When was the last time you compared yourself?
Your life. Your career. Your business.
Yesterday? This morning?
I do it too. I hate it, but I still catch myself.
Comparison sneaks in, makes you look sideways instead of inward. At first it feels like fuel - it pushes you to run faster, to keep up. But then the edges blur.
Everyone starts playing the same game. The game of “best practices.” The game of “what works.” The game of everyone else’s definition of good.
And that game is collapsing.
Industries overcrowded. Playbooks turning to dust overnight. Nothing feels safe anymore. Everyone ships at lightspeed.
Digital consumerism on steroids.
Blue-collar workers, doctors, a few others - maybe safe for now. For everyone else, the noise is only getting louder.
I remember scrolling through yet another round of logo commentary. Designers tearing apart a rebrand on Twitter .. ok sorry - X. Some called it genius. Others called it shit. Hundreds of hot takes in a thread that would be forgotten in a week. Max.
But really? It was just another company logo. Polished. Pretty. Hollow.
And this hit me … for months … the game we’re all playing.
Empty noise dressed up as progress.
I looked at Pony and saw us too - one of many branding agencies. Yes, I believe we do a pretty good job. But we were in the same crowded race. Another deck. Another identity. Another shiny portfolio piece.
That made me stop.
No. No. No.
The silence that followed was uncomfortable. But it forced a realisation: the personal and the professional weren’t separate. They were the same problem. Comparison had seeped into everything. And the only answer was to walk the other way.
Uncomparison began with that refusal. A few blog posts. Some half-formed thoughts.
A need to find a better way for brands … and for us … and selfishly for me.
We started saying “no” more often. No to certain clients. No to old ways of working. The noise got quieter. And eventually, something new came into focus: Uncomparison as a strategy.
Today, inside Pony, Uncomparison is a 4–6 week strategy sprint.
Pure strategy. No visuals. No moodboards. No fluff.
Just one goal: What is the one thing that makes you uncopyable?
And for anyone out there … underneath all the layers and noise, it’s always there.
Your refusal. Your edge. The thing you’ve felt but never named.
The part of you that doesn’t play the game - and never has. That’s what we dig for.
That’s what becomes your direction. Because once you find that, you don’t need to shout louder. You just need to be undeniably you.
You’ve seen it too. The sameness. The chatter. The race. Companies scaling before they stand for anything. Optimising what’s easy to measure. Building things to be seen, not believed.
Growth for growth’s sake.
Most brands don’t die - they get diluted.
Same with people. But hey - brands are all built by people, right!
We run this sprint with a small number of companies - founders and leadership teams who are tired of playing the same game.
It’s not design. It’s not campaigns. It’s strategy.
The work of stripping away noise.
Uncovering what makes a brand uncopyable.
Then building from that place. Sometimes mixed with category design. Often not.
Because you can copy features.
Copy playbooks.
Copy tactics.
But you can’t copy conviction.
The real moat for most isn’t tech, it’s truth.
Not polish, but purpose.
Not optimisation, but refusal.
If this resonates, start here → a short set of principles - defining the idea, the practice, and where it’s going - uncomparison.com
Message me. I want to hear from you.
Stef
✌️