Business DNA: what every Expert reads first
The facts every Expert reads before writing a word: what you sell, who you sell to, how you sound and what they must never do.
Business DNA is what your AI team knows about your business, and where each fact came from. Scout fills it in by reading your website and asking only what the web can't answer. Every Expert reads it before starting, so a wrong fact here shows up everywhere.
Each fact is labeled by source: You said, Found, Inferred, From your numbers and so on. Facts Scout is unsure of, and anything an Expert works out on its own, wait under Needs your confirmation until you say they're right.
Why it helps
- You explain your business once, and every email, post and ad starts from the same facts.
- Correcting a fact once fixes it for the whole team, instead of in every draft.
- Never-do rules and banned phrases keep your Experts away from topics and wording you don't want.
How to use it
- Open Brand → Business DNA. Open Brand → Business DNA, or choose the DNA percentage at the top of Home. The summary shows how complete it is and what is waiting on you.
- Confirm or reject what was worked out. Under Needs your confirmation, accept or reject each fact, or choose All correct if they all look right.
- Fill the biggest gaps. On What's missing, gaps are ranked by what they cost you right now. Choose Answer and type a line, or pick an option.
- Edit a fact. On Everything we know, pick a section such as Offers or Guardrails and choose the pencil to edit. Facts marked Re-check are old enough to confirm again.
- Read it back. On How I understand it, choose Check my understanding for a plain-English summary. If part of it is off, choose That's not quite right and say what is wrong; Scout fixes it.
- Let Scout ask more. Choose Continue with Scout to have Scout read your site again and ask what it still can't work out.
Make the most of it
- Fill in Guardrails early. A never-do rule is the cheapest way to stop a draft you would never send.
- Add the competitors you actually lose customers to, and why you win. Your ads, sales and email Experts use both.
- Money facts are kept as rough ranges, such as a revenue band, never exact figures. Your real numbers stay in Money.
- Run Check my understanding after a big change, like a new offer. If the read-back is wrong, your Experts are wrong too.
Hand it over in one click
- Write down what my brand actually is — Sage
- Set voice rules so everything sounds like me — Sage
- Brief someone on my business without writing a doc — Sage
Questions
Who fills it in?
Scout does most of it from your website, then asks only what it can't find. You can answer, edit or delete any fact. Experts can suggest facts too, but suggestions wait for your yes.
What are the sections?
Identity, Story, People, Offers, Audience, Competitors, Market, Financial, Channels, Stack, Goals, Voice, Visual, Proof and Guardrails. Each shows how many of its facts are known.
What happens if a fact is wrong?
Your Experts use it until you fix it. Edit it on Everything we know, or reject it while it is still waiting for confirmation, and the next piece of work uses the corrected fact.
Is this the same as my brand book?
They work together. The brand book says how your business looks and sounds. Business DNA says what it is: offers, customers, competitors, goals and rules. See Brand book.