# @martikabrianne on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DY2O528s3pi
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/66126615-martikabrianne-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/bd77dae25b.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-05-27T15:37:29.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Martika B. Jones (@martikabrianne) — https://gondola.cc/martikabrianne

## Caption

🚨 Story time — and I need you to read this if you’re a founder.

Early in my startup journey I accepted help from someone who said he could help me sell my product. He was confident. He was connected. He seemed like exactly what I needed at the time.

What I didn’t know (what nobody told me) was that for months this person was out in the world telling people he was the owner of my brand.

Not a rep. The OWNER.

And me? The actual Founder and CEO?
He had positioned me as the “tech assistant” with no name. 😂

I wish that was the worst part...

The worst part was the customers. When technical issues came up (and they did) they went to him. And he never passed them to me. Never addressed them. Never said a word.

There were people out there angry, confused, with nowhere to turn — and they didn’t even know I existed... The person who built the thing. The person who could have actually fixed it.

I found out the way founders find out the things that hurt most — from strangers. People I barely knew, mentioning things casually, not realizing they were describing a crisis happening in real time inside my own company.

The moment I found out — I moved fast. I fixed it. I showed up in every room he’d been in and made sure my name, my face, and my title were unmistakably clear.

I SAVED my brand. But it was close. And I learned lessons I will never forget.👇🏽

NOT ALL HELP IS HELPFUL.
Protect your name like infrastructure - because it is.

Here’s what I know now that I wish I knew then: CC

#FounderStory #WomenInTech #StartupLessons #GiveYourselfPermission #BrandProtection

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## Tags

womenintech, brandprotection, giveyourselfpermission, startuplessons, founderstory

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