Factory 39

Co-Founder, Full-Stack Brand Builder, Design Lead

Balabook

Balabook is designed to completely change the way you do your accounting, allowing accountants to do less manual entries and giving businesses complete real-time financial control from anywhere, any time.

Our purpose is to help SMEs grow and spend less time and money on accounting with features like:

- Custom invoices
- Powerful compliant reports
- AI expense & bills
- Multi-company
- Global and local bank integration
- Automated VAT
- Automated payrolls
- Automated multi-currency
- Full data encryption

Plus many more in development...

Simple, compliant, and perfect for business owners and accountants, Balabook is made for Cyprus in Cyprus by a team trusted by global tech giants.

Co-Founder

Helping companies going through a transition make that transition successful by aligning the whole organisation and crafting an actionable plan that turns vision into reality. All of this in days, not months.

 Business Transformation Strategist

Made in Cyprus

As the creator and host of Made in Cyprus, I lead insightful conversations with key figures shaping Cyprus’s business, technology, and cultural landscape. My role involves in-depth research and preparation to engage experts, entrepreneurs, and change-makers, highlighting their contributions to the island’s dynamic economy and sharing the unique perspectives that Cyprus offers to global audiences.

My purpose is to shape the new brand of Cyprus and promote our lovely island in the world...because we are mitsi alla rotsi (small but mighty).

Founder and Host

Naked Ideas®

Full-Stack Brand Consultant & Strategist

Tumo Center for Creative Technologies

I lead creative brand workshops and learning labs.

Temporary Workshop Leader

Anyscript Ltd

Co-founder & Design Director

Maven

Maven Featured Instructor

Design Motive

Iconography, Advertising, Web Design, Intranet Design, Editorial Design, Art Working, Art Directing, Branding, Photo Editing, PPT Templates, CMS, Packaging, Illustration, Basic IT, ADV

Senior brand Designer

MusicArts

MusicArts is a platform dedicated to boost the careers of aspiring creatives, by providing a wider exposure to industry professionals and art enthusiasts. Our monthly events will showcase a mix of live music, DJ sets, visual and performing arts, in a bespoke collaboration for the night, to bring the spotlight on the powerful synergy that connects all art disciplines.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1760046604207719/

Art Director

"Product is the ticket to play.
Brand is how you win the game."

I help businesses with good products stop being overlooked and start dominating their markets.

Through a clarity-driven, no-BS approach to strategy-led branding, I turn strong offerings into brands that captivate, connect, and thrive globally.

With the support of a talented international team, I’ve had the privilege of transforming good products into unforgettable brands...collaborating with industry icons like FIFA, Dr. Oetker, BT, and Ebay, as well as ambitious scale-ups in Tech, MedTech, Gaming, and SaaS.

Along the way, I’ve picked up a few awards, had a lot of fun with incredible client teams, and even shared insights on stages like TEDx, The Global Marketing Summit, and Reflect Festival.

No jargon, no fluff...just strategy, clarity, and branding that actually works (with maybe a bit of humour too).

Because at the end of the day, it’s not about me... or even you.
It’s about building brands that sell, stand out, and make an impact.

Stop Hiding.
Start Branding.

WTF is wrong with designers?
They are losing their minds over the Utah Olympics logo, and it's embarrassing.

Every design post is having a meltdown. LinkedIn is flooded with hot takes about "yet another bad design." 

This isn't design critique.
It's pure fantasy.

It's a waste of oxygen from, people who've never designed anything harder than a coffee shop poster.

You think it's bad design?

Tell me you've never sat through 47 rounds of stakeholder feedback without telling me. Tell me you've never had to balance Olympic committee politics, accessibility requirements, reproduction constraints, cultural sensitivities across 200+ nations, and a budget that's been slashed three times.

Tell me you've never had to capture Utah's entire cultural and historical landscape while being distinctive from every other Olympic edition in history. Tell me you've never had to embed strategic business goals into a mark that also needs to drive tourism, merchandise sales, and national pride.

Tell me you've never had to make something creatively bold enough to stand out, yet safe enough to not become a political shit storm.

The logo needs to work on everything from a tiny badge to a stadium banner. It needs to represent Utah's complex identity without being cliché. It needs to be unique among 100+ years of Olympic branding while still feeling Olympic. It needs to drive a creative vision across thousands of touchpoints while surviving manufacturing constraints in every possible material.

But sure, it's "ugly" according to your design blog aesthetics.
Or "Let me fix it while I pet my french bulldog"

Real design lives in constraints... and it's too early to judge what we don't know yet.

The real tragedy? We're teaching young designers that design is about having opinions, not solving problems.

That's the difference between being a designer on Social Media and actually designing in the real world.

Martin Zarian

Stop Hiding, Start Branding. Full-Stack Brand Builder for ambitious companies in complex B2B markets | No-BS strategy, brand, branding, and activation. PS: I love pickle juice.

Marketing isn’t dying.
It’s just forgetting why it exists.

What used to be the most creative room in the building has turned into a reporting centre. Endless dashboards, campaigns, optimisations.
Lots of motion. Little meaning.

AI didn’t replace marketers, it just exposed the ones running on autopilot.
We’ve confused speed with strategy and output with impact.

The irony is, marketing has never had more tools, data or access to consumers.
And yet, most brands sound identical.
Same tone. Same tactics. Same tired playbook.

We live in an age of terrific abundance, yet the reality is that the best brands aren’t doing more.

They’re doing less, just more coherently.
They’ve built systems that learn, not calendars that expire.

Nike didn’t chase trends. It repeated one truth until it became muscle memory.
Duolingo isn’t “disruptive”. It’s just relentlessly consistent.
Liquid Death isn’t selling water. It’s selling identity and WTF moments

We must not forget the basics, because even if things are moving faster than ever and technology is giving steroids to marketing teams,the basics are still what build long-term value.

Research from Binet and Field keeps proving the same, old, point:
→ Brands that balance long-term storytelling with short-term activation grow faster and stay top-of-mind longer.

You don’t need new hacks. You need structure.
AI won’t write your strategy or decide what your brand stands for.

- It will only scale whatever thinking already exists...good, bad or BS.
- If your brand is confused, AI will spread that confusion faster.
- If your brand is clear, it’ll scale that clarity beautifully.

The future of marketing isn’t automation.
It’s intelligence...human-led, system-supported, brand-driven.

Because technology won’t replace marketers.
It’ll just replace the ones who stopped thinking.

Martin Zarian | The Death Or Marketing

Your product is incredible.
Your features are unmatched.
Your demo kills.

So why did you lose to someone charging 30% more?

Because you're fighting yesterday's war with yesterday's weapons.
Welcome to 2025, where the best product loses every day.

Harsh? Let me prove it:

Last week, a founder DM'd me: "We have 2x the features of our competitor, better pricing, better support. They have 70% market share. We have 3%. What the f*** is happening?"

What's happening is simple:
They built a product.
Their competitor built a brand.

The uncomfortable truth nobody discusses:
• 95% of B2B buyers think you're interchangeable
• 83% won't even talk to you until they've already decided
• 70% of purchases are emotional, not logical
• The "best" solution wins 14% of the time
• The best-known brand wins 74% of the time

You're not losing to better products.
You're losing to better stories.

The old world was simple:
Better product = More sales
Better features = Higher price
Better tech = Market leader

The new world is brutal:
Better product = So what?
Better features = Copied in 3 months
Better tech = Nobody cares

Because AI democratized "better."
Everyone has "cutting-edge solutions."
Everyone claims "revolutionary innovation."
Everyone promises "unprecedented ROI."

And everyone sounds exactly the same.

Here's what actually wins in 2025:

MEMORY beats FEATURES
When buyers can't differentiate, they choose what they remember.
Not what's best. What's familiar.

TRUST beats SPECS
Nobody reads your 47-page feature comparison.
They read your customer's LinkedIn posts.

FEELING beats LOGIC
That CFO buying your software?
They're not buying efficiency.
They're buying career insurance.

CLARITY beats EVERYTHING
In a world of infinite choice, confusion is death.
The clearest story wins. Period.

The companies crushing it understand:
→ Brand is not your logo
→ Brand is not your tagline
→ Brand is not your marketing

Brand is the accumulated memory of every interaction.
It's why someone chooses you when the spreadsheet says they shouldn't.

The math is undeniable:
Strong B2B brands see:
• 31% higher valuations
• 2.5x faster growth
• 60% higher win rates
• 50% shorter sales cycles
• 74% lower acquisition costs

Weak B2B brands see:
• Commoditized pricing
• Endless feature wars
• 18-month sales cycles
• "Let me think about it"
• Death by procurement

So here's your choice:

Keep building better mousetraps.
Keep adding features.
Keep lowering prices.
Keep wondering why nobody notices.

Or realize:
The game changed.
The rules changed.
The buyers changed.

Your product opens doors.
Your brand closes deals.

In 2025 onwards, that's not philosophy.
That's strategy.

Build accordingly.

Martin Zarian | The $50B B2B lie.pdf

Juuust Landed in Lisbon.
Fresh off Sigma Rome, straight into Web Summit.

Different city, same mission, build no-BS brands, meet sharper minds.

If you’re here too, let’s talk brand, business, or just grab a beer!
DM or comment. 

Factory 39 
Balabook
WAM (Wes, Ash, Martin)

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