On the 22nd of April 2025, The Engine Room Design published their case study about our brand. Same date, different year — exactly 20 years earlier — I opened my first business, Maccabi Café, in my hometown, Pápa. What a brilliant way to celebrate this occasion. I was 21. I didn't know much, but I knew what I wanted to build. I just had a vision for what I wanted people to feel and experience when they visit the coffee shop. I knew I wanted something stylish, interesting, and because I had little money to start the business must be creative.

Back then, Pápa was a sleepy town of 35,000 people (still is now). There were cafés, sure, but nothing like what I imagined. I wanted to create a place with character. Not just good coffee, but something that felt alive. We had jazz nights. Drum'n'bass in the basement. Live DJs in the afternoon. People laughed at the idea—some still do. But we did it.

The GM of Lavazza Hungary once called it "a hidden gem." I took that to heart. Not because it meant we made it, but because someone saw it for what it was: something different. Something built with care. The name Maccabi wasn't a coincidence either. In Hebrew, it means hammer. It represents defiance, resilience, and pride. I knew what I was doing when I chose that name - and I knew that some people won't like it. (no surprise there..)

After I had to forcibly close the café, I left my hometown and moved to London. From a town of 35,000 to a city of over 8 million. I didn't speak the language. I didn't know a single person. It was brutal and I mean it, I ate toast for weeks, learned to appreciate canteen food, worked in kitchens and washed dishes. But you know what I also learned? That is the goodwill of people, the sense of belonging when you start a new life in a different country - somehow, people look after each other. London, and the UK were different back then.

Slowly, I moved up. And eventually, I found myself in boardrooms, having business discussions with CEOs.

More than just a logo

Why am I telling all this? Because I believe that this journey, that contrast, that resilience, is our brand. It's not just in our company or our technology. It's in us. It's in the choices we've made, the things we've endured, the people we've become.

When you see a logo, a colour palette, a name — if it hasn't been dreamt up in a private equity brainstorming session — there's usually more to it. A real brand, like ours, is built on experience. It's shaped by culture, hardship, relationships, personal decisions, mistakes, and small wins that somehow carry you forward.

A brand isn't designed. Brand is a philosophy. It's not how it looks. It's how it lives.

We've launched a new brand identity — Another Set of Eyes. Never miss a thing. The word "brand" carries so much weight, doesn't it? It's more than just a visual; it speaks to something deeper. I was reminded of this recently, reading Scott M. Davis's Brand Asset Management book again, where he eloquently explains that 'A brand is about confidence and security. On an average day, consumers are exposed to six thousand advertisements and each year to more than twenty five thousand new products. In such a world, brands take away the confusion. Brand helps consumers cut through the proliferation of choices available in every product and service category.' This really resonated with our journey. From the quirky Maccabi Café in a small town to launching "Another Set of Eyes" in a global market, the need to build that sense of trust and clarity has been paramount.

We agreed early in the planning to move away from the usual 3- or 4-letter brand names (although we do use the shorter form, anet) — simply because this feels more human.

Building something true

Working with The Engine Room, what really stood out to me was their approach. As a perfectionist (a nightmare to work with), it was brilliant to collaborate with a team that holds such high standards. They don't cut corners. They dig deep, ask the right questions, and genuinely want to understand who you are and what makes you different.

My brief was simple: be bold, be human, be an inspiration — and they absolutely nailed it. They came back with a brilliant concept, a tagline (Make better decisions), and a slogan (Never miss a thing) that's a little cheeky, a little quirky, and full of character — just like we are.

I saw someone post online recently about launching their new brand. The "big reveal" was a new colour palette and a slightly updated logo. That's fine — there's nothing wrong with that. But it's not what we've done. We didn't just rebrand. We rebuilt what we stand for.

Because a brand isn't designed. Brand is a philosophy. It's not how it looks. It's how it lives. It's what people feel when they experience your product.

When you launch a new brand or logo, you should know why you're doing it. That may sound obvious. But it's not for everyone.

Here's why it matters:

• To build sustainable growth, not just spike next month's sales
• To expand globally with clarity and confidence
• To stand out in a world flooded with similar products
• To strengthen relationships through trust and authenticity

This wasn't just a brand refresh. It was a reset — a clearer, more honest expression of everything we've lived through, everything we've built, and everything we still believe in.

The people behind the brand

What's really interesting is how people become part of this story — people who shape the brand long before there is a brand. When we started working with Norbert or Béla, for example, there was no clear roadmap. Just trust. Just shared belief.

These weren't design discussions. These were long conversations over Meets, WhatsApp, sometimes at ridiculous hours, trying to figure out how to do something none of us had done before. Norbert didn't just write code — he built things that were never written down. He made sense of half-formed ideas and brought them to life. Béla asked the uncomfortable questions. The ones that force you to think deeper, strip it back, find clarity. That's where the brand lives. Not in the visual identity, but in the decisions that led to it. In the questions that made it sharper.

Creativity isn't something that happens in a brainstorming session. It's lived.

It's in the moment you get rejected and choose to keep going. It's in the moment you've got nothing left, but you still show up. It's in the quiet belief people have in you — often before you believe in yourself. That's why when I look at our brand, I don't see fonts and colour codes. I see the people who said yes when they didn't have to. The ones who stayed when things got uncertain. The ones who believed in the version of me I hadn't yet become.

That's what real branding is. It's not something you invent. It's something you earn.

It's not about what you're doing now

So maybe you're not where you thought you'd be. Maybe you're doing something that doesn't feel big enough. Or relevant enough. Or connected to what you want to do in the future.

But here's the thing: what you're doing now is shaping how you think. And how you think — how you see the world, how you approach problems, how you connect with others — that becomes the foundation for everything you'll create later. I used to serve coffee. Then I washed dishes in London kitchens. I didn't speak the language. I was broke, hungry, and completely unsure of what would come next.

But even then, something was forming.The way I treated customers. The way I noticed small details. The way I pushed through long days, quietly holding on to some idea that maybe, just maybe, I could build something of my own one day. All of that — those moments that felt disconnected at the time — now shape the brand we've built.

Resilience isn't something you suddenly "get." Belief isn't always loud. They grow — slowly, invisibly — through the things you live through, the people you meet, the risks you take, and the mistakes you make.

So if you're building something — or even just dreaming about it — don't underestimate where you are now.

You don't have to have it all figured out. You just have to keep going. Because one day, it will all make sense. And the brand, the company, the identity — whatever you end up creating — won't come from a plan. It'll come from you.

So if you're in the middle of something messy, hard, or uncertain — ask yourself: What is this shaping in me?

What will I one day look back on and say, "that was part of it too"? Some things are not a coincidence.

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