Celebrating a legacy or distracting from the future?
Thoughts on when to look back and when to forge ahead...
Hi friends,
It’s been a minute since this landed in your inbox (did you forget you subscribed?). I’m excited to be back! I took a pause to rethink how I want to show up here.
Right now, I’m growing a boutique agency and working closely with a ton of founders. I’m excited to use this space to share the trends I’m seeing across marketing and media, the challenges founders are navigating, and my own founder learnings along the way.
This week, I am thinking about: communications, positioning, and the urge to look back, when you really should be looking ahead.
This one hits close to home. I’m one year into the relaunch of an agency I started eight years ago, and I often feel the pull to look back—to explain how we started as a way to contextualize where we’re headed. But that’s not always the best communications plan. There’s a difference between celebrating a legacy to amplify where you’re going, and dwelling on the past in a way that over-explains (and distracts) from what’s next. Here are a few examples to unpack the difference:
🎉 Celebrating a Legacy
Modernist Financial (one of my longtime clients!) is gearing up to celebrate their 10-year anniversary. While the business has evolved and grown significantly, their mission and values have never wavered. For Modernist, reflecting on where they started is both a celebration of their legacy and a powerful way to amplify where they’re headed. As one of the few queer-woman-owned wealth management firms, their 10 year story is not just meaningful—it’s essential. Sharing the journey builds connection, trust, and deepens their relationship with the clients they serve.
😬 Defending a Decision
On the flip side: I recently met with a CEO (I’ll keep this one anonymous) whose company has been around for 20 years. They launched a new product a few months ago with limited fanfare, and now they’re preparing to launch a revised suite of tools. In our conversation, they spent most of the time explaining why the initial launch went quiet, what they learned, and why this time is different. That instinct, to explain and defend, is totally human. But it was also the narrative they were proposing to lead with for the new launch. I reminded them: you get limited airtime, and people have limited attention. Use that time to show where you’re headed. Reference your legacy, yes! But don’t let it become the whole story.
🔮 Forward, Forever
I met with someone last week who’s in year two of building. They pivoted the entire business six months ago, new product, new name, same team. And instead of framing it as a “massive pivot,” they just started sharing what they’re building now. They’ve kept the storytelling future-facing, because in reality, most people aren’t paying enough attention to need all of that back story. The origin shows up occasionally in conversation, but it’s punctuation, not the headline.
I would love to hear from you, how do you think about positioning during pivotal moments?
Random things!
I’m planning our next IRL founders’ workshop outside of NYC! These bring 6–10 founders together to workshop real challenges in an intimate setting. We’re currently considering LA, SF, Portland, and Stockholm (where many of our clients are!). Got a vote? Let me know.
I’ve been having a lot of 1:1 convos with founders lately and noticing a big (and honestly refreshing) shift in how startups are thinking about growth and the role of marketing. I posted a quick reel on this, and might do a deeper dive here in the next week!
Next month’s newsletter is all about niche communities and sub-cultures. If you lead a community, have a very niche interest, or just have a lot of opinions on this, let’s chat!