Most brands and founders have seemed to spend 2025 the same way they spent 2024: chasing.
Chasing the algorithm. The latest trend. Chasing whatever TED talk promises to "clarify their message." Chasing keeps brands on a treadmill constantly in motion. The problem? There's no progress.
You know this feeling. You've made a hundred TikToks and Instagram posts. You've rewritten the tag six times. Redesigned the deck. Tweaked the About page. Founder story development again and again. Change up the narrative again. And still, it doesn't sound like you. Could ChatGPT help? You try it. But the problem there? AI was trained on every line of copy that came before it—meaning you’re stuck in someone else’s language.
And if you're what I call a "why-not-er?", a tech founder or an arts organization who's building something that doesn't fit neatly into the old marketing boxes, the problem only gets worse. Because the language you need doesn't exist yet. You have to build it.
That's the difference between being a character and being the Protagonist.
Why So Many Startups Sound the Same
Think of an online video game. Everywhere you turn, people follow you, cross past you, bump into you. All the non-playable characters coded in for background.
All of them simply react. That's what characters do. They wait for something to happen. In a game, they're waiting for a story turn. When you're a brand, you're waiting on an investor, a trend, a viral post, a break.
And when it doesn't happen? They scroll, compare, tweak the tagline, rewrite the bio, start over. Again.
And most brands today—especially those built in the rush of AI—are stuck there. Their content's fine. Their design's clean. But everything sounds the same.
Polished. Predictable. No personality. No emotion. Nothing for audiences to connect to. Nothing for people to believe in.
That's what happens when your narrative gets caught up in following trends, templates, or the latest LLM technology. You lose the fingerprint that made you different in the first place.
Writing A Proactive, Authentic Narrative
But when you choose to be the Protagonist, you're no longer waiting for the story to happen. You're writing it. Your momentum starts with meaning. What you want. Why you want it. Why you even started this journey in the first place.
Those are the elements that make your story sound like the real you, not just another LLM. For founders, that means taking back the pen. For nonprofits, it means aligning your team, your board, and your donors around a single spine. A through-line that makes every pitch, every post, every annual report feels like the same voice.
Being a protagonist isn't about perfection. It's about direction. It's about deciding what story you're telling before the world writes it for you.
Crossing the Threshold in Your Narrative
It's not a massive rebrand that creates a Protagonist. It's a moment. The slightest shift can pull you out of the ordinary world and into a narrative with clarity, voice, and courage.
Know your why.
Why is what you do important? Know what's at stake. That story behind your brand is the one thing AI can't replicate. If you can't say it clearly, no one else will do it for you.
Build your spine.
One message. One through-line. That's what keeps your message consistent as you grow. It's foundation—not design. It's the difference between sounding like a brand and a copy exercise.
Write from voice, not prompt.
Narratives that sell are built on tone, experience, and belief. Machines can mimic, but they can't speak from the soul. Your voice is the through-line. Protect it.
Move with intention.
Every post, pitch, or release should move your story forward. If you can't explain how a line or an image or a piece of content moves your narrative, you don't need it.
Is Your Brand Story Reacting Or Acting?
Characters exist. Protagonists transform.
One is existence. The other is power. One waits for the plot. The other writes it.
And whether you're a team of one or a hundred, that choice defines everything that comes next.
So here's the question:
Do you know what story you're writing?
Who are you? What do you do? Why is it important? Can you connect your origin story to your mission to the way you show up in a pitch deck or a donor meeting or an all-hands.
If you can't answer that clearly, you've got work to do. Because someone or something else can't do it for you.
Being a Protagonist means building it yourself.