Why I changed our entire brand (and what you can learn from it)

Read time: 4 min

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I’ll admit it, I actually liked the old Climate Insiders brand.

It felt like my baby. I’d watched it grow step by step.
The rough logo, the simple design, the scrappy feel. It all carried the history of how this started.

But here’s the truth:
It didn’t feel professional enough anymore.

It was time to evolve.
To breathe fresh air into it.
To look like what we’d actually become: pro, inspiring, not noob.

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The ceiling moment

When I passed 5,000 subscribers and the podcast became Europe’s top climate podcast, I felt it.
A ceiling.

Suddenly, the old brand, the old funnel, the old strategy wasn’t enough.
If I wanted to keep growing, I needed to reinvent:

• the content strategy,

• the outreach,

• the conversion funnel,

• and yes, the brand equity.

So I invested.
I worked with a design studio to give Climate Insiders a brand new look and feel.
Not to erase the past, but to evolve into what it needed to be.

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The ultimate counter example

Now, I know what some of you are thinking.
There are exceptions. “What about Not Boring?”

Packy’s newsletter is as crappy-looking as the day it started.
But now? It’s a statement. It works because he made it work.

But for most of us, that won’t fly.
Most ventures will need to outgrow their original base.

And so did Climate Insiders.

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Reinventing the engine

In 2024, I launched a new strategy:

• LinkedIn feeds the newsletter.

• The newsletter feeds my investor community.

• The investor community makes more investments into climate action.

That’s the flywheel.

And it had to look and feel the part.

Because brand isn’t just “design.”
It’s trust. It’s positioning. It’s your first and fastest credibility signal.

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Navigating headwinds

Since the election of Trump, I won’t lie, appetite for climate investing has slowed.
VCs are cautious. Climate momentum feels sluggish.

But my audience? Thriving.
The content? Strong.
The impact on founders? Still alive and kicking.

Global Rankings from Favikon

Sometime this year, I even managed to be #4 in LinkedIn Germany, few steps behind Ursula von der Leyen 🤯

So I doubled down.

I decided to leverage this channel more actively than ever, delivering a ton of value, week after week, and rebranding to reflect what Climate Insiders really is.

The Saturday Climate Insiders became simply: Climate Insiders.

And the tools, templates, tips & tricks I share every week help hundreds far beyond climate, in 158 countries.

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Lessons for you

Here’s the takeaway I’d leave every founder, fund manager, and builder with:

1. Don’t go cheap on design. It matters more than you think.

2. Brand isn’t fluff. It fuels your funnel, attracts capital, recruits talent, and inspires your team.

3. If you feel the ceiling, listen to it. That’s your signal to level up.

Purists sometimes tell me:
“Hardware doesn’t need marketing. Just build a superior product.”

And I respond:
You actually need awesome marketing and branding, to finance your R&D, win customers, inspire talent, and keep your team fired up every day.

That’s not fluff. That’s survival.

— Yoann

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Tools for founders raising smarter:

📌 The Ultimate Investors List of Lists (12,000 VCs, FOs, Angels)
💰 The Investor List No One Talks About: 140 Family Offices
🦄 40 pitch decks that built Unicorns (how Airbnb, Coinbase, Canva got funded)
⚡ The Ultimate Notion Data Room (all key docs you’ll EVER need)
🥇 The Most Successful Investor Update Template
📊 The Only Finance Tracker Your Startup Needs
⚖️ SAFE Note Dilution Calculator & Cap Table Builder
👯 Co-Founder Agreement Templates + Legal Clauses You Can't Forget

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PS: I’ve also made it my mission to help founders increase their odds of success. I got tired of seeing huge ideas presented with weak decks, so I started taking matters into my own hands.

I’ve decided to personally help 2-3 projects. I cherry-pick the ones where there’s a strong human fit and where I know I can create massive leverage.

I’ll take you from crappy PowerPoint to a world-class boutique deck that’s blowing away investors. I just finished helping one Nuclear Fusion startup that is now out raising $50m!

If that sounds like what you need, let’s talk. Just reply to this message.