# Startup Branding Agency — Brand Identity for Seed to Series A Companies > Happy Pizza Studio is a startup branding agency in Austin, Texas. We build identity for companies whose product is outgrowing their brand: seed to Series A, mostly AI and developer tools. Two people, no account managers, and a finished brand in two to three weeks. ## What branding for startups actually needs Not a strategy deck nobody reads. A mark that works at 16 pixels and on a conference banner, a colour system that survives dark mode, type picked for a product UI, and guidelines short enough that someone finishes them. Every package ships a design.md and design tokens, so the engineer building your landing page can work from the brand without pinging a designer. ## Why startups pick a small agency A big branding agency puts a strategist, an account manager and a junior designer between you and the work. Here, the person on the discovery call is the person drawing the logo. Decisions take a Slack message, not a stakeholder review. That's how Hacktron went from a tweet asking for a logo to a full brand book in under two weeks. ## Built for the next raise, not the last one Investors and senior hires read your brand before they read your deck. DeepTrace came to us as a YC graduate whose brand still looked like it was in the batch; three weeks later it didn't. Databuddy, also YC-backed, went from hobby-project visuals to a funded-startup identity ahead of launch. ## This is for you if - You've raised a seed or Series A and the brand hasn't caught up to the product. - You're hiring senior engineers and the careers page looks like a side project. - You're launching on Product Hunt, Hacker News or at a conference and want to look like the category leader. - You've got a logo from a contest site and three different hex codes in the codebase. ## It's not for you if - You want a logo by Friday for $200. That's a different service and it's not us. - You're pre-product and pre-users. Come back when the brand has a job to do. ## Seen in - [DeepTrace](https://happypizza.studio/work/deeptrace) — Security / Brand, 2026 · Y Combinator-backed. Deeptrace came to us with a problem: they were a YC graduate, but their brand still looked like they were in the batch. - [Databuddy](https://happypizza.studio/work/databuddy) — Analytics / Brand, 2026 · Y Combinator-backed. The new web analytics kid on the block. Funded by Y Combinator and looking to elevate their visuals from hobby project to funded startup. - [Hacktron](https://happypizza.studio/work/hacktron) — Security / Brand Book, 2025. A security startup needed to look as sharp as their product. We delivered a complete brand system: identity, colour, type, and a brand book that any designer can pick up and run with. - [CodeRabbit](https://happypizza.studio/work/coderabbit) — Dev Tools / Brand, 2025. CodeRabbit needed a visual identity that felt native to the dev community. We've been their design partner for over a year: merch, logo redesign, OOH, the works. ## Packages - **ESSENTIALS PACKAGE** — $10,000, 2–3 weeks. Ideal for seed-stage startups, product launches, rebrands. - **GROWTH** — $13,500, 3–4 weeks. Ideal for funded startups scaling fast, teams preparing for a public launch. - **ENTERPRISE** — $20,000, 5–6 weeks. Ideal for series a+ companies, consumer brands, product launches with serious budget. Full breakdown: [services](https://happypizza.studio/services). ## Questions **What does a startup branding agency cost?** Identity packages run from $10,000 (Essentials: logo suite, colour, type, guidelines and design tokens) to $20,000 (Enterprise: the full system with motion, illustration and an event package). Growth sits between at $13,500 and adds merch and ad creatives. Brand strategy on its own is $2,500. Projects are split 50% to kick off and 50% on delivery, and nothing is due until you've approved the proposal. **How long does branding for a startup take?** Essentials ships in 2–3 weeks from brief sign-off. Growth takes 3–4 weeks, Enterprise 5–6 weeks. Two rounds of revisions are included; most clients sign off in round one. Hacktron's full brand system took under two weeks. **Do you work with pre-seed startups?** Yes, if the product exists and people are using it. If you're pre-product, start with the Founder Brand Teardown ($1,200, credited toward any project booked within 30 days) or come back when the brand has a job to do. **Do you only work with AI and dev tool startups?** They're most of the work, and it's where the portfolio is deepest: CodeRabbit, Conare, Switchfrog, Sparkles, Zed. We also take on security, legal and defence companies, plus a handful of sectors we just like. **What do we get at handover?** Every file in every format, usage guidelines, and a design.md plus design tokens so your engineers can build from the brand straight away. We answer Slack messages for 30 days after. **Can you work with a startup outside Texas?** Nearly all of our clients are remote. We're in Austin; the work happens over Slack, Loom and a couple of calls. ## Also - [SaaS Branding](https://happypizza.studio/saas-branding-agency) - [Small Business Branding](https://happypizza.studio/branding-agency-for-small-business) - [Branding Agency — Austin, Texas](https://happypizza.studio/branding-agency-austin) - [Branding Agency — Houston, Texas](https://happypizza.studio/branding-agency-houston) [Book a discovery call](https://happypizza.studio/book) — 15 minutes, no brief required. --- Happy Pizza Studio, LLC · Austin, Texas · [dan@happypizza.studio](mailto:dan@happypizza.studio) Machine-readable index: [llms.txt](https://happypizza.studio/llms.txt) · [sitemap.xml](https://happypizza.studio/sitemap.xml) · [API catalog](https://happypizza.studio/.well-known/api-catalog) Every page on this site also answers to `Accept: text/markdown`, or the same path with a `.md` suffix.