Your Logo Is Not Your Brand

Five Brand Myths That Keep Founders Stuck

Most founders treat branding as a design task: pick a logo, choose some colours, buy a set of brand guidelines, move on.

So… are you done?

Not necessarily. You can have branding without actually having a brand.

A useful brand does more than give your business a visual identity. It helps people understand what you do, remember why you’re different and choose you over the alternatives. It also gives you a clearer way to make decisions as the business grows.

In other words: Good branding stacks the odds in your favour.

We're excited to welcome Lorena Chan, Brand Strategist & Designer at arc ana studio, to this Startup Grind Hong Kong event.

Arc ana builds strategy-first brand systems for founders whose “just okay” branding is quietly turning customers away. In this session, Lorena will unpack five common branding myths that lead founders to spend money in the wrong places or end up with a brand that looks finished but doesn’t actually help build the business. This session will help you work out what matters now, what can wait, and what your brand actually needs to do for your business.

📅 Date: Thursday, 17 September, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM HKT
⌛ Duration: 1h
📍 Location: Online (Virtual Event)

🎤 Meet the Speaker

Lorena Chan is a Brand Strategist & Designer and the founder of arc ana studio, helping founders build branding for the next generation of leading businesses. We have worked with The Women’s Foundation, The New Normal Charity Hong Kong and Fortune 500 companies, with clients featured in SCMP, Tatler Asia and Vogue.

A recovering consultant turned designer, she developed her analytical, structured way of thinking through a degree in Engineering before starting her career in consulting. That background still shapes how she approaches branding today. Rather than treating strategy, messaging, visual identity, website and customer experience as separate projects, Lorena looks at how they work together to make a business easier to understand, trust and choose.

Today, she works with women-led businesses that have outgrown the branding they started with, helping them build brands that can support stronger positioning, bigger opportunities and the next stage of the business.

💡 What You'll Learn

✅ Why having a logo, colours and fonts doesn’t necessarily mean you have a useful brand
✅ What are five brand myths that keep founders spending money on design that doesn't work
✅ How much branding an early-stage startup really needs, and why copying Nike, Apple or another established brand can send you in completely the wrong direction
✅ When a pivot actually requires a rebrand, versus when your existing brand can stretch with the business
✅ What to look for when hiring a branding partner, so you end up with something you can actually use rather than an expensive PDF full of rules

🎯 Who Should Attend?

🚀 Startup founders who suspect their brand isn't keeping up with their business
📈 Early-stage entrepreneurs deciding how much to invest in branding from day one
🏦 Investors and advisors who want a sharper eye for when a brand is holding a company back
📢 Marketers, designers, and consultants who want to tie brand decisions to business results
🚀 Don't miss this opportunity to turn your brand into a business tool - not just a logo

🚀 Don't miss this opportunity to turn your brand into a business tool - not just a logo