The Brand Name Got the Job, Not the Better Candidate

I lost my first shot at Dell to someone with zero online experience. She'd worked at Coca-Cola and Deloitte. That was enough.

This was early 1999. I was a finalist for managing Dell's Small Business site. I actually knew the work. She didn't, not online work anyway, but the brand names on her resume carried more weight than what either of us could actually do. She got the job. What happened to her? Long story short... she didn't make it to her two-year appreciation certificate.

Dell liked me enough to refer me sideways into a peer role in the Consumer division instead. That sideways move became the foundation of my entire career there.

Before Dell, I'd helped launch three startups you've never heard of: User Group Connection, ThirdAge.com, Telepost. I learned a huge amount at each one. None of those names ever opened a door for me. It didn't matter what I'd actually built. The brand just wasn't recognizable enough to matter on a resume or in a room.

Years later, being founding CMO of Bazaarvoice, which went public in 2012, did the opposite. That name alone made it dramatically easier to raise money for Mass Relevance in 2010. Same person, same skill set, just a more visible brand attached to my name.

I don't love that this is how hiring and fundraising actually work. But pretending brand recognition doesn't matter doesn't help you use it, or work around it when you don't have it yet.

Has a brand name ever cost you an opportunity you were better qualified for, or opened one you didn't quite earn yet?