Build Your Minimum Viable Brand
Go from a company with a product to sell to a culturally relevant brand people will love. Create your brand strategy playbook in two weeks.
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Course overview
Unlock your next level of growth
In the early stages of company building people get caught up making products, not brands. But the best founders and marketers know that your brand is your product and that they need to incorporate it into their business from day one.
Using purpose, position, and personality, we’ll articulate what you do, why you do it, and why anyone should care. You’ll build a brand playbook full of frameworks and exercises that you can not only action immediately but come back to and iterate on as you scale.
Who this course is for
01
You’re part of a founding team looking for the best way to position your product or service.
02
You’re a product or growth marketer who wants to add brand strategy to your skillset.
03
You work in venturing or innovation and you want to build companies with great brands not just great products.
Key outcomes
Articulate your purpose to make better business decisions
Your brand is your company's north star — use it to make decisions about everything from product development to attracting top talent. Craft one that you can live up to and will make people want to root for you.
Narrow in on your true target audience
Ask yourself, "who will love you most?" and start there. You can't be everything to everyone, so be something great to someone specific.
Identify what you're up against in your customers' minds
Companies worry too much about their competition and not enough about the old way of doing things, which is usually what loses when you win.
Define your category so you can win it
Clarify your position in your customer's minds, or they'll do it for you — and not necessarily in a way you'll like.
What’s included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Kelli Corney in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
Maven Guarantee
This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.
Course syllabus
10 live sessions • 10 lessons • 4 projects
Week 1
Intros and orientation.
Redefining brand and the role it should play in 2024.
Introduce the three foundational pillars of brand strategy that we’ll cover in this course: Purpose, Position, and Personality
- 📄
Slides: Course Introduction
- ✨
Workbook: Build Your Minimum Viable Brand / Welcome Session
- ✍️
Homework: Research Culture
Submit by Apr 15 The big ideal framework.
Standing for something means standing against something. Who’s the villain in your story?
- 📄
Slides: Find Your Purpose
- ✨
Workbook: Build Your Minimum Viable Brand / Purpose Workbook
- ✍️
Homework: Research Audience
Submit by Apr 17 - 🎯
Milestone 1: Write Your Purpose Statement
Submit by Apr 17 Marketing vs brand view of your target audience
Marketing: Concentric circles of customer
Marketing: Define the category in which you play
Brand: Hero mindset
Brand: The problem you solve
- 📄
Slides: Nail Your Position
- ✨
Workbook: Brand Strategy for Innovation / Position Workbook 1
Apr
14
Welcome Session
👋 Welcome and Course Introduction
The first Monday. Meet your instructor and other students virtually!
Set the foundation for a successful course. Understand what brand strategy is and why it’s essential for every company.
Apr
15
Minimum Viable Brand Session 1
MODULE 1: Find Your Purpose
Create a purpose statement and use it to make company decisions.
Forget vision, mission, and values, you only need one thing: a purpose. By identifying what’s happening in culture that’s relevant to you and articulating your brand’s best self, we’ll craft a statement that you can use for everything from informing product decisions to attracting top talent to want to work for you.
Apr
16
Booking Link | 1:1 Consulting Session (1/4) | Purpose
Apr
17
Minimum Viable Brand Session 2
MODULE 2: Nail Your Position
Positioning Part 1: Be something specific for someone specific.
Your Customer
Apr
18
Booking Link | 1:1 Consulting Session (1/4) | Position
Week 2
Benefit
Defendable difference
What you stand against
Competing alternative - how your audience is having their needs met today.
Pub test
- 📄
Slides: Uncover Your Defendable Difference
- ✨
Workbook: Brand Strategy for Innovation / Position Workbook 2
- 🎯
Milestone 2: Write Your Positioning Statement
Submit by Apr 22 Five-pointed star framework.
Make your brand come to life: tone of voice, visual identity, social media.
- 📄
Slides: Bring Your Brand To Life
- ✨
Workbook: Brand Strategy for Innovation / Personality Workbook
Apr
22
Minimum Viable Brand Session 3
MODULE 3: Uncover Your Defendable Difference
Positioning Part 2: Nail your product positioning.
Your Product
Apr
23
Booking Link | 1:1 Consulting Session (1/4) | Position
Apr
24
Minimum Viable Brand Session 4
MODULE 4: Bring Your Brand To Life
Define your personality.
Brands are like people – they need tension to be interesting. You need a personality, not just a canva template or tone of voice.
Apr
25
Booking Link | 1:1 Consulting Session (1/4) | Personality
Apr
25
Graduation
🎓 Graduation
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What students are saying
What people are saying
Brittany Hawkins
Micah Rondot
Phil Lloyd
Emily Ames
Jessica Hall
Simon Ford
Meet your instructor
Kelli Corney
Kelli Corney
2 x Co-Founder | Chief Brand & Marketing Officer | Strategist, Venture Builder
Kelli picked up brand marketing at NBCUniversal, where she spent the early part of her career developing media campaigns for some of the biggest companies in the world. She went on to craft foundational messaging for >70 companies at Mightily, a creative agency she helped co-found and grow to 40 employees with $4.5M in revenue in under five years. As a corporate VP of Marketing at Atria, she led a team of 50 people to create award-winning work while launching three new products to market.
Since then she’s worked at the Financial Times with companies including Facebook and WeWork on their campaign messaging. Now, for the first time, she’s turning the brand strategy work she does through her consulting practice into a cohort-based course. Kelli studied creative writing and philosophy and is more interested in what moves people than omni-channel journey mapping.
Course schedule
2 weeks | 6-8 hours per week
Introductory Session
5:00pm-5:30pm GMT | Monday
The first Monday. Meet your instructor and other students virtually!
4 Live Workshops
5:00pm-7:00pm GMT | Tuesdays & Thursdays
Workshops are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00pm to 7:00pm GMT (12:00pm to 2:00pm EST) to allow for people from as many timezones as possible to attend.
Office Hours
5:00pm-7:00pm GMT | Wednesday
Optional office hours. Book time to ask questions or get specific feedback from Kelli. Takes place both Wednesdays the course is in session.
Pre-work / Homework
2-4 hours per week
Refine your work with feedback from your instructor and fellow students in your own time.
Graduation
5:00pm-5:30pm GMT | Friday
Wrap up on the final Friday and celebrate!
Learn while doing. Create a brand strategy you can action now.
Active learning, not passive watching
This is a crash course that's taught live and interactively. Workshops aren't simply lectures — there will be live examples, breakout rooms, discussions, and Q&A.
Learn with a cohort of peers
Surround yourself with like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you. Get feedback from your peers and instructors to refine your thinking.
Accountability and feedback
Trying to do this on your own is tough. This course keeps you honest and forces you to do the work in a supportive community with expert guidance.