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How it works

Strategy first.
Design last.
 Always.

Every Show & Tell engagement follows the same sequence — regardless of scope, timeline, or what the deliverable looks like at the end. We don’t open a slide template until the story is right. That discipline is why the work lands.

The principle behind the process

"Most businesses come to us asking for a better-looking deck. What they leave with is a clearer story — one their whole team can use, across every channel, in every conversation."

Design is our output. It is not our offering. The story is the product. Everything we produce — the slide deck, the proposal, the company profile — is an expression of strategic thinking, not the starting point for it.

The real problem

Three phases.
No exceptions.

We’ve seen what happens when agencies skip straight to design. You get something that looks polished and says nothing. That’s not a policy. It’s what produces work that actually performs.

Phase one

Discover

We dig into your business, your audience, and the specific outcome you need. Not through a template brief — through a real conversation. We ask the questions most people are too polite to ask: the ones that surface what the story actually needs to be, not just what you think it is.

What we do

  • Deep-dive discovery conversation — your business, your audience, the specific moment you're building for
  • Review of your existing materials — what they say, what they don't, and where they lose people
  • Competitive context — how you're positioned relative to what else is in the room

What you bring

  • The honest version of the situation — not the polished pitch, but what's actually going on
  • Any existing materials — decks, proposals, website, whatever exists
  • Access to the person who owns the outcome — the founder, CEO, or senior decision-maker

Output

A clear picture of what the story needs to do, who it needs to move, and what’s currently standing in the way

Phase two

Clarify

We build the story architecture before a single slide is touched. The narrative spine, the message hierarchy, the positioning that makes you distinct from every alternative in your prospect’s mind. This becomes a written strategy document — a deliverable in its own right. 

What we do

  • Build the core narrative — the story structure that makes your value immediately clear and undeniable
  • Define the message hierarchy — what leads, what supports, what gets cut
  • Write the strategy document — the foundation every piece of the engagement builds from

What you bring

  • Feedback on the strategy — honest reactions, not just approval
  • Any constraints we need to work within — audience sensitivities, regulatory context, board preferences
  • Sign-off before we move forward — the strategy is locked before design begins

Output

A written narrative strategy — the story architecture your whole team can use, not just the deliverable we’re building

Phase three

Amplify

Now we make it look like the work it is. Design executes the strategy — it doesn’t create it. The result is a deliverable that’s both visually strong and narratively airtight — ready to present, send, or share, with or without you in the room.

What we do

  • Design and build the deliverable — slides, proposals, profiles, whatever the engagement calls for
  • Iteration rounds — we refine until the work is right, not just done
  • Final delivery with handover notes — so you can use and update it confidently

What you bring

  • Specific feedback — not "make it pop" but "this doesn't reflect how we position against competitors"
  • Any brand assets, logos, or visual guidelines that need to be respected
  • The final read-through — you're the last eyes before it goes into the room

Output

The finished deliverable — visually sharp, narratively grounded, built for the specific audience and moment it needs to perform in

The real problem

A typical project,
start to finish.

Most project engagements run over two to four weeks depending on scope and the number of revision rounds. This is the shape of a typical investor deck or enterprise pitch project.

Week 1

Discovery

  • Discovery call — 60 to 90 minutes
  • Materials review and analysis
  • Audience and competitive context
  • Story brief drafted

Week 2

Strategy

  • Narrative architecture built
  • Written strategy document delivered
  • Strategy review and sign-off
  • Design brief confirmed

Week 3

Design

  • First draft delivered
  • Feedback and revision round one
  • Refinements based on your input
  • Second draft delivered

Week 4

Final

  • Final revision round
  • Final delivery in all required formats
  • Handover notes and guidance
  • Post-delivery support as needed

Need it faster? We can compress the timeline for time-sensitive moments — a raise, a pitch, a board meeting. The sequence stays the same. The pace changes. Let us know your deadline in the discovery call and we’ll tell you honestly whether it’s workable.

Before the first conversation

You don't need
to prepare a brief.

These are the four things that make the first conversation — and everything that follows — more productive.

The honest situation

Not the polished pitch version. What’s actually going on — what’s working, what isn’t, what you’ve already tried and why it didn’t land. We’ve heard most of it before.

The Specific Moment

What are you building toward? A raise, an enterprise pitch, a board presentation, a market entry. The more specific, the better the output. “We need better communications” is a starting point. “We’re pitching a $5M Series A in eight weeks” is a brief.

The Existing Material

Whatever exists — even if you’re embarrassed by it. Especially if you’re embarrassed by it. The gap between what you have and what you need is exactly what we’re looking for.

What you don’t need

Leave the polished version at the door.

Clients who arrive with a fixed brief and a design direction in mind slow down the process. It usually means we spend the first session unpacking assumptions rather than finding the real problem.

  • A fixed idea of what you want the deck to look like
  • A finalised list of slides or sections
  • A design direction you've already decided on

"The clients we do our best work for are the ones who show up and say: here's what we're trying to do, here's what we have, and we trust you to tell us what needs to change."

Ready to start?
 The first step is a
conversation.

Every engagement begins with a 30-minute discovery call — no pitch, no proposal, no obligation. We’ll ask about your business and what you’re trying to achieve. Then we’ll tell you honestly what we see and whether we’re the right fit. If we’re not, we’ll say so.

Book a Discovery Call

Not sure yet? Take the free 2-minute assessment first