Summary
In the start-up world, there’s a near-mythical belief in the power of purpose. I fell for this and advised founders to define their mission early, carve out a North Star, and articulate it with precision. But here’s the rub, too much time spent on perfecting a purpose statement can stall the very thing that truly matters, momentum.
Goal: Build credibility, belief and culture through progress.
Approach: Focus on external stakeholder validations, telling origin stories, reporting on early traction.
Outcome: Creates a feedback loop of belief and buy-in.
Mission Doesn’t Build Momentum. Momentum Builds Mission.
For brand and marketing folk It’s tempting to think that a single, beautifully worded mission will galvanise teams, attract investment, and guide strategy. But in practice, belief often follows action, not the other way around.
The Stanford researcher Bob Sutton once wrote that “success breeds support,” and behavioural science supports this. Success breeds confidence, attracts resources, and encourages investment. The progress principle, coined by Amabile and Kramer (2011), shows that even small wins boost motivation and engagement. In early-stage businesses, those small wins (prototype launches, user growth, pilot revenues) become visible proof points. They give people something to rally behind. Early stage communications and marketing need to focus on ‘tangible progress’.
Why Clarity of Direction Beats Purpose in Early Stages
Start-ups don’t need a grand mission as much as they need clear direction. Clarity about the problem you’re solving, the market you’re entering, and the milestones you’re chasing helps you:
Attract early adopters understand and appreciate the why now more than your why
Align investors around tangible outcomes, milestones and forward motion
Reassure employees that they’re on a train that’s actually moving, and that’s when the magic happens
In psychology, this fits with goal gradient theory, which shows that people are more motivated when they can see clear, achievable progress. For start-ups, this sense of momentum is more powerful than an elegant a brand statement.
Case Studies: Momentum in Action
A narrative-led approach suggests that in the early stages of a start-up, what matters most is generating visible movement (and I’m not talking about blitz-scaling, just a few early wins, stories of traction, proof of concept) not obsessing over a perfectly defined corporate mission. You’re not trying to burn cash to dominate a market, you’re trying to earn attention, trust, and belief.
At Arq, I helped reposition a complex environmental technology that converted coal waste into high-value products. In the early days, there was no neatly polished purpose statement. What we had was proof of concept but very little product, some early test results, and credible technical endorsements. By reporting on infrastructure projects, hitting milestones and partnership deals, that momentum was enough to raise over $280M, well before we nailed the narrative or first revenues. The brand goes from strength. To strength listed on the NASDAQ.
At Ekiva, an AI-driven 5G company, our early communications focused on traction with test beds in Latin America, eco-system partnerships, and a reporting on a novel but functioning tech stack. Investors bought into our story not because of a perfect brand vision but because they could see forward motion. With the right team in place, the brand mission should continue to refine itself over time.
We would compare ourselves to tech brands like Slack or Stripe where neither had fully-formed missions in the early years. What they had was clarity of product, relentless focus on shipping, and early user enthusiasm. That energy built the brand. Not the other way round.
Marketing Leaders Can and Should Evolve Their Brands
An onion for the alogo’
Brand strategists often forget that a mission should emerge from behaviour, not be imposed from a whiteboard. Great missions are not the result of copywriting. They’re born from doing the work, spotting patterns, and capturing them with clarity after momentum has taken hold. Great brands and their missions and values are unwrapped from the behaviours of the company, peeled back like layers of an onion to find the core. Kernal of truth that becomes the company culture, brand and way of doing things, all outcomes for early stage momentum.
The psychologist Karl Weick described this as retrospective sense-making. We often create meaning only after the fact, once the pieces have moved into place.
What Founders Should Focus on Instead
Forget perfecting your mission in the early days. Focus instead on:
Story: Tell your origin story in human terms, what problem are you solving and why now?
Signals: Share early signs of traction with a win, early revenue, media attention, or staakeholder engagement
Stakeholders: Name the people involved and their credentials, credibility matters more than ideals
Clarity: Set clear goals and communicate progress consistently
In time, your purpose will find you if you have enough momentum.
Takeaways
Missions and culture follows progress, not prose.
Mission statements can be limiting in early-stage companies.
Origin stories, early wins, and clear direction build faster credibility.
Momentum creates the conditions for purpose to be discovered, not invented.
Academic References For Marketing Geeks
Amabile, T. M., & Kramer, S. J. (2011). The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work. Harvard Business Review Press.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. Sage Publications.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). “Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation.” American Psychologist, 57(9), 705–717.
Ahuja, G., & Lampert, C. M. (2001). “Entrepreneurship in the Large Corporation: A Longitudinal Study of How Established Firms Create Breakthrough Inventions.” Strategic Management Journal, 22(6-7), 521–543.