Three early day exercises by Credit Karma, adapted from the First Round Review:

1. Survey your founding team to find out who you are, not who you want to be.
2. Don’t copy the brands you love — use them to position your company more precisely.
3. Put your branding “don’ts” upstream of your other priorities.

Ask employees 3 questions:

1. What personality traits do we all share?
2. What words describe how we interact with each other?
3. What beliefs are keeping us here, working on this idea?

2. Don't copy

Draw 3 columns on a piece of paper:

1. In the first, put the name of a brand you admire. 
2. In the second, write the adjectives that you want to borrow from them. 
3. In the third, place the attributes you don’t want to embody.

"For instance, one of Credit Karma’s taboos was charging customers for their credit information... All decisions made in the last ten years of its history have adhered to this central ‘don’t’, and their growth, partnerships and marketing have all revolved around it."