketing. CōLab creative studio reimagined for startups and built inside WestCap, a private equity investor.
In this episode:
Startup Marketing Reality Check: From seed stage to near-IPO, Brian shares what actually works at different company stages, why founders don't understand brand strategy, and how to train boards to measure more than just short-term metrics.
The Dating Analogy: Brian's memorable framework for balancing brand and performance: "Performance is going out and asking for a date. Brand is working on yourself to become someone worthy of a relationship." Both matter, but the balance is everything.
Beyond CAC and LTV: Why relying solely on Meta and Google for customer acquisition makes you "essentially a subsidiary" of those platforms. Brian explains the hidden costs of performance-only marketing and how rising ad rates are crushing profit margins.
The CōLab Experiment: How WestCap built an internal creative studio to actually do the work for portfolio companies, not just give advice. Brian breaks down why most PE/VC "operating platforms" fall short and how their embedded model creates real value for startups.
Key takeaways:
Why diversifying beyond Meta/Google isn't just smart—it's survival
How to sell long-term brand investments to numbers-focused boards
The three-tier framework: business strategy → marketing strategy → brand strategy
Why startup marketing leaders need to think like consultants, not just tacticians
How to build for your company's next growth stage, not just where you are today
About Brian:
Brian Wakabayashi is Head of Brand at CōLab, WestCap's internal creative studio. Before joining the private equity world, he spent over a decade at major agencies including McCann and BBDO, working on brands like Xbox, LinkedIn, Taco Bell, and Mars Petcare. He's passionate about helping startups build lasting marketing strategies and memorable brands.
About Brilliantly Wrong:
Brilliantly Wrong is part of The StartUp Marketer podcast network for marketers, founders, creatives, and anyone willing to embrace risk for extraordinary outcomes. Alex Stonehouse and his guests regularly dive deep into the art and science of marketing, startup growth, creativity, and mastery from a perspective that challenges the conventional.
Visit https://thestartupmarketer.com to learn more and be part of the community.
View all episodes
By Alex StonehouseWhat happens when you embed a creative agency inside a private equity firm? Brian Wakabayashi, Head of Brand at CōLab, joins Alexander to explore this unique model and share hard-won insights about startup marketing. CōLab creative studio reimagined for startups and built inside WestCap, a private equity investor.
In this episode:
Startup Marketing Reality Check: From seed stage to near-IPO, Brian shares what actually works at different company stages, why founders don't understand brand strategy, and how to train boards to measure more than just short-term metrics.
The Dating Analogy: Brian's memorable framework for balancing brand and performance: "Performance is going out and asking for a date. Brand is working on yourself to become someone worthy of a relationship." Both matter, but the balance is everything.
Beyond CAC and LTV: Why relying solely on Meta and Google for customer acquisition makes you "essentially a subsidiary" of those platforms. Brian explains the hidden costs of performance-only marketing and how rising ad rates are crushing profit margins.
The CōLab Experiment: How WestCap built an internal creative studio to actually do the work for portfolio companies, not just give advice. Brian breaks down why most PE/VC "operating platforms" fall short and how their embedded model creates real value for startups.
Key takeaways:
Why diversifying beyond Meta/Google isn't just smart—it's survival
How to sell long-term brand investments to numbers-focused boards
The three-tier framework: business strategy → marketing strategy → brand strategy
Why startup marketing leaders need to think like consultants, not just tacticians
How to build for your company's next growth stage, not just where you are today
About Brian:
Brian Wakabayashi is Head of Brand at CōLab, WestCap's internal creative studio. Before joining the private equity world, he spent over a decade at major agencies including McCann and BBDO, working on brands like Xbox, LinkedIn, Taco Bell, and Mars Petcare. He's passionate about helping startups build lasting marketing strategies and memorable brands.
About Brilliantly Wrong:
Brilliantly Wrong is part of The StartUp Marketer podcast network for marketers, founders, creatives, and anyone willing to embrace risk for extraordinary outcomes. Alex Stonehouse and his guests regularly dive deep into the art and science of marketing, startup growth, creativity, and mastery from a perspective that challenges the conventional.
Visit https://thestartupmarketer.com to learn more and be part of the community.