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Issue 5 > Ten questions with David Vinjamuri.

Ten questions with David Vinjamuri.

Ben McConnell on effective entrepreneuring.

Is it possible to build a very successful company and know zilch about marketing, branding or maybe even business?

Yes, according to David Vinjamuri. He's an adjunct instructor of marketing at NYU, a brand consultant and author of 'Accidental Branding'—which tells the stories of eight entrepreneurs who built brands such as J Peterman, Columbia Sportswear and Clif Bar (one of my faves) without any experience in marketing or branding.

David answered our ten questions on how a marketing noob can still become a successful entrepreneur.

1 In a nutshell, what are you trying to convince readers of?

That the brands of successful entrepreneurs are fundamentally stronger than most corporate brands.

2 If a company launches and grows by 'accident', what's more at play—the successful riding of a trend or a smart entrepreneur who has passion for an idea or cause?

Riding a trend certainly can make a company more successful than it might have otherwise been, but I don't believe that any company lasts 10 years or more simply because of fortunate timing. Several of the entrepreneurs I write about were lucky with timing, but those same entrepreneurs have started successful second endeavors.

3 Let's say two people were starting a company at the same time. One was an MBA who tended to accumulate reams of data and conduct detailed analysis. The other was someone who never graduated from college, doesn't understand marketing but is quitting her paying job to launch a company. Who would you bet on?

I would really want to know which person was solving a problem they experienced themselves—which person had passion for the business and was doing it not for the potential rewards but the desire to make something better. The 'reams of data' actually makes me less confident about the MBA because we often use data to augment a lack of personal understanding.

4 What do the accidental branders you profiled understand about customer evangelism and word of mouth that a typical business does not?

Accidental branders do not have the resources that corporate brands do, so they're forced to rely on their customers for word of mouth. Along the way they see that treating customers as the messengers actually works better. And they realize that employees, vendors, suppliers, friends and family are also important conduits for the brand message.

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