We’ve appreciated the positive comments, but we’re also taking some of the constructive criticism seriously. Reading through the discussions online, it became clear to us that we ought to clarify a few things about the buildabrand service. So here’s a bit more information about how we work.

We’re a small team, based in Soho, London. We’re entrepreneurs ourselves, and what we set out to do with buildabrand was provide access to branding for other entrepreneurs: we want to make branding accessible.

Here are the questions that have been asked, and the comments that have been made, most frequently in the last 24 hours:

Are you trying to replace traditional branding agencies?

We don’t want to replace traditional agencies. We’re looking to open up an entirely new price point for branding and identity solutions. Traditional services aren’t really our competitors.

Buildabrand will allow entrepreneurs and freelancers to acquire branding as a cost, rather than an investment. It will allow them to take a punt on their idea much more easily.

We at buildabrand see ourselves as entrepreneurs, and we’ve built a service we’d like to use ourselves. We see it sitting comfortably alongside traditional design services.

There’s a lot more to branding than a logo.

We know that. But before a company gets to the big umbrella stage, it has to start somewhere. “Buildabrand” is as much a description of what the service will aim to deliver as it is a call to action to our prospective users. To inspire them and to help them build the foundation for a brand.

We are trying to lower the barriers to entry for startups by providing them with accessible and affordable tools. Eventually, we would like to provide branding knowledge and support as well as products.

We will not solve the complex branding problems a large enterprise might face.

Automation will never replace creative thinking.

Of course not. But our algorithm and the way it has been constructed is the result of years of branding experience and a lot of strategic research. All our designs are originated by designers, from the symbols to the colour palettes.

Our goal is to match business ambitions with brand suggestions.

How big is your catalogue?

We’ve done a lot of strategic research into startups and into creating brand symbols that will fulfil a startup’s needs. We’ll have 1,800 difference business / segment types to choose from in total. During beta tests, the number will be smaller, but we’re planning to grow organically.

We’re confident that we can keep feeding new designs into the database fast enough to cope with demand. We also have plans to open up our system as a marketplace for designers to sell their work.

We’d love to hear what you think about the product. Leave a comment below or contact us if you’d like to know more.

Given the level of interest in buildabrand, we’re increasing the number of beta invitations from the original 50 offered by TechCrunch to 200. They will still be dished out on a first come, first served basis. We’ll be in touch if you made the cut.

Every now and again, you come across a service that promises to disrupt and change the entrepreneurial landscape for good. Buildabrand could do just that. The service provides high quality “strategically correct” branding for your startup for about the same price as domain registration, effectively bypassing what is a traditionally expensive and time-consuming process.

Answer a few questions about your business and buildabrand will provide a selection of brand identities: logos, fonts and so on. You can then apply that branding (after customising it, if you choose) to downloadable graphics, stationery, website templates and even – eventually – merchandise like pens and beach towels. You just pay for the items you order or download. The service requires no creative skills from users.

How does it work? Well, once you’ve entered a bit of information about your company at the “create” stage of the process – your “brand values” – buildabrand’s algorithm will exclude all the brands, including logos, in its extensive (and ever-growing) catalogue that aren’t appropriate or relevant and just show you the ones that are right for your business. You can choose from the selection it gives you, tweak the logo a bit – say, if you want it in a different colour – and you’re good to go.

CEO and design director Justin Champney was formerly head of brand innovation for McCann Worldgroup. Justin brings 15 years’ branding experience to the start-up, but he’s going to need every year: buildabrand must get the algorithm right, because it’s the quality of the recommendations that will determine whether buildabrand stands or falls. If Champney pulls it off, buildabrand has the potential to be one of the most disruptive elements in the start-up ecosystem for years.

buildabrand was formed in 2008 and completed a round of angel investment from a sole investor last November.

Selected Comments:

“Sounds like an amazing concept for an often too-expensive process.”

“It sounds like it will save a lot of time in getting an initial brand built without having the pain of explaining everything to a designer.”

“It’s one more example of how the web is making it cheaper and easier than ever to start-up and compete on a level playing field with much bigger companies.”

“Build creation is sometime an extenuating time-consuming process, so some nice tool in the area is always welcome.”

“This could save us thousands … we are always needing brand creation.”