The story of speaking human.
Traci Snowden wants everyone to feel like themselves everywhere.
Which makes it easy for us, since that’s exactly what we want, too.
But it’s not like we all have a universal translator just yet.
And without one, it can take a long time to really feel like yourself when you’re new to a place, a language and a culture.
Tracy wanted to change this. To figure out the riddle: How can people really express themselves in another language?
How can humans convey the same sense of passion and purpose and curiosity and humor and nuance … as they would in their native tongue?
Seems like an app should be able to do that, right?
And OK—there are plenty of language learning apps out there.
They help you express some simple phrases.
But they’re not exactly designed to help you understand the culture of the place you want to explore or live in.
And while those language learning apps might have practical content (errryone needs to know how to ask “Where’s the bathroom”), they don’t give really give you contextual content. Like if you’re a student and you wanna know: “How do I find other K-pop fans in this dorm?”
And they’re not equipped with access to real-live native speakers who guide you as you’re mastering your new culturally and contextually-aware way of communicating.
So Traci decided to make the app she thought the world needed.
But she needed some help expressing her story … and the story of her creation, Apto.
We came in to help facilitate her story.
We crafted some questions, provided consulting, and facilitated some ways to articulate the story of Apto. Within weeks, everyone was feeling in flow and super stoked on the new Apto story.
And then Traci asked us …
“Now how do I sell this into investors?”
Turns out she snagged a meeting with a $300B global device manufacturer who was interested in Apto. NBD. 😬
Through a series of coaching sessions and consulting, we helped Traci and her team craft an investor pitch.
A narrative that got the Big Mobile Peeps so excited, they agreed to install Apto on their next major global device roll out.
Sometimes it’s just nice to be able to say “big deal” non-sarcastically.
Here’s what Traci has to say about all that:
“We owe you a round of applause. You’re so talented with words. The messaging and storytelling approach you helped us create turned into a business deal with [a major mobile telecom co]. We’re launching on their global device roll out early next year!”.”
What we did, in short:
Story and strategy consulting
Brand Story workshop facilitation
Investor Story facilitation and coaching
Shout out
to Blue Earth Network for bringing us into this project