Discover key insights and practical tools from Gerald Westlund of Theory and Practice on how founders can build a brand that drives success.
EAST LANSING, Mich.—(November 21, 2025)—This week, we hosted the first public speaker series event for the Capital Area Startup Studio, featuring Gerald Westlund of Theory and Practice, a Lansing based branding agency. Gerald shared frameworks, questions, and practical tools that founders can use to build a stronger, more effective brand. The event was free and open to the public, and it set a high bar for the rest of the series.
Gerald’s talk, How thoughtful brand building can increase sales and enable your success, challenged founders to rethink how they communicate value. He posed some interesting questions, like:
- What EMOTIONAL outcome do your users want? Not features, but feelings.
- What is your Minimum Viable PROMISE? What must be true for users to trust you?
He also addressed the role of AI in today’s creative landscape. While AI can enhance our work, he noted that it does not serve all the senses. As AI tools increasingly shape how things look, sound, and read, many brands begin to blend together. That sameness makes thoughtful, human centered brand building even more powerful. When content and branding start to look alike, it has never been easier to stand out and be different.
Gerald closed with a quote from Maya Angelou:
“People will forget what you said; people will forget what you did; but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Ready to think deeply about your brand? Get started with Theory and Practice’s Brand Promise Framework worksheet and check out the event presentation slides.
About the Capital Area Startup Studio
The Capital Area Startup Studio helps founders build tech enabled businesses that strengthen our regional innovation ecosystem. The program includes:
- An incubator for a select group of founders who have been accepted into the program and receive training, guidance, and hands on support.
- A series of public events covering topics from low-code / no-code training and AI enablement to essential business skills that help small companies enable tech within their businesses and accelerate growth.
From seed to bloom, we grow together. We are grateful for the ecosystem partners who nurture this growth:
- This session was presented by Gerald Westlund of Theory and Practice, an agency that helps founders and leaders demystify the role brand plays in business success. Learn more at andpractice.org and explore their case studies.
- The Capital Area Startup Studio is led by Blake Grewal from Boost for ESOs and Jeff McWherter in partnership with Gravity Works Design and Development.
- The event took place in the SmartZone at the Technology Innovation Center, managed by the MSU Research Foundation and sponsored by the SmartZone.
- These events, programs, and efforts are powered by the Lansing Regional SmartZone, which supports high-tech and high-growth businesses in starting, growing, and thriving in our region.
If you believe these efforts matter, please share your support for continued SmartZone funding with your State legislators and local municipalities.