About Kerf
Built for founders who can't afford brand theatre
Kerf is a strategy-first branding studio. We work exclusively with early-stage tech and AI founders who are under commercial and investor pressure — and who need brand clarity fast, not a drawn-out agency process.
The story
Why Kerf exists
Every founder I worked with had the same frustration: they'd built something genuinely differentiated, but the brand wasn't doing justice to it. Investor meetings weren't converting at the rate the product quality should have predicted. Sales cycles were longer than they needed to be. The business was underselling itself.
Traditional agencies weren't the answer. They were built for different problems — brand campaigns, big budgets, long timelines. What these founders needed was strategic clarity, fast, with deliverables they could immediately put to work in a pitch room.
So I built Kerf around that specific constraint: productised, strategy-first brand work for early-stage tech and AI teams, delivered on founder timelines, with no theatre.
Euan
Founder — Kerf Branding Studio
Former brand lead and design director. Has worked with funded startups, established SaaS businesses, and everything in between. Based in the UK.
Philosophy
A few things we believe strongly
01
Strategy before execution
Better design on wrong strategy just makes the wrong strategy more visible. We always fix the strategic foundation before touching the visual layer.
02
Specificity compounds
Vague positioning appeals to everyone and converts no one. The most defensible brands claim a specific point of view in a specific context for a specific audience.
03
The brand should travel without you
If an investor or buyer can't explain what you do and why it matters after a single touchpoint — without you in the room — the brand hasn't done its job.
04
Restraint is not timidity
The most credible brands are often the quietest. Confidence shows in what's left out as much as what's put in. Noise is a symptom of strategic uncertainty.
05
Process is not the product
We don't sell a methodology — we sell a result. The process exists to serve the outcome. If something needs to adapt mid-engagement, it adapts.
06
Speed and quality aren't opposites
Long timelines don't produce better brand work. They produce more rounds of feedback on work that should have been directionally clear from the start. Clarity upfront makes execution fast.
Track record
What we've helped build
40+
Brand engagements completed
£8M+
Raised by clients post-rebrand
2 wks
Average Strategy Sprint delivery
UK-wide
Fully remote-first practice
The process of working with Euan was a pleasure from start to finish. His communication was always prompt and the work was to deadline, but what most impressed us compared to other designers we have worked with was his creativity and interpretation of our initial ideas. What was produced was far above and beyond our initial expectations.
British Universities Financial Directors Group
Rebrand — Education Sector
We worked really well together and your attention to detail was fantastic. It was a pleasure working with you; thank you ever so much. I really appreciate it!
Bamboo Partnership Ltd
Brand Identity — Professional Services
Sound like the right fit?
There's no pressure, no hard sell. Start with the brand options page, or just send a direct message.