Case File #251 - Messaging system required for high-functioning founder
Subject transitioned from conceptual chaos to investor-ready clarity in seven days.
Classification: Identity breach successfully contained
Filed by: The Identity Dept.
Status: Cleared for launch
Meet Dancecard
After a year of quiet development, the founder of Dancecard, a social scheduling app for queer, neurodiverse, and chronically overbooked humans, was ready to start building visibility, but lacked an approved messaging system.
The result: lofty ideas in abundance. Public assets: zero.
The identity gap
Findings:
Product vision confined to one (very full) brain
Seventeen metaphors competing for a single tagline
Zero public-facing assets
No documented messaging, voice, or audience system
Diagnosis:
Founder operating without approved messaging architecture. Risk of miscommunication and diluted positioning rated high.
Dancecard has always been about more than social scheduling. It’s about reclaiming time. Reclaiming intimacy. And designing tech that actually respects your relationships, your data, and your attention span. But without a clear message, it was easy to misunderstand.
Operation: message realignment
Objective: Extract, clarify, and codify founder’s internal narrative into an external messaging system suitable for investor and audience engagement.
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Half-day strategy workshop to surface founder vision, values, and worldview. Snacks provided. Oversharing encouraged.
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Transcribed chaos into clarity. Identified throughlines and recurring metaphors for linguistic re-use.
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Defined primary communication targets (users, investors, collaborators). Established what each needed to hear to take action.
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Developed voice parameters and message hierarchy to ensure future consistency and psychological accuracy.
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Compiled all intelligence into The Core Messaging Playbook, a single source of truth for ongoing brand communications. Conducted live feedback and rollout training to ensure system adherence.
OUTCOMES
Following completion, subject achieved:
✔️Personalised content creation system
✔️ Approved voice and tone guidelines
✔️ Copy-and-paste founder story for decks, bios, and interviews
✔️ Investor-ready messaging clarity
✔️ Significant reduction in cognitive load
CLIENT MEMO
“Working with Liv was exactly what I needed at this stage of the business. The Playbook rounded up all my swirling ideas into a clear set of instructions and concrete actions, like a second brain for my messaging. It’s taken the mental load off and given me the clarity to move forward.
Our 1-on-1 sessions were a real highlight. Liv has a way of asking questions that tease out your thinking in full. Her work helped me organise my thoughts into a usable execution plan, which we’re now using to launch our first campaign and attract sponsorship. It’s without a doubt a necessary stepping stone towards progress.”
Jamil Khan
Founder, Dancecard
Tactical debrief
Recommended Procedures for Future Founders
Define your next 3–6 months. Identify what visibility, funding, or audience growth you actually need, and what messaging will get you there.
Clarify your communication targets. Determine who you need to talk to (users, investors, partners) and what each needs to hear to take the action you want.
Translate features into freedoms. Stop describing how it works; start explaining what it lets people do.
Pro tip: Messaging is momentum. Don’t wait for a launch to start talking.
Dept. directive
Compliance requirement:
Brands exhibiting early-stage messaging confusion should immediately submit for evaluation.
Recommended Action:
Clarity in one week. Snacks included.
Issued by: The Identity Dept.
