Good to know there's a whole set of actions you have to be prepared for if you list a company's logo -- discounts, set up reference call, etc. Thank you.
Digitalocean TOS, not changable and required on signup: 2.3 You grant us permission to include your name, logos, and trademarks in our promotional and marketing materials and communications.
Companies that regularly deal with large companies usually have the general TOS, and the TOS they'll agree to with large companies (or when reasonable sized companies check the terms w/ counsel before agreeing).
If I'm working with an easily replaceable supplier and they use my logo without explicit permission, it might be reason enough to replace that supplier. I remember being in someone's S-1 filing and getting a little bit upset (I can't remember if they notified us or not), but I can't really blame people for disclosing their largest customer by name is > 10% of revenue.
The enforceability of that is probably extremely weak, most plainly: does the person agreeing to the TOS have the right to grant permission to use the logos or trademarks?
I agree. I see single-digit million ARR startups list Google, Facebook, Visa, etc. as customers. Do you think they actually went through the process of getting permission to 1. list as customer and 2. use their logo on the website ?
If they did go through that process, I wonder if there's a written guide somewhere, on how to go about it.
> Do you think they actually went through the process of getting permission to…
Based on my experience working with and for a few startups, it's likely that many of them did not. I've been asked by CEOs to not remove Company X logo even though there was no relationship beyond a customer account which used a Company X email address.
However, as several folks in this thread have noted, the process of working with customers' marketing departments is an opportunity to build relationships. Some won't let you, and that's fine. Companies like Apple often don't even let vendors who are core to their business use their name.
> I've been asked by CEOs to not remove Company X logo even though there was no relationship beyond a customer account which used a Company X email address.
At best, this seems like a pretty easy way to convert them into a former customer.
But if the company itself isn't the actual customer, you don't lose anything by upsetting their legal/marketing team! And if the account's a free trial account, you're not losing any cash even if the individual account owner gets offended on behalf of their employer...
The other wheeze for startups with few or no customers who want some recognisable badges on their home page is padding the "we work with" section with logos of companies where they use that company's product rather than vice versa...
> But if the company itself isn't the actual customer, you don't lose anything by upsetting their legal/marketing team!
Well, those badge-worthy companies can preemptively ban your product as well as future business development/co-marketing opportunities. If you never see yourself having an actual relationship of any kind with those companies, and your ethical bar is that low, then you may decide it's worth it.
Certainly, many crypto companies are practicing this form of wishful thinking right now.
In the scheme of how corrupt and manipulative capitalism in general is, putting up company logos for any reason is far too unimportant to be a low ethical bar. Almost every corporation recognizable enough for their logo to matter are themselves 100x more problematic than their logo being put up
In the less distant future, our grandchildren will read the wikipedia on the NFT mania of 2021 and exclaim "I can't believe you guys were that dumb" At that moment I'll point to the framed screenshot of my reply to your comment and say "There's evidence I stayed out of it kiddo"
Only if you are in all hands on deck mode. It's helpful when a team to be in sync on an urgent and critical issue. Otherwise, always-on communication tends to be a distraction.
I could be wrong on the timeline, but wasn't Ben Evans at that time a partner at Andreesen Horowitz. Partners are expected to be cheerleaders of their investments. After all difficult technologies become manifest by cheerleading them until one of them catches on.
