Founder explainer: 'I built this because' in 40 seconds, to camera, one problem
The founder-to-camera format that converts because it names the specific moment the problem became unbearable, then shows the product once. The prompt bans origin-story clichés and budgets the words.
Write a founder explainer script for {product}. The format works because a person saying 'I had this problem' is believed where a product page is not; it fails when the problem is generic. The problem must be one specific moment with a place, a time and a cost. Banned: 'I was frustrated with', 'there had to be a better way', 'so I built', 'passion', 'journey', 'game-changer'. If the draft contains any, rewrite the line as the concrete event. Structure (40 s, 9:16, face to camera, 2 inserts): - 0-4 s THE MOMENT: the specific event ('11 pm, 40 listing photos, the desktop editor crashed on number 31'). On-screen: the number or the time from that sentence. - 4-12 s THE COST: what it cost in time or money, and how often it happened. Numbers only if real. - 12-20 s WHAT I TRIED: two things that did not work, one line each. No brand names for the things that did not work. - 20-32 s WHAT I BUILT: one insert of the product doing the one thing, 8-10 s, real screen, narrated as actions. Not features: the one action that fixes the moment at 0-4 s. - 32-37 s WHO IT IS FOR: one sentence naming the person, not 'anyone who'. - 37-40 s CLOSE: this is a conversion video, so the download ask is allowed here: name, one line, link in bio. It is the only ask in the series. Word budget: 100-110 words at 165 wpm. On-screen: the number at the moment, the product name once at 20 s, the name again at the close. Return: the moment sentence first (I will reject a generic one), then the script as spoken prose with [insert: ...] markers, then the three on-screen lines. Product: {product} The moment it became unbearable: {what happened, when, where} Who it is for: {one person}
In Claude Code, paste the prompt as a message, or run /video-promo which does this end to end.
Example
Product: a notes app that turns whiteboard photos into typed notes. Moment: the night before a final, 14 whiteboard photos, half of them glare, none searchable.
Moment sentence: ‘The night before my linear algebra final I had fourteen photos of whiteboards and could not find the one with the proof.’
Script: The night before my linear algebra final I had fourteen photos of whiteboards and could not find the one with the proof. I scrolled for forty minutes. That happened every exam, every term, two years. I tried typing them up during lectures, which meant not listening. I tried a scanner app, which gave me a PDF I still could not search. [insert: share sheet, the app, the board becomes text, search ‘eigen’, the note appears] Now a photo goes to {product} from the share sheet, comes back as text, and the glare is gone. Search for one word and the lecture is there. It is for the student who photographs the board instead of copying it. {product}, link in bio.
On-screen: ‘14 photos, 40 minutes’ at 0-4 s; ‘{product}’ at 20 s; ‘{product} · link in bio’ at 37 s.
Tips
- In Claude Code, `/video-promo` builds the hook/problem/demo/CTA plan from the PRD; feed this prompt the moment it picks and the script gets specific.
- Film the moment line first and alone, ten takes, pick the flattest delivery. The product insert can be re-recorded any time; the moment cannot be faked later.
| works with | Claude Code: Runs as a skill or a prompt in the terminal; can read your files and write the result. · Claude: Paste into claude.ai or the Claude app. · ChatGPT: Paste into ChatGPT; works with any GPT model. · Any LLM: Model-agnostic: Gemini, Mistral, a local model. |
| skill | npx skills add fortunto2/solo-factory/video-promo · source |
| cost | Free. No API, no key. |
| status | Unverified: written from the technique, not yet run end to end by us. |
| license | CC BY 4.0 for the text here; skills are MIT. |
| updated | 2026-11-01 |
| for agents | founder-explainer-format.md |
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