How to Craft a One-Sentence Origin Story

Struggling to explain what your startup does? A one-sentence origin story can make your business instantly clear, memorable, and easy to share.

Key Takeaways

• Don’t lead with your product—start with your story.
• Great origin stories begin with: “The idea came when…” 
• The best ones are personal, vivid, and relatable.
• Use poetic licence—it doesn’t have to be literal, just emotionally true.
• A strong origin story helps your team, investors, and customers tell your story for you.

Imagine you’re at a party, and someone asks, “So, what do you do?”

You could tell them your product category: “I run a FinTech.”

Or maybe you lead with your customer focus: “I help finance teams build better forecasts.”

That’s a little better. But what’s the most engaging answer?

In my experience, the best approach isn’t to lead with your product or your customers. It’s to lead with your origin story.

And this doesn’t just apply at parties. It works with investors, recruits, and anyone you want to connect with.

Why Your Origin Story Matters

The origin story is the most powerful story you can tell. It defines you as a founder, and it makes sense of the problem you’re solving—and why it matters.

Done well, your origin story perfectly positions your product and customer in a way people immediately relate to.

Yet, very few founders spend time making their origin story great. Instead, they give a chronological account... "this happened, then this, then this."

It might be accurate, but it’s not engaging.

A great origin story isn’t about chronology. It’s about showing the struggle behind the startup—and letting people feel it for themselves.

The Gold Standard: A Story in a Sentence

The very best origin stories can be condensed into a single sentence. And those sentences can become iconic.

Here are some famous examples, expressed using the format: “The idea came when…”:

• Netflix – The idea came when the founder got a $40 late fee on Apollo 13.
• Uber – The idea came when the founder couldn’t find a taxi at 11 p.m. in Paris.
• Airbnb – The idea came when the founder rented out air mattresses during a sold-out design conference to cover rent.
• Dropbox – The idea came when the founder forgot his USB stick on a bus and couldn’t open his files.
• Instagram – The idea came when the founder’s girlfriend hated how her photos looked, so he added filters.
• Slack – The idea came when the founders’ video-game project failed, but everyone loved the team’s internal chat tool.
• Shopify – The idea came when the founder struggled with clunky software while trying to sell snowboards online.
• Spanx – The idea came when the founder cut the feet off her tights to look better in white trousers.
• WhatsApp – The idea came when the founder kept missing calls at the gym.
• Canva – The idea came when the founder saw her students fumble with Photoshop.
• Stripe – The idea came when the founders found it painfully hard to add payments to a side project.

These stories set up the company description so it matters:

"...so I started a business to fix it, and now we help [customers] around the globe to [get a result]."

Easy to remember... and pass on.

The 3-Part Test for a One-Sentence Origin Story

Spending time to perfect your origin story is worth every minute.

Like every great story, it needs editing—and a little poetic licence to make it land every time.

The iconic story about Netflix and the Apollo 13 late fee? It never even happened.

It was invented by the press team to support the product launch.

So if Netflix can do it, so can you!

I’ve analysed hundreds of origin stories. The most memorable ones all have three things in common:

1. They're personal: The story happened directly to the founder—not something they witnessed. What’s a scenario where you personally experienced the problem?
2. They're vivid: It has specific details you can picture in your mind. What details can you add to bring the story to life?
3. They're relatable: There’s no jargon and it’s instantly understandable. How can you express it in words a 10-year-old would understand?

If your origin story passes all three, you’re onto something.

So the next time someone asks what you do, before you describe your product, start with your story.

And make it so simple and so memorable that people want to pass it on.

Related Reading

• 12 Storytelling Techniques for Pitching Your Business
• How Great Founders Present Their Vision 
• How to Build a Better Business Strategy

Originally published on July 20, 2025.