Company

Founder’s Story

In 2016, my agency career ended—not because I couldn’t do the work—but because my skills outgrew the fit of any available position. A chain of developments over the course of my career left me a generalist with expertise in design, advertising, user experience, entertainment marketing, copywriting, and business strategy.

As a marketing Swiss Army knife—skilled in many disciplines—agencies didn’t know how to use all of me. Without a clear fit, I had to go my own way. I hung up a shingle and became an army-of-one vendor for outsourced design.

While initially lucrative, it didn’t last. The space was a red ocean—crowded with low-value work and high churn. Competing with full-service agencies and subscription-based design services eventually broke me.

But extensive personal and professional development work led to a pivot. After studying change psychology, Storybrand storytelling,
Clickfunnels, and Category Design, I learned that the key to success starts with story. Stories define people—and have the power to change them.

Using these insights to get back on my feet, I began creating stories of change for startups, solopreneurs, and nonprofits. After thousands of hours of experience, I refined my approach, built a unique framework, and now use it to transform business narratives, helping companies realize their potential.

Today, my vision is leadership for every purpose-driven innovator. Through Business Narrative Transformation, I help mission-driven businesses that are stalled rise to the top of their categories, giving them the power to create the change they were made to create.
Story is my superpower, and it’s how I help others realize a new tomorrow.

Paulo Sellitti

People

Paulo
Sellitti

Founder, Mission-driven Story Designer

As a mission-driven story designer, Paulo helps businesses lead with purpose. With 25 years’ experience at top agencies in digital, advertising, and entertainment, he brings a unique set of skills designed to create business narratives that drive category leadership.

He’s helped energy companies disrupt $10B+ markets, created $3B+ new market categories, secured $25M in VC funding for tech companies, and 3X’d donations for NGOs.

Co-author of Not Just Another Vendor, an industry-leading sales account planning book, his storytelling model helps businesses become preeminent thought leaders, putting them in a category of their own.

Kevin Seidel. Creative Director, Copywriter

Kevin
Seidel

Head Storyteller, Creative Director CW

Writer. Strategist. Garageband guitarist. Kevin has a gift for turning complex stories into elegantly simple narratives. For over 24 years, he’s been one of the Bay Area’s top creative resources, crafting global campaigns for B2B and consumer innovators like Apple, Aruba Networks, HP, Google Brand Studios, iShares, Kashi, Lenovo, Morningstar Farms, Salesforce, U.S. Postal Service, Wells Fargo, Wildwood Farms, and Zemaitis Guitars.

Adam Shen - Head of Development

Adam
Shen

Head of Development

The engine behind Hypnotic’s UX storytelling, Adam leverages over 25 years of web development experience to create highly optimized, user-friendly WordPress websites and applications. He engineered a custom WordPress framework that powers Hypnotic’s website and client projects. Guiding each project with technical precision, Adam is a driving force behind Hypnotic’s success.

Clients

Bohnett Foundation Logo
Frank Pope - CEO, Save The Elephants

Frank Pope
CEO
Save The Elephants

Paulo was a passionate, thoughtful and of course highly creative designer for a complex job of distilling 30 years of diverse experience and engagement for a key piece of communication. He worked like a Trojan and accommodated tough time zone coordination, and we got a great and highly effective result.

Christopher LaFranchi - CEO, OneReef

Christopher LaFranchi
Founder & CEO
OneReef.org

Paulo quickly grasped the essence of OneReef, our model, and our dedication to serving ocean communities. Then he translated that understanding into the vision document we need going forward–with vibrance, clarity, and emotional connection.

Nigel Cullington - VP of Marketing | Sales Effectiveness

Nigel Cullington
VP of Marketing | Sales Effectiveness
Upland Altify

I’ve had the privilege to work with Paulo over the last few years including a huge project to develop, build, and launch the new category of Customer Revenue Optimization (CRO).
Paulo is far greater than a designer, a content architect, and a category maker, he is simply an invaluable part of our extended revenue team and how we drive value for our customers and our company!

Shawn Milligan - Managing Partner, MLC Laird

Shawn Milligan
Managing Partner
MLC Laird

The ability to differentiate yourself in the land acquisition and entitlement business wasn’t obvious to me. However, when I started to explain our business to Paulo, he quickly recognized that our approach to market research stood out to him as unique. MLC Laird now has a category to itself—Market-Ready Entitlements—because sometimes build-ready isn’t buildable. We’re now mission-focused with Paulo’s help—realizing the full value of land for our homebuilding customers and the communities in which we work.

Don Tran, Founder of Deep End Fitness

Don Tran
Founder
Deep End Fitness

Paulo intuitively understood our company’s needs, vision, and how to shape our message to reach customers. The way he dissects a category is truly eye-opening. He can find unseen gaps in the market and tell a company story thoughtfully.

Maria Ross

Maria Ross
Empathetic Brand Advisor | TEDxSpeaker Author & Podcast Host, The Empathy Edge
Red Slice

Paulo is like a secret weapon. I don’t even know what to call him: Business advisor, brand strategist, messaging expert, copywriter, designer, co-conspirator—the way his creative brain works is amazing. He marries creativity with business reality to get results.