Use this template when
- You're introducing your company to a new audience.
- You're marking an anniversary or milestone.
- You can remember a specific moment, not only a general frustration.
The template
Replace each bracket with your own material. Delete any line that doesn't fit your story.
[The moment. Where you were, what you were doing, what went wrong.] [Why it mattered. Who else had this problem?] [What you tried first that didn't work.] [The first version of what you built. Keep it humble.] [Where it is now. One concrete fact.] [What hasn't changed since that first moment.]
A completed example
In 2023 I spent a Friday night copying numbers from four dashboards into one spreadsheet so my boss could see them on Monday. It was the fifth Friday in a row. Every operations lead I knew had a version of this spreadsheet. Most had given up on fixing it. I tried the usual tools first. They all wanted a data team to set them up. We didn't have one. So I wrote a script that pulled the four numbers and emailed them to me every Monday at 7am. It broke every other week. Today, 400 teams get that Monday email. The goal is still the same: nobody should spend their Friday night copying numbers.
It opens on a Friday night, not a mission. The humble first version makes the current number believable.
Tips
- Start in a specific place and time.
- Keep the “we're changing the world” language out.
- End on what's constant, not on a sales pitch.
The example names, companies, and numbers are illustrative.