There’s a disease—a fatal mistake—spreading through boardrooms, pitch decks, and tech stacks.
It’s called feature-itis:
An ocean of sameness with an endless tsunami of identical features.
And it’s killing customer trust, market differentiation, and prospect retention at an alarming rate.
Take the MSP industry (Managed Services Providers).
They’re the folks who set up and babysit the WiFi, security, and entertainment systems in hotels and apartment buildings. The reason your Netflix doesn’t buffer at that luxury resort.
And they install and manage all the WiFi, security, and entertainment systems for hotels and multi-dwelling units (MDUs).
The problem? Everyone in that industry sounds the same:
- “Blazing fast speeds.”
- “Concierge-level support.”
- “Enterprise-grade security.”
The Real Mistake: Thinking Features Win
Most CEOs think the best tech wins. It doesn’t.
Because no matter how advanced your system is…
It all falls apart in the wrong hands.
This teaches us a lesson: Tech doesn’t fail. Teams do.
And all this is based on one organizational law:
Disengaged teams lead to broken promises.
And in service-based industries, that’s lethal.
A Wake-Up Call for the Industry
That’s what sparked the rebrand of Hotel Internet Services and MDU Internet Services.
Their old names said what they did. But not why they mattered.
The real value that got lost in this ocean of sameness?
A company culture that gives a damn — in a field where most don’t.
Rename, Reframe, and Relaunch
They had the tech. They had the track record.
What they didn’t have? A story people remembered.
So they stopped fighting the feature war — and rewrote the narrative.
People Don’t Buy Tech. They Buy Trust.
Here’s how we made the shift with the new brand:
1. Leveled the Playing Field
They didn’t say, “We’re faster.”
They now said, “Features are commodities.”
Every company promises speed, uptime, and support.
But no one proves it. No one owns it.
So we reframed the pitch — and built trust instead.
2. Spotlighted Their People
The real differentiator? Reliable consistency.
- 100% of department heads: 15–22 years with the company
- 60%+ of staff: 5+ years on the job
- Even installers — typically high-turnover — stayed
They didn’t outsource quality. They built it into every fiber of their team.
3. Turned Frustration into Firepower
Clients routinely came to them after their competitors failed them.
- A NYC hotel sued its provider — then hired Touchstone 1
- A ski resort in Aspen had recurring issues — Touchstone fixed them
- A luxury resort was too complex for others — Ruckus referred Touchstone 1
These weren’t price wins. They were competence wins.
4. Built Tech Around People — Not the Other Way Around
Yes, they’re innovators:
- First hotel internet kiosks
- Patented BeyondTV system
- Voice control with Alexa
- GuestCast platform
But what made it all work? The people behind it.
When tech fails (and it will), customers need people, not menu trees.
The Untold Story: Be Bigger Than Your Features
The competition kept screaming about connectivity and concierge-class service.
But no one talked about what happened after the sale.
- Silence.
- Dropped calls.
- Frustrated guests and tenants.
- Lawsuits.
Meanwhile, 71% of recent clients left “industry leaders” to work with our client. Not because of more features, but because they cared more, responded faster, and fixed what others left broken.
Naming the Standard, Not Just the Company
If you look at the list of their competitors in this space, a pattern emerged:
- Allbridge
- Single Digits
- Safety NetAccess
- Cloud5
- Comcast Business (Deep Blue Communications)
- Sonifi
- BlueprintRF
- GuestTek
- WorldVue
- Whitesky
- Dojo Networks
- Pavlov Media
- Wirestar Networks (MDU Internet competitor)
- SafetyNet Wireless (MDU Internet competitor)
…What do they all have in common?
They sound either:
- Techie but generic
- Vague and forgettable
- Or like the name was pulled from a 2008 IT convention
None of them conveyed meaning.
None of them embodied values.
None of them said, “Here’s our standard. Match it if you can.”
So when it came time to rename Hotel Internet Services, we took a different approach.
We didn’t want a name that sounded like another startup.
We didn’t want a name that boxed us into “just” WiFi.
We didn’t want to sound like the competition.
We wanted to name the standard we set.
That’s how we arrived at Touchstone 1
A touchstone is defined as “an excellent quality or example that is used to test the excellence or genuineness of others.”
It isn’t a gimmick. It isn’t a placeholder.
It’s a declaration.
It says: We’re not trying to fit in. We’re the benchmark everyone else gets measured against.
And the “1” isn’t just for uniqueness. It reinforces leadership.
It signals first choice, first call, first-class service framing the company not as a vendor—but as the measure of what right looks like in an industry that’s forgotten what excellence feels like.
Touchstone 1 isn’t just a name.
It’s a flag planted in the ground that says: “This is the new baseline. Step up or step aside.”
Here’s how we unveiled the new brand at a recent trade show (with the introductory video):
Here’s the old site side-by-side with the new site:
And a few other ways the brand came to life:
The 4 Laws Behind the Rebrand
Customers don’t come to new conclusions with old information.
→ Law of Meaning > Law of More
Features compete. Meaning connects.
→ Law of Consistency
71% of clients switched because competitors went dark.
→ Law of the Human Layer
Tech is only as good as the team behind it.
→ Law of Reframing
We didn’t “improve” the offer. We redefined the playing field.
26 Final Words Founders Need to Know (to Grow)
Tech changes fast. Trust doesn’t.
This is why cutting-edge specs won’t save you if your culture is broken.
Use these 26 insights to win big:
- “Tech doesn’t fail. Teams do.”
- “You can’t outsource consistency.”
- “Features don’t build trust. People do.”
- “People don’t buy tech. They buy trust.”
- “Disengaged teams build disengaged brands.”
- “Most CEOs are still trying to win with a checklist.”
- “Cutting–edge tech is a given. The real edge is care.”
- “Every feature becomes a commodity. Culture doesn’t.”
- “Features invite comparison. Meaning builds conviction.”
- “Your feature list won’t save you when things go sideways.”
- “The best tech in the wrong hands is your biggest liability.”
- “Stop trying to sound ‘state–of–the–art.’ Start acting like you care.”
- “Touchstone 1 didn’t improve the offer. They redefined the game.”
- “Reputation is the feature no one lists — but the one everyone buys.”
- “Culture isn’t a tagline. It’s the one thing your competitors can’t copy.”
- “You don’t win on what your product has. You win on what your brand means.”
- “When tech breaks, customers don’t call your feature list. They call your team.”
- “The smartest move wasn’t launching new tech. It was renaming the standard.”
- Want to win customers for life? Stop pitching features. Start building meaning.
- “If your name sounds like it came from a 2008 IT convention, you’re already invisible.”
- “Most brands are trying to sound modern. The smart ones are trying to be memorable.”
- “The biggest innovations didn’t win Touchstone 1 their clients. The smallest details did.”
- “Your next rebrand shouldn’t be about being different. It should be about being definitive.”
- “In the MSP space, every company screams ‘connectivity.’ Almost none deliver connection.”
- “71% of clients didn’t leave for better tech. They left because no one picked up the phone.”
- “No matter how advanced your tech is, it all crumbles without a human who gives a damn.”
Need help with your rebrand? Schedule a discovery call.