Think about the last product you adopted and stuck with.

You likely didn’t buy because of “Facebook Ads” or “SEO.”

You bought because the product’s story snapped into place in your head:

• “Oh, this finally fixes the annoying thing I’ve been dealing with.”
• “This is built for people like me.”
• “This is better than what I’m using now.”

Yes, channels delivered that story to you, but the story did the work.

When teams jump straight to tactics, they skip the layer that actually creates demand:

A clear, consistent narrative about who you help, what problem you solve, and why you’re the obvious choice.

The “leaky pipes” problem

This is so common that it's tempting for teams to look for more complicated fixes:

• Paid team writes one version of the story.
• Founders pitch a different one on calls.
• Website tells a third version.
• Onboarding and lifecycle emails tell a fourth.

Everything is “on brand,” but nothing is aligned.

So growth looks like:

• Ads that win attention but don’t convert.
• Landing pages that convert trials but not paid.
• Trials that sign up the wrong people.
• Churn that feels random.

The pipes look fine, but the water just leaks out at every joint.

What changes this is not “more tests.”

It’s a single, coherent story that runs through every asset.

A simple exercise: Find your narrative kernel

Let’s pull one practical exercise we use with our clients. (You can also find it in the Growth Program)

Ask yourself:

“If we disappeared tomorrow, what would our best customers miss most?”

We're not talking about features or your category, but the thing they would feel the absence of. The benefits of your product that make life easier.

For example:

• Dropbox → not “cloud storage,” but “my stuff available anywhere.”
• Calendly → not “scheduling links,” but “no more back-and-forth.”
• Shopify → not “e-commerce platform,” but “my business can exist online.”

(If you don't have one, or nothing comes to mind, then you may want to revisit the Foundational Five framework.)

Now do this:

1. Pull 10–20 real customer quotes
   • Sales calls
   • Support tickets
   • Reviews (yours + competitors)
   • Community posts
2. Highlight phrases that repeat
   • Complaints they say in their own vocabulary
   • Outcomes they brag about
   • Enemies they rant about
3. Write a one-line kernel in their words
   • “We exist so X can finally Y without Z.”

If your current homepage, ad copy, and sales deck don’t line up with that kernel, you may have an inconsistent story.

Let's look at a couple examples:

Example 1: B2B SaaS (expense management)

Product category: Expense management software for mid-size companies

The surface story (what most teams lead with):​
“Automated expense reporting with real-time controls.”

Run the exercise

You pull language from sales calls, support tickets, and reviews. The same themes keep showing up:

• “I hate being the bad guy chasing receipts.”
• “I never know there’s a problem until finance is mad.”
• “We’re always cleaning things up after the fact.”
• “Expenses aren’t the issue, surprises are.”
• “I just want to trust the numbers without policing people.”

What they’d actually miss if you disappeared

Not the features (automation, dashboards, etc)

But specifically:

• Not getting blindsided
• Not playing expense cop
• Not finding problems after the month closes

Narrative kernel (in their words):

“We exist so finance teams can trust spending without chasing people or getting surprised at month-end.”

Story gap check

If your homepage says:

“Smart expense software for modern finance teams”

But your customers care about:

“Not being surprised and not playing hall monitor”

You might have found your story gap.

Example 2: Consumer (fitness app)

Product category: At-home fitness app

The surface story:​
“Personalized workouts you can do anywhere.”

Run the exercise

You scan reviews, community posts, and cancellation surveys:

• “I never stick with programs after the first two weeks.”
• “I feel guilty paying for apps I don’t use.”
• “I don’t need harder workouts. I need to actually show up.”
• “Gyms aren’t the problem. Motivation is.”

What they’d miss if you disappeared

Not the workout library.
Not the calorie tracking.

They’d miss:

• The nudge to start
• The feeling of momentum
• The removal of decision-making

Narrative kernel:

“We exist so people can actually stick with working out without overthinking it.”

Story gap check

If your marketing leads with:

“Hundreds of workouts for every fitness level”

But users rave about:

“This is the only thing that keeps me consistent”

Your story might be underselling the real value.

Why this matters more as you scale

In the early days, you can get away with story drift.

• Friends refer friends.
• Early adopters fill in the gaps for you.
• People are forgiving because they want the product to exist.

As you move into real growth:

• You market to colder, lower-context audiences.
• You add more people to the team.
• New features stretch your messaging.

The cost of story drift compounds:

• CAC rises because hooks and pages don’t match.
• Sales cycles lengthen because buyers can’t quickly place you.
• Churn rises because people joined for the wrong reasons.

Sharpening your story is one of the few projects that improves every stage of the funnel at once.

How we formalize this inside the Growth Program

Inside the Growth Program, we treat “story” as a system, not a general "vibe."

Members build a living Story System doc that includes:

• Core Story → one clear narrative about why you exist, who you help, and what changes for them.
• Personas → jobs, pains, and language in your customer’s own words.
• Core Problems → the deeper issues all those pains ladder up to.
• Value Props → your “why us” that competitors can’t credibly copy.
• Hooks and Funnel Map → how that story shows up at the top, middle, and bottom of your funnel.

Once it’s in place, you stop writing from scratch.

Every new campaign, landing page, and email pulls from the same source of truth.

Your channels stop fighting each other and start compounding.

Want to build your Story System with us?

If this one piece was helpful, the full program goes much deeper:

• You work through the Story System step by step.
• You plug your work into templates that feed straight into ads, landing pages, and lifecycle flows.
• And you’ll also get access to over 50 tactical playbooks covering every corner of growing your startup.

If you want to see how a tighter story can move the needle on your growth, this is one of the fastest ways to find out.

👉 Check out Growth Program 2.0​

​Devon Reynolds​
Demand Curve Creative Strategist