While full branding and messaging do take time, a failure to understand and navigate the pitfalls of early-stage branding can stop your company from ever really taking off. Often, you think, “We’ll figure out the branding later—all I need is a landing page,” or “We’re in stealth mode, so I can’t publicly share what we really do,” or the truly dangerous “We can just use a template for now.” The problem with this thinking is that it prevents you from addressing the fundamental questions that define your brand and, more importantly, keeps you from communicating why your early adopters should trust you.