BC LOGO
Saved by @SAnngeri

A professional logo could cost your startup $1,000 or more.

But logos don't generate customers.

How to design a killer startup logo in 5 minutes, for free:

 New entrepreneurs often get hung up on trivial details like logos.

It's what Paul Graham calls "playing house":

Focusing on the trappings of business instead of what really drives growth.

So let's solve your logo problem in 5 minutes.
First off, let's head over to Logo To Use: https://t.co/kDBddyYXuM

This insane site has millions of pro-quality logos that are free to use.

Their license is 100% clear. No concerns here:
We're going to pick a random design.

This one looks good: "Hues"
Oh no! Our startup is not called "Hues".

Not to worry. Click that Download button and save the Hues SVG file to your desktop.

Note: SVG stands for "Scalable Vector Graphics".

At the end of this tutorial you'll have a file that looks crisp at any size.
Next, let's head to Boxy SVG:

https://t.co/u2Ud2pgsyT

These kind folks made a browser-based SVG editing platform, with a 15-day free trial (no credit card required).

Take 30 seconds to register and validate your email address.
Click the giant Launch App button...

Using the File menu, find the SVG file you downloaded and open it up.
Now we're going to add a green background, because our startup is generating so much cash:
But our startup isn't called Hues.

So let's click on the letters and delete them.

Then we select the "A" from the left-hand menu to add text.

Enter startup name and tweak the font as you wish.

(If you've used Microsoft Word before, you can handle this)
As a final touch, we'll add a "TM" to make it look official.

Lastly, we use the File menu to download our pro logo to our desktop.

Boom!

Now you have a pro logo that can be scaled to any size.
Bonus: how to turn this SVG file into an image for the web.

1. Head over to Pixlr (also free): https://t.co/m8iVcS6dzY

2. Open your SVG file

3. Scale it to desired size

4. Save to your desktop
Here's our beautiful new logo, ready for the web.
h/t to @heyeaslo for sharing Logo To Use in this monster design thread:
https://t.co/rXl77ZUaKV
That's it.

If you found this useful please retweet so others can benefit.

Follow me at @bbourque for more on startups and marketing.
Btw - this thread is making two points:

1) founders can get caught up focusing on things that aren’t essential to early growth

2) there are free tools out there to execute on things you need but aren’t essential to early growth.

I’m sorry if you think this is about design 🤷
To all offended designers:

I work with professional designers every day. I’m not questioning the value of good design.

But people starting companies often focus on the wrong things like expensive logos, when they should focus on building something people want (not a logo).

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