Online Event

The Clarity Workshop - Getting to the Essence

Messaging is the foundation of everything your startup says: make it solid

Date
Oct 29, 2026
Time
03:00 pm - 04:30 pm
Address
Online Event
Event Banner Image
A live, interactive workshop with Zach Messler on the groundwork behind a message people remember and repeat. This is all about the work needed FIRST, so your pitch, website, deck and sales calls all work the way you intend. You’ll leave with: The five layers of Clarity to nail before you write a word. The three ridiculously simple questions that get to the heart of what you sell The new messaging formula that replaced “feature, benefit.” The questions behind each layer of Clarity, all in a document and ready to fill in.
🤘👊💥😎


Clarity Rules!
The super simple way to create killer messages that stick

What it is:

A live, interactive workshop with Zach Messler on the groundwork behind a message people remember and repeat.
This is all about the work needed FIRST, so your pitch, website, deck and sales calls all work the way you intend.
You’ll leave with:
  • The five layers of Clarity to nail before you write a word.
  • The three ridiculously simple questions that get to the heart of what you sell
  • The new messaging formula that replaced “feature, benefit.”
  • The questions behind each layer of Clarity, all in a document and ready to fill in.

Who it’s for

Founders with a big idea and a pitch that seems to get far too many blank looks.

  • You can explain it over coffee...but it falls apart in a two-minute pitch.
  • Investors nod, ask a polite question, then never follow up.
  • Your co-founder describes the company differently than you do.
  • Your target buyers like the idea but can’t say why they’d pay for it.
  • You’ve rewritten your one-liner a dozen times, and it still doesn’t feel right.

Stuff you’ll discover

  • The one question founders almost never answer right on the first try. A room full of smart people missed it, including a neuroscientist.
  • Why “dumb it down” is terrible messaging advice, and what to do instead.
  • Why the problem you think you solve may not be the one people pay for.
  • Two words on almost every startup site that quietly hand your power away.
  • The six value buckets every purchase falls into.
  • Why two of the three parts of the brain that drive a buying decision can’t process a single word of your feature list.
  • The weasel words marketers borrowed from lawyers, and why they make you sound unsure.
  • What a whiskey glass teaches us about finding the core of what you sell.
  • And so much more fun stuff...just wait. (-:

About Zach

So who the hell is this Zach Messler character? I'm glad you asked. Zach spent 25+ years in product marketing for enterprise tech and was the founding product marketer at VISICU (acquired by Philips Healthcare), Contact Solutions (Acquired by Verint) and Appian. Since leaving the corporate world about 9 years ago, he’s run 120+ Message Clarity Intensives, a signature workshop for founder-led start-ups to create compelling messaging that sells. Oh...also, he has zero technical chops and a philosophy degree...which makes him equally interesting and dangerous. Wanna see his stuff? Search up #BOOMshockalocka on LinkedIn.

Additional Resources: Find more Startup Events, explore AI Tools for Startup Ideation and Validation to keep testing after the session, or take the Entrepreneur DNA test.

About Founder Institute: The Founder Institute is the World's Largest AI-Native Company Builder, giving idea-stage, first-time founders, and employees making the leap to entrepreneurship the tools, global network, and proven methodology to build an AI-powered startup from zero to funding. Since 2009, our structured programs have helped over 9,000 founders across 100 countries raise more than $2BN in funding. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 6 continents, our mission is to empower talented and motivated people everywhere to build impactful, AI-powered companies.

Speakers

Zach

Zach Messler

Founder @ 26th Letter LLC (zachmessler.com)

Platinum Partners

Local Partners

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