The framework
The whole method on one page.
This is what founders work through in the room. Print it, share it, or use it on your own. The questions are simple. The coaching is the hard part, and that is what the hour is for.
Origin Story frameworkAn origin story answers one question a stranger will ask: why did this company have to exist? It is written in plain words, it has a moment of real pain in it, and it is short enough to repeat. Five questions get you there.
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01
What have you built?
Say what the product does in two sentences a smart outsider would understand. No feature lists, no category jargon.
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02
Why did you build it?
Name the moment of first hand pain that made the company necessary. The story starts with a problem someone felt, not a market map.
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03
Why are you the right one?
Earned insight, not a resume. What did you see up close that other people missed, and how did you come to see it?
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04
What are the meaningful benefits?
Outcomes in the customer's words: time saved, risk reduced, decisions improved. If the customer wouldn't say it, cut it.
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05
How does it work, from here to live?
Make adoption feel realistic and low risk. What happens on day one, and when does the customer see the first result?
Five tests for the finished draft
- Could a smart outsider repeat the first two sentences back to you?
- Is there a moment in it, a specific time someone felt the pain, rather than a market size?
- Does every benefit read like something a customer would actually say?
- Could a new hire use it, unchanged, to explain why they joined?
- Does the path from signed to live sound like a Tuesday, not a quarter?
See the framework filled in.
A finished origin story written to this exact structure, for an illustrative company.