At what stage should a startup invest in professional logo design?

I’ve been thinking about this question a lot while working on a small startup project with a friend. At the beginning we didn’t worry much about branding and just used a simple text logo so we could launch quickly. But now that we’re starting to get some real users and thinking about marketing, the brand suddenly feels more important.

While researching choosing wordmark vs symbol logo, I kept seeing people mention that many early-stage startups start with something simple like a wordmark logo before investing in a full brand system. It makes sense because it’s clean and easy to use everywhere.

So now I’m curious about other founders’ experiences. Did you invest in a professional logo right after launching, or did you wait until your startup had traction and a clearer brand direction?