---
name: brand-story
description: "Crafts compelling origin stories and brand narratives using the hero's journey framework. Use when a user needs an about page story, launch narrative, pitch deck backstory, or wants to articulate why their business exists in a way that emotionally connects with customers."
---

# Brand Story Builder

## When to Use This Skill

- Writing or rewriting an About page origin story
- Creating a brand narrative for a pitch deck or investor presentation
- Launching a new brand and need a founding story
- Articulating "why we exist" for marketing materials
- Building emotional connection with an audience through storytelling

## Core Principle

**GREAT BRAND STORIES ARE ABOUT THE CUSTOMER'S TRANSFORMATION, NOT THE FOUNDER'S RESUME. The founder is the guide, not the hero.**

## Workflow

### Phase 1: Story Mining

Ask the user these questions:

1. What moment made you realize this business needed to exist? (the inciting incident)
2. What were you doing before this? What was your life/career like?
3. What struggle or frustration did you personally experience that your customers also face?
4. What did you try that didn't work before you found the solution?
5. What was the turning point — the moment everything clicked?
6. Who is this story for? (customers, investors, team, general public)
7. What emotion do you want readers to feel at the end?

**Minimum needed: questions 1, 3, and 5.**

### Phase 2: Story Arc Construction

Map answers to the hero's journey:

1. **The Ordinary World** — Life before the business (relatable status quo)
2. **The Problem** — The frustration or gap that couldn't be ignored
3. **Failed Attempts** — What didn't work (builds credibility)
4. **The Breakthrough** — The moment of clarity or discovery
5. **The Mission** — Why this matters beyond making money
6. **The Invitation** — How the customer fits into the story

### Phase 3: Draft the Narrative

Write the brand story in **first person** (default) or third person if requested. Target length:
- **Short version:** 150-200 words (social media, email signatures)
- **Medium version:** 400-600 words (About page, pitch deck)
- **Long version:** 800-1,200 words (press kit, keynote intro)

Always deliver the medium version. Add short or long only if requested.

### Phase 4: Polish

1. Read the opening line — does it hook within 10 words?
2. Check for jargon — replace with plain language
3. Verify the customer can see themselves in the story
4. Ensure the story ends with forward momentum, not a period on the past
5. Add a one-sentence tagline that captures the story's essence

## Examples

### Example 1: Fitness Coach Origin Story

**Discovery answers:**
- Inciting incident: Lost 80 pounds after years of failed diets, realized the problem was the approach, not willpower
- Before: Corporate accountant working 60-hour weeks, stress eating
- Shared struggle: Busy professionals who think they don't have time for fitness
- Turning point: A 15-minute hotel room workout during a work trip that changed everything

**Medium version output:**

> Three years ago, I was an accountant who couldn't climb a flight of stairs without losing my breath.
>
> At 265 pounds, I'd tried every diet — keto, paleo, intermittent fasting, meal delivery boxes. I lost 20 pounds on each one and gained back 25. The problem wasn't willpower. I had plenty of that — I was working 60-hour weeks at a Big Four firm. The problem was that every program assumed I had two free hours a day and a fully stocked kitchen.
>
> The turning point came in a Marriott in Cleveland. I had 15 minutes before a client meeting, no gym, no equipment. I did a bodyweight circuit in my hotel room — push-ups, squats, planks. It wasn't glamorous. But I felt better than I had in months.
>
> That 15-minute workout became a daily habit. Then I started adjusting my nutrition — not dieting, just making realistic swaps that fit a travel schedule. In 14 months, I lost 80 pounds. Not with a personal chef or a home gym. With hotel rooms, airport terminals, and 15-minute windows.
>
> I became a certified trainer because I kept hearing the same thing from friends and colleagues: "I want to get fit, but I just don't have time." I knew that was a solvable problem because I'd solved it at my worst, busiest, most stressed-out point.
>
> FitFlow Coaching exists for people who've been told they need to "make fitness a priority" by people who've never worked a 12-hour day. You don't need more time. You need a plan that fits the time you actually have.

**Tagline:** "Fitness that fits your actual life."

### Example 2: Handmade Soap Company Origin Story

**Discovery answers:**
- Inciting incident: Daughter developed severe eczema, couldn't find a soap without synthetic ingredients
- Before: Marketing manager at a consumer goods company (irony — was marketing the synthetic products)
- Turning point: Made first batch in the kitchen, daughter's skin cleared up in two weeks

**Medium version output:**

> My daughter was two years old when her skin started breaking out in angry red patches.
>
> The pediatrician said eczema. The dermatologist said use fragrance-free soap. So I bought every "sensitive skin" product on the shelf — the ones I used to write marketing copy for, actually. I knew the labels. I'd helped write them. "Dermatologist tested." "Gentle formula." "Pure and natural." I also knew what was behind those labels: sulfates, parabens, synthetic fragrances, and preservatives I couldn't pronounce.
>
> Nothing worked. So one Saturday afternoon, I ordered lye, olive oil, shea butter, and oat milk, and made soap in my kitchen. It was ugly. It smelled like a health food store. But two weeks later, Lily's eczema was nearly gone.
>
> I made a second batch for her daycare teacher, who had dry, cracked hands from constant washing. Then her colleagues asked. Then their friends. Within six months, I was making 200 bars a month on my kitchen counter.
>
> PureLather exists because no parent should have to decode a chemistry textbook to find soap that won't hurt their kid. Every bar we make has five ingredients or fewer, and you can pronounce all of them.

**Tagline:** "Five ingredients. Zero compromises."

## Recovery & Fallbacks

- **User says "I don't have an interesting origin story":** Everyone does. Redirect: "What made you choose THIS business over all the other things you could be doing?" The answer is always a story.
- **User gives corporate/generic answers:** Ask "Can you tell me about a specific moment — a conversation, an event, a frustration — that sticks in your memory?" Specificity creates emotion.
- **Story feels flat:** Check for these common issues: too many facts and not enough feelings, no conflict/struggle, or the ending is about the company instead of the customer.
- **Multiple founders:** Pick ONE founding moment. Other founders' perspectives can be sidebar quotes, not competing narratives.

## Constraints

- **NEVER fabricate details** — every claim must come from the user's answers
- **NEVER use clichés:** "passionate," "on a mission," "disrupting," "game-changing"
- The customer must appear in the story (even if abstractly) — it's their story too
- Keep sentences short. Average 12-15 words per sentence.
- Open with a concrete image or moment, never "I've always been passionate about..."
