You got an “A”

“Brand on Fire!”

You’re nailing it! Your brand is clear, consistent, and confidently expressed across most touchpoints. Everyone knows what you stand for, and it shows. You’ve built something people recognize and rally around.

·Keep documenting: audit and expand your brand guidelines so clarity scales as you grow.

·Activate the brand by training internal teams, content creators, and new hires on the importance of growing and protecting the brand

Experiment with bigger storytelling moments — podcasts, features, or founder-led content that spreads your spark.

Now that you know your brand’s true score, it’s time to turn insight into action. Here’s how Brand Story Machine can help you strengthen your messaging, tighten your visuals, and build a clear path to an A+ brand… 👇

STARTUP FOUNDERS AND SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS:

Your brand is strong, now let’s turn it into a growth engine…

(No expensive agencies, generic templates, or AI fluff. Just a clear message that clicks for years to come.)

Let’s amplify that strength with a focused strategy session that turns your brand momentum into measurable growth.

Schedule a Free Brand Growth Plan with our in-house brand expert, Shannon Riordan.

(Limited spaces)

STARTUPS, SOLO FOUNDERS, EARLY‑STAGE TEAMS…

  • You launched fast without a clear brand strategy. Now your message feels scattered and confusing. 

  • You know your business is valuable, but it’s hard to explain it in a way that resonates.

  • Your team members are describing the offering and the benefits differently. 

  • You’re not getting the engagement you’re hoping for from potential investors and your target customers.

  • You need to grow the business, but don’t have clarity on what direction to go in.

Does this sound like you right now?

Shannon Riordan and Julia Hu discussing brand stragegy outdoors on a sidewalk, with trees and residential buildings in the background.

Maybe you’ve tried…

A brand strategist in a blue dress conducing a brand workshop  in a modern conference room with a projector screen and audience members.
  • Doing it all yourself. You've spent countless hours on pitch decks, websites, and content, but your messaging still feels scattered, and nothing seems to land.

  • Hiring an expensive agency. You've looked into it, but a full agency engagement is too slow and costs tens of thousands of dollars (funds you don't have).

  • Using AI tools as a shortcut. You've tried them, but the results all sound the same and fail to capture the unique voice of your brand.

  • Trying to be everything to everyone. You've tried to appeal to every possible customer to help increase revenue, only to find that your message is confusing everyone and resonating with no one.

This is what having a clear brand story can do for your business…

A smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

“The workshop surfaced a number of questions and a lot of nuance that we hadn't thought of nor articulated. The final deliverable captured the essence of that messy discussion and simplified it into something that is clear, interesting, and easy to work with." 

- Jacqlyn Hogan, Co-founder and Partner, LevelUp

A smiling man with dark hair and beard outdoors during sunset, standing in front of trees and grass.

“I've been through many branding exercises and it's taken months to get to what Brand Story Machine delivered.. In just 90 minutes.” 

- Rasheq Zarif, Co-Founder and COO, ReWyre

Woman smiling in front of the ocean with a sailboat on the water and wearing an orange top.

“It provided the perfect guardrails so we weren’t off into the ether talking to ourselves.”

– Casey Fritz, MSc, Senior Planner, Zero Waste Marin

We’ve been trusted by:

Kettle brand potato chips logo
BlackRock world's larges asset manager, logo
PayPal logo with a stylized blue 'P' and the word 'PayPal' below it.
Lifelock logo with yellow checkmark, black text, and 'by Norton' underneath.
Equinix logo with red and black design.
VISA logo in blue on a black background.
Logo of Marin Software with a stylized blue 'A' and the company name in blue and black text.
Black background with a white abstract shape and the word 'SEPHORA' below it.
Logo for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art with the text SF MO MA in red, alongside the full name in smaller red font, set against a black background.

Your Brand Story is your blueprint to finally…

A colorful diagram depicting the elements of a brand strategy, including Positioning, Attributes, Benefits, Core Offering, Brand Personality, Purpose Statement, with arrows illustrating their relationships.
Blue asterisk shape with the word 'Messaging' written across it.
  • 🚀 Raise capital faster—because investors hear your pitch and instantly get what makes you different.

  • 💬 Create messaging that sounds like you—clear, confident, and impossible to ignore.

  • 👥 Rally your team around a shared story—aligned, energized, and ready to move in the same direction.

  • 🧠 Create content in half the time—with sharp, on-brand copy that lands on the first draft.

  • 🎯 See customers feel seen, investors lean in, and partners say yes.

  • 🔥 Build a brand that does the heavy lifting—building recognition, trust, and momentum every time it shows up.

If any of this resonates, you’re in the right place.

We specialize in helping startups, solo founders, and early-stage teams find the words that help them punch above their weight and become household names.

This brand clarity will aid you in creating content for…

  • Investor pitch decks

  • Onboarding new employees

  • Talent recruitment

  • Website and sales materials

  • Social media content

  • About us and press release boilerplate

Your brand is your lifeline.
— Mark Cuban, Entrepreneur & Investor on Shark Tank
Shannon Riordan, brand strategist and founder of Brand Story Machine, sitting in front of a bookshelf filled with books, smiling and wearing a black leather jacket and light-colored pants.

Why are we so confident a strong brand is the rocket fuel your business needs?

Hi, I’m Shannon Riordan, founder of Brand Story Machine. After two decades of building brand strategies for startups and global giants alike, I’ve seen how often small businesses skip this fundamental foundational work, usually because of cost, time, or lack of access.

The result? Mixed messages, team misalignment, and marketing that fails to connect.

Together with my tech lead, Julia Hu, we built Brand Story Machine as a new kind of brand strategy development tool that blends expert guidance, AI-driven efficiency, and behavioral science.

Our purpose is simple: to make the strategic power of brand accessible to every business, regardless of its size, stage, or resources.

Traditional brand strategy can cost upwards of $25,000 and require weeks or months of internal time. We saw an opportunity to deliver the same value, faster and more affordably.

What used to be out of reach is now within grasp. Brand is no longer a luxury for the well-funded; it’s your competitive edge.

I truly believe that when startups skip brand strategy, they’re not just cutting costs, they’re cutting their potential.

Talk Soon

I can’t wait to speak with you.

On our call, I'll share with you the exact roadmap to building a strong brand and get your top questions answered.

Shannon Riordan and Julia Hu, standing on either side of a dark gray wall with the words "Brand Story Machine" in large white letters.