Great article Ryan, I am (as I'm sure most founders reading this are) actively working on my startup's story - so I found it very useful. One thing that interests me is how the story changes over time. This seems to have been the case with Instagram. Like you said, Burbn was a very different product and over time they realized people were using it mostly for photos so they restarted with what is now Instagram. Was the well-crafted story you described there from the beginning, or was it developed as they worked with users and iterated through early products? Stories definitely give a company direction, allow designers and engineers to focus more on the few important features that really matter, and make it easier to speak to users, but it seems that getting to that story can be a journey in and of itself.