Toy Dinosaur
The Startup Quiz 7 Questions / 2 Minutes / No Email

What Does Your Startup
Actually Need?

No money? Start here. Seven questions about where your startup is today. You get a straight answer on what kind of marketing and branding help you need first, what's involved, what you can do yourself for free, and what can wait.

Take the quiz ↓ Read the guide ↓

The Quiz

7 Questions

  1. Where is the business right now?

  2. Have strangers said they'd pay for it?

  3. Can you say who it's for, and why you, in one sentence?

  4. What do you have for a name and a look?

  5. What happens when someone looks you up online?

  6. What do you need most in the next 90 days?

  7. What can you spend on this right now?

No Money? Do It In This Order

§01 / Start Here

With no budget, your time is the budget. This is the order that wastes the least of it. Each step makes the next one cheaper, and none of the first six needs an agency.

  1. Talk to ten strangersNot friends, not family. Ask what they do about the problem today and what it costs them.
  2. Write the one sentenceWho it's for, what it does for them, and why you. If a stranger can repeat it tomorrow, keep it.
  3. Buy the domain and set up emailyou@yourbrand.com. It's the cheapest way to look like a real company.
  4. Put up one pageWhat it is, who it's for, and what to do next. One page, fast on a phone.
  5. Claim your profilesSocial handles and a Google Business Profile, with the same name and the same look on each.
  6. Pick one channel and show up weeklyThe one your customers already use. Three months of one channel beats two weeks of five.
  7. Pay for help when strangers are judgingInvestors, press, a retail buyer, a printed sign. That's when the work has to hold up.

The Seven Kinds of Help

§02 / What's Involved

"Marketing help" is seven different jobs. Most startups need two or three of them now and the rest later. Here is what each one involves, the free version, when it's worth paying someone, and when to skip it.

01

Research

Prove it first

Before a logo, a website, or a name you love, find out whether anyone will pay for it.

What's involved

Conversations with the people you think will buy. A look at what they use today instead of you. A plain summary of what you heard: the words they used, what they'd pay, and what would stop them.

The free version

Talk to ten people who aren't friends or family. Ask what they do about the problem now and what it costs them. Don't pitch. Write down their exact words, because those words become your copy later.

Pay for help when

The decision is expensive. You're about to sign a lease, raise money, or spend months building, and you need survey numbers, market sizing, or a competitor review that a funder will believe.

Skip it for now if

Strangers already pay you. Paying customers are better evidence than any study.

02

Strategy

Decide who it's for

Positioning is three decisions: who you're for, what only you do, and what you say no to.

What's involved

Choosing an audience narrow enough to reach. Naming the alternative they'd pick if you didn't exist. Writing down the one difference that matters to them. It ends as a page you can hand to anyone who makes things for you.

The free version

Fill in one sentence: "For [who], who [problem], we're the [what] that [difference]." Say it out loud to five strangers. If they can repeat it back the next day, keep it.

Pay for help when

You're about to spend on design, a website, or ads. Strategy is the cheapest thing to change and the most expensive to get wrong, because everything built after it inherits the mistake. It's where our branding work starts.

Skip it for now if

Customers already describe you the way you describe yourself.

03

Words

Find the sentence

The name, the tagline, the answer to "so what do you do?", and the first screen of your website.

What's involved

A name if you need one, checked against trademarks and domains. A tagline. A thirty-second pitch. Homepage copy that says what the customer gets before it says what you are.

The free version

Use the words your ten strangers used. Write the headline as the result they want. Read it out loud and cut every word you wouldn't say to a person across a table.

Pay for help when

People visit or take the meeting and still don't get it. Or when you're naming the company, since a name is the hardest thing to change later. See the writing in our MadeGood campaign.

Skip it for now if

People repeat your pitch back to you correctly.

04

Identity

Look like you mean it

A logo, colours, and type, with rules for using them, so the card, the deck, and the site look like one company.

What's involved

Real concepts explored and narrowed to one. A mark and its lockups. Colour with exact values. Typefaces. Guidelines someone else can follow. Our Open Ocean Systems identity shipped as a symbol, three lockups, a six-colour palette, and a 100-part application kit.

The free version

Pick one typeface and two colours. Set your name in it. Use it the same way everywhere. At this stage consistency does more for you than cleverness.

Pay for help when

You're about to print, package, put up a sign, or pitch. That's the moment the look becomes expensive to redo and strangers start judging you by it. Start with logo design or a full brand identity.

Skip it for now if

You haven't settled who it's for. A logo made for the wrong audience gets made twice.

05

Website

Be findable

One page on your own domain that says what it is, who it's for, and what to do next.

What's involved

A domain and branded email. Copy, structure, and design. A build that's fast on a phone and readable by search engines. If you serve a local area, a Google Business Profile so you show up on the map.

The free version

One page on a site builder, pointed at your own domain. A headline, three short paragraphs, a way to contact you. Claim your Google Business Profile the same day.

Pay for help when

The site has to sell, book, or take payment, or when it's the first thing an investor or a buyer will check. See web design and the Hat Pro Shop webstore.

Skip it for now if

You don't have the one sentence yet. A site with nothing clear to say won't help.

06

Pitch Kit

Build the pitch kit

A deck, a one-page summary, and the numbers behind them, built so a funder gets it in the first three slides.

What's involved

The story in order: the problem, who has it, your answer, the proof, the ask. An investor version and a sales version. A one-pager you can leave behind or attach to an application.

The free version

Ten plain slides in a plain template. Get the story clear before you make it pretty. Present it to someone who doesn't know your industry and watch where they get lost.

Pay for help when

You have meetings booked or an application deadline. Design lifts a clear story. It can't rescue an unclear one.

Skip it for now if

You aren't raising, applying, or selling to a partner in the next six months.

07

Launch

Go get noticed

One channel your customers already use, a reason to talk about you, and content you can keep making.

What's involved

Choosing the channel. A launch story or an offer. Posts, emails, a short film, a press pitch. Our Mr. Lahey Votes campaign film was covered by CBC and CTV.

The free version

One channel, once a week, for three months. Tell the story of building the thing. Ask every early customer for one sentence you can quote. Pitch local press, because a new local business with a real story is news.

Pay for help when

Something is working and you want more of it: a campaign, a film, paid ads. Pay to amplify what works. Don't pay to find out what works.

Skip it for now if

There's nowhere to send people yet. Attention with no destination is wasted.

Startup Support in Atlantic Canada

§03 / Where The Money Is

"No money" is often temporary. If you're starting up in Nova Scotia or anywhere in Atlantic Canada, these are the first doors to knock on for funding, mentorship, and advice.

Invest Nova ScotiaThe provincial agency for business growth. Runs startup programs including Accelerate, which pairs funding with mentorship.↗ VoltaHalifax innovation hub. Programs, mentors, and a community of founders from across Atlantic Canada.↗ ACOAThe Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. Federal funding and advice for businesses in the four Atlantic provinces.↗ CBDCCommunity Business Development Corporations. Loans, training, and advice for small businesses in rural Atlantic Canada.↗ CEEDHalifax centre for entrepreneurship. Training and guidance for people starting a business.↗ FuturpreneurNational non-profit. Startup loans paired with mentorship for young entrepreneurs.↗ BDCCanada's business development bank. Financing and advisory services for new and growing companies.↗

Programs and intakes change, so check each one directly. Before you spend, ask whether brand and marketing work counts as an eligible cost, and get the answer in writing. Starting up in the United States? Your local Small Business Development Center and SCORE mentors are both free.

Straight Answers

§04 / FAQ
What should a startup do first with no marketing budget?+
Talk to ten potential customers who aren't friends or family, write one sentence that says who it's for and why you, and put up one page on your own domain. In that order. None of it costs more than a domain name.
Does a startup need a marketing agency?+
Not at first. Most early work is talking to customers and making decisions only a founder can make. An agency or studio earns its fee when the work has to hold up in front of strangers — investors, customers, press — or when it's expensive to redo, like a name, packaging, or signage.
Should I get a logo before I launch?+
You need a consistent look, not a finished identity. Your name set in one typeface with two colours, used the same way everywhere, is enough to launch. Invest in a proper identity when you're about to print, package, put up a sign, or pitch.
Can a grant or startup program pay for branding and marketing?+
Sometimes. Some programs count brand and marketing work as an eligible cost and others don't, and the rules change between intakes. Ask the program officer before you spend, and get the answer in writing.
Is the quiz free, and do I have to give my email?+
It's free and there's no email gate. Your result shows on the page as soon as you answer the seventh question. You can send it to us if you want a second opinion, but you don't have to.
Do you work with startups outside Nova Scotia?+
Yes. Toy Dinosaur is based in Halifax and works with founders across Nova Scotia, Atlantic Canada, the rest of Canada, and the United States.
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