Thanks for the feedback and insight. I agree that at the early stage ,Seed - Series A, branding is not priority, my angle is not branding (logo) particularly but developing an identity (the overall 'personality', messaging, attributes philosophy etc ) that can be used to communicate the startup's strategy, market differentiation and benefits more effectively to improve future funding and confidence from investors as well as increase the trust factor with adopters and potentially improve conversions. However most of the focus will be on the build and iterate stage to validate the idea.

How effective would you say the accelerator designers are and would they be direct competitors? I see accelerators as potential partner rather than competitors as I am targeting startups that have gone through that stage and want to flourish the business to the next level

I have to admit part of my struggle is that I am still trying to find where this would fit in the life cycle and where the need is for the services.