A Founder’s Guide To Their First Brand Video

Most teams don’t decide to make a brand video because it sounds fun. It usually comes after enough conversations to realize the story isn’t living in one clear place yet. It works when someone explains it live. It shows up in pieces on the website. But it hasn’t been articulated in a way that carries on its own.

If this is your first one, the hardest part usually isn’t production. It’s figuring out what the video is actually supposed to do — and just as importantly, what it isn’t.

Why first brand videos feel heavier than expected

First brand videos tend to carry more weight than they should. They’re often asked to explain the product, capture the vision, establish credibility, support sales, and feel unmistakably “on brand” all at once. That combination is usually where things start to wobble. The more problems the video is asked to solve, the harder it becomes to give it a clear shape.

A first brand video doesn’t need to say everything. In practice, trying to do so usually makes it less effective. What it needs to do is orient people. When viewers understand what you do, who it’s for, and why it matters, they’re far more willing to keep going. The rest of the story can live elsewhere.

What a brand video actually is

A brand video isn’t a demo, a feature list, or a condensed version of every deck you’ve ever made. At its best, it creates shared understanding. It gives people a clear starting point and helps them understand how to think about your product before they begin evaluating it.

That’s why the most important decisions tend to happen before anyone opens a script document. When those decisions are clear, the creative work that follows has something solid to build on.

The decisions that shape everything later

Before worrying about length, style, or format, it’s worth getting clear on a few foundational things. Who is this really for, in practical terms, not hypothetically. A clear primary audience gives the video focus and keeps feedback grounded later on.

It’s also important to understand what the video needs to do. Not how it should feel, but what should change for someone after watching it. More clarity, more confidence, or more curiosity are all valid outcomes, but they lead to very different creative choices.

Finally, where the video will live matters more than most teams expect. A homepage, a sales conversation, and a launch email all ask different things of a video. Knowing the context early keeps the work from trying to do too much at once. These decisions don’t lock anything in, but they do give the video a spine.

What usually makes the process feel hard

Most first-time friction doesn’t come from creative disagreement. It comes from uncertainty. When the goal isn’t fully clear, feedback tends to widen. When decisions haven’t been shared explicitly, they get revisited. When everyone is trying to be helpful, authority can blur without anyone noticing.

None of this means the project is failing. More often, it means the ambition showed up before the structure did. This is why experienced teams spend time early on alignment and direction. Not because it slows things down, but because it prevents confusion from compounding later. 

What a smooth first project tends to have in common

When first brand videos go well, a few things are usually true. The team agrees on what the video is responsible for and what it isn’t. Feedback has a shared reference point, so it stays focused. Decisions are made explicitly rather than assumed.

The process still takes work, but it doesn’t feel chaotic. That steadiness isn’t accidental. It’s designed. 

What founders often mean when they say “this helped”

After a brand video is live, founders tend to describe its value in simple, almost understated ways. It made the website feel complete. Sales stopped starting from scratch. It finally sounds like us.

What they’re responding to isn’t polish. It’s clarity, and the relief that comes with it. The video didn’t solve every problem, but it made the rest of the work easier.

A helpful way to think about your first brand video

Instead of asking whether the video will say everything you want it to say, it can be more useful to ask a simpler question. Does this give people a clear place to start?

If it does, the video is doing its job. Everything else can evolve from there.