Over the past three years, I’ve spoken to - and worked with - many startups determined to make a difference. They all have brilliant ideas, boundless passion, and have poured their hearts, and often their savings, into building their brands.

But here’s the brutal truth: 10% of startups fail in the first year, and up to 70% don’t make it past year five.

So, what separates the ones that break through from the ones that disappear?

Sometimes it’s a breakthrough product or technology. But more often, it’s the ability to position your brand boldly and tell a story so clear and compelling, that investors and customers see you as a can’t-miss opportunity.

In this article, I’ll share three strategies you can use to stand out, disrupt your industry, and win the long game.

1. Innovating beyond the existing paradigms

I hate to break it to you, but benefits such as “eco-friendly,” “vegan,” or “plastic-free” aren’t enough to make your brand stand out anymore.

Even The Body Shop - once the pioneer of cruelty-free beauty and sustainability - has closed its doors in several markets. What was once radical became mainstream, and the brand struggled to reinvent itself as new competitors entered with fresher, bolder ideas.

True innovation isn’t about checking the sustainability box. It’s about challenging category norms and creating something entirely new - something that pushes the entire industry forward.

🌱 Planted, for example, is reimagining meat from plants - not as a compromise, but as a tastier, scalable, and sustainable solution to transform our food system.

Unlike many meat alternatives that rely on heavy processing, additives, or clever flavor tricks, Planted keeps things simple: using natural ingredients like peas, oats, and sunflowers, with no artificial additives or E-numbers. Their clean-label approach means their products are not just “meat substitutes,” but high-quality foods in their own right.

What really sets them apart is their pioneering fermentation technology, which enabled them to launch Europe’s first plant-based steak with an authentic whole-muscle texture. Combined with their commitment to producing everything in-house in Switzerland and Germany, Planted controls the process end-to-end, ensuring quality, scalability, and strong sustainability credentials.

📱 Fairphone is challenging one of the most entrenched consumer behaviours of our age: the constant upgrade cycle of smartphones. In an industry built on disposability and planned obsolescence, Fairphone has pioneered a radically different model: designing modular phones that are easy to repair, upgrade, and last far longer than conventional devices. Every component, from the camera to the battery, can be swapped out by the user with a simple screwdriver.

But Fairphone isn’t just selling durability, it’s sparking a new conversation about fairness in tech. With responsibly sourced materials, transparent supply chains, and commitments to worker welfare, they’re asking consumers to rethink the true cost of their devices. 

2. Leading new conversations that evolve society

The boldest brands aren’t always the ones bringing breakthrough technologies to their industries, though.

You can stand out and disrupt simply by taking a strong stand that challenges industry norms and by leading conversations that shift culture toward new expectations.

🧻 Who Gives A Crap has transformed one of the most boring, overlooked categories - toilet paper - into a joyful, purposeful movement. Their mission is simple but radical: “We believe everyone should have access to clean toilets.” By donating 50% of profits to fund sanitation projects and using eco-friendly materials to reduce deforestation, they’ve built purpose into the heart of their brand.

But it’s not just what they sell - it’s how they rally people around it. With colorful packaging, cheeky copywriting, and a playful tone, they’ve stripped away the taboo of talking about bathroom habits. Every purchase becomes part of a global giving model, reinforced through storytelling that shows the real-world impact: schools being built, communities gaining access to toilets, children’s lives being transformed. They invite customers to go beyond buying - sharing bathroom photos with #LooWithAView, becoming “Toilet Paper Ambassadors,” and feeling like part of something bigger.

By blending humor with humanity, Who Gives A Crap has shown that even everyday products which seem difficult to innovate can spark a global conversation about dignity, health, and sustainability.

🥛 Chobani has led a very different kind of disruption. Its purpose, “Better food for more people”, was a direct challenge in the US market which is flooded with processed, sugary products. By making natural, high-quality Greek yogurt widely accessible and affordable, Chobani reframed yogurt from a niche luxury into a nutritious, everyday staple.

But what sets Chobani apart is how it consistently steps up beyond the product to shape cultural dialogue. Founder Hamdi Ulukaya has championed refugee hiring and fair wages, setting new social standards for the industry. His “Anti-CEO Playbook” urged leaders to put people and communities ahead of profit, creating a new conversation around what responsible business leadership looks like. Chobani’s influence now extends beyond yogurt: countless startups in plant-based, dairy-free, and clean-label food cite it as proof that you can build a purpose-driven company at scale.

3. Catalysing new behaviours and consumption habits

So much recent sustainability communication has been about guilt-tripping consumers into changing their habits - or asking them to compromise on what they love. But guilt and sacrifice rarely inspire lasting change. Marketing is, and will always be, about creating desire.

The winning brands are doing exactly that: they create desire for better habits. They make sustainable choices feel aspirational, joyful, and impossible to ignore.

🥫 Bold Bean Co is on a mission to change how we eat and improve soil health and planetary health (beans are natural soil regenerators, fixing nitrogen back into the earth and reducing the need for synthetic fertilisers).

In a food culture that often sidelines beans as cheap or boring, Bold Bean has reframed them as heroes of modern kitchens: sustainable, protein-rich, and delicious. By curating the best heirloom varieties from small farms and pairing them with recipes that celebrate beans as centrepieces, not side dishes, they’ve transformed boring beans into craving frenzies.

From glossy cookbooks to collaborations with top chefs, Bold Bean taps into lifestyle and community as much as nutrition. Instead of lecturing consumers to “eat less meat,” they invite them to “eat more beans”, an empowering, joyful shift in behaviour that’s good for people, wallets, and the planet.

💧 air up is transforming our drinking habits by reimagining how water itself can be experienced. Instead of battling sugary sodas with “less bad” alternatives, air up takes a completely new approach: using patented scent technology, it makes plain water taste like your favourite flavours without adding sugar, sweeteners, or additives (a Mom's dream! 😉).

What makes this innovation powerful is the way it turns hydration into a playful, desirable habit. air up proves that true disruption can come from reinventing the way we engage with something as basic as water, and in the process, setting a whole new standard for the industry.

Launch With Impact

The numbers speak for themselves: 10% of startups fail in the first year, and up to 70% don’t make it past year five. In markets this crowded, the only way to stand out is to be bold.

The brands that survive and thrive are those that dare to challenge category norms, lead cultural conversations, and inspire new behaviours.

For brands looking to break through, this is your biggest opportunity. You don’t need the budget of a global giant to make an impact. What you need is the clarity and courage to be boldly different and the ability to communicate that difference with confidence.

That’s why your pitch matters. Whether you’re speaking to investors or potential clients, your deck isn’t just about numbers. It’s your story, your vision, and your chance to prove why your brand deserves to exist in the world!

👉 Ready to make your next pitch unforgettable?

DM me here on LinkedIn or email me at [email protected] to find out more about 🚀 Launch With Impact. Together, we’ll create a powerful sales or investor deck anchored in a BOLD positioning, so you can win the clients, partners, and funding you need to grow.