Your story, clearly told.

Story Sprints are 1/2 day design thinking workshops that help your story be clarified through constraints so you can convert more customers.

Why do a Story Sprint?

A Story Sprint helps you get clarity through constraints.They’re quick, intense, and impactful.You’ll be able to generate more revenue with a clear, concise, and compelling message.You also save months of decision deadlock around “perfecting” your marketing and messaging.Unlike other storytelling workshops, Story Sprints uses design-thinking and the design sprint methodology created by Google Ventures.We’ve curated and tweaked the best exercises to help you tell a clear and compelling story externally to your customers and internally to your team.See it here: Story Sprints are intensive design workshops that help your story be clarified through constraints so you can convert more customers.In fact, we ran a Story Sprint on Story Sprints. The sentence above you just read was a result of the most popular exercise: the 3×3 Walkthrough.

About Us

Patrick Hodgdon - Founder & Chief Storyteller


Story Sprints were created by Patrick Hodgdon and Charbel Semaan in 2017.Patrick is a marketing strategist who has led marketing, social, and growth for the likes of ProfitWell, Drift, and Riptide Software as well as award winning marketing campaigns for brands like Red Baron Pizza and Carmex (with some help from a guy named LeBron).He currently works as the interim Director of Marketing for the Archdiocese of Detroit where he gets to flex his storytelling talents in retelling the "Greatest Story Ever Told" to spread the good news of the Gospel.Charbel is the co-founder of Sprintwell, a design sprint agency for hypergrowth teams, as well as a design mentor at 500 Startups and previously worked with Google, LinkedIn, Yahoo, and Medallia.

How it works

A Story Sprint is a 4-hour intensive workshop guided by one or two story guides who lead you through a number of design-thinking exercises to force you to dig deep and hone in.The workshop can be in person with a team or recorded via a Skype call and afterward, we send you the recording, the notes (virtual whiteboard), and a Sprint Summary so you can reference everything later as needed.Your guide will then help you over the course of 4-12 weeks continue to distill your story down and apply it anywhere and everywhere you tell it, including your:- Website
- Sales Deck
- Pitch Deck
- Content Marketing
- By every member of your team, with everyone they meet


The recipe for a successful Story Sprint

These are the exercises your guide will lead you through during your Story Sprint workshop.Your Mission
1. 20-Year Roadmap (15 mins)
– Helps you think long-term
2. Golden Circle (What, How, Why) (30 mins)
– Reminds you why your business exists
Your Detail
3. 3×3 Walkthrough (What, Why, How…3 words each) (30 mins)
– Distills your messaging/positioning down to 9 words
4. Top 3 Values and Guiding Principles (15 mins)
– Makes your “why” more specific
Your Brand Relative to Others
5. Personality Sliders (20 mins)
– Defines the attitude and style of your brand
6. Competitive Landscape (20 mins)
– Compares your brand to other companies in your space.
Your Customer, The Hero
7. Top 3 Audiences (15 mins)
– Helps you prioritize the target for your brand's story
8. Hero’s Journey (30 mins)
– Reframes your story with your customer, not your product or service, as the hero.

Investment

Story Sprints start at $3,000 which includes a 4-hour guided workshop via Skype and 4-weeks of coaching and story editing as you translate your story into your website, marketing, and sales materials, etc.In person Story Sprints for founders and leadership teams start at $5,000.We expect the impact of the Story Sprint when implemented fully to provide 10x or more the value within 3 months.


Cost of Not Doing a Story Sprint?

You’ll continue to confuse your prospective customers, investors, and team members.You’ll waste weeks or months debating internally on the perfect marketing and messaging.Your next big deal will be months out instead of weeks.You won’t generate the revenue you need for your company to thrive.

Ready?

Don’t confuse another customer!Chat with Patrick directly via Drift or book an exploration call to learn more about doing a Story Sprint.