StoriesOnBoard - Current State Context¶
Status: Enriched from website content (2026-01-30), CEO validation still needed for business metrics Purpose: Establish baseline understanding of current position before researching market Source: https://storiesonboard.com (13 pages extracted)
1. Company Overview¶
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | DevMads |
| Product | StoriesOnBoard |
| In Production Since | 2015 |
| Hosting | Microsoft Azure |
Notable Customers (from website): SAP, Lufthansa, Walgreens, YODEL, Deloitte, RTL
2. Market Position¶
2.1 Current Category Perception¶
- Primary recognition: User story mapping tool
- Attempted repositioning: Product management platform (2020+)
- Repositioning result: Moderate success, goal now considered outdated
2.2 Historical Competitive Positioning¶
| Period | Competitive Focus | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2015-2019 | Story mapping tools | Original space |
| 2020-2023 | PM platforms | Attempted pivot, moderate success |
| 2024+ | ? | Current strategic question |
2.3 Current Competitors¶
Direct (Story Mapping): - Avion (inactive — no releases since Feb 2024, excluded from strategic analysis) - FeatureMap - CardBoard - draft.io - Others?
Adjacent (PM Platforms): - ProductBoard - Aha! - Productplan - Airfocus - Others?
Emerging Threat (All-in-One + AI): - Notion (with AI) - Coda - ClickUp - Others?
2.4 Current Positioning (from website)¶
Hero Statement: "AI story mapping software for next-level product management"
Value Prop: "Let AI do the heavy lifting — automating user stories, acceptance criteria, documentation, and more — so your team can focus on building better products, faster."
Category Claim: "End-to-end product management platform built around user story map"
3. Customer Profile¶
3.1 Target Segment¶
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Company Size | Mid-market (200-2000 employees) |
| Industries | Primary: Technology/Software development + Telecom, Finance, Healthcare |
| Geography | Global, organically: US, EU, UK mostly |
3.2 Buyer Profile¶
- Who makes the purchase decision? - Team managers
- What budget does this come from? SW dev team budget
- What alternatives are typically considered? see "Competitors" above
4. User Profiles (Personas)¶
4.1 Primary Users¶
| Role | Use Case (from website) |
|---|---|
| Business Analysts | Visualize project requirements and communicate to clients |
| Product Owners | Break down the concept of a new product idea to build epics and sprints |
| Product Managers | Map out high-level features and prioritize items |
| Developers | Collaborate more effectively, build a backlog everyone understands |
| UX Designers | Create complete user journeys that can be used as development backlog |
4.2 User Testimonials (real quotes from website)¶
"When I ask someone to explain their project, I can visualize what they're saying at the speed that they are explaining it. It's that easy to use." — Bram O., Agile Coach
"It is the most intuitive tool on the market I know, and it's very useful when you have to define the scope of the feature or the app in a quick and transparent for non-technical guys way." — Matt Graham, Director of Product Management, Solution Stream
"A key advantage of StoriesOnBoard is that it allows us to be far more effective with our time and resources than we would be without it." — Steve Whitley, Technical Lead, GlobeRanger
"The biggest challenge for me as a Product Manager has always been keeping things organized whether that's feedback from clients, the dev team, or just random ideas. StoriesOnBoard is saving me so much time." — Olivia Rios, Product Manager
"We find it the perfect tool to build the product backlog, then plan the sprints, prioritize tasks, assign to team members, and view the work in real-time." — Jose Luis V., Chapter Lead
4.3 Secondary Users¶
- Stakeholders (viewing/commenting) - "Unlimited Guests For Free" in all plans
- Executives (roadmap views)
- External clients (via shareable links and public portals)
5. Core Capabilities¶
5.1 Main Features (from website)¶
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| User Story Maps | 3-level hierarchy (Goals > Steps > Stories), unlimited maps/cards, keyboard shortcuts, presenter mode |
| Release Planning | Define release goals, schedule stories by priority/estimation/capacity, timeline view, iteration syncing |
| Roadmaps | Release/Epic/Portfolio roadmaps, swimlanes, templates, real-time sync with story maps |
| Prioritization | Standard/MoSCoW/KANO/RICE/Value-vs-Effort frameworks, collaborative scoring, "Quick wins"/"Time sinks" |
| Feedback Management | Insight inbox, multi-channel collection (Slack, Email, Intercom via Zapier), public feedback portals |
| Integrations | Two-way sync: Jira Cloud/Server, Azure DevOps/TFS, GitHub, Trello, Pivotal Tracker. Also: Slack, Zapier, Figma, Confluence |
| Collaboration | Unlimited free guests, real-time updates, comments, shareable links, presenter mode |
| Security | ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR compliant, SAML 2.0 SSO, MFA, IP-based access control, audit logging |
5.2 Current AI Capabilities¶
AI is prominently featured - positioned as core differentiator ("AI story mapping software")
AI Features Available¶
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| AI Story Map Generator | Generate full story map (goals, steps, stories, ACs) from product description |
| AI User Story Generator | Write user stories in "As a user..." format with AI |
| AI Acceptance Criteria | Generate in Given/When/Then or technical requirements format |
| AI User Personas | Generate personas aligned with product goals |
| AI Release Summaries | Auto-generate release notes and announcements |
| Custom AI Functions | Users can create custom prompts for specialized outputs (e.g., test cases) |
| Multi-language Support | English, German, French, Spanish + others |
| INVEST Analysis | AI evaluates user stories against INVEST criteria |
AI Token Pricing (usage limits)¶
| Plan | AI Tokens/Month |
|---|---|
| Personal | 20k |
| Basic | 50k |
| Standard/Plus | 100k |
| Pro/Premium | 150k |
Free AI Tools (lead generation)¶
- AI User Story Generator (public, free)
- AI Story Map Generator (public, free)
- AI MVP Assistant (public, free, new)
6. Value Proposition¶
6.1 Current Positioning Statement (from website)¶
Hero: "AI story mapping software for next-level product management"
Full statement: "Let AI do the heavy lifting — automating user stories, acceptance criteria, documentation, and more — so your team can focus on building better products, faster."
Platform claim: "End-to-end product management platform built around user story map"
6.2 Key Value Claims¶
| Value Area | Website Messaging |
|---|---|
| Time Savings | "Say goodbye to time-wasting documentation" |
| Alignment | "Story maps are visual, real-time collaborative backlogs that keep everyone aligned and engaged" |
| Accessibility | "Create a backlog that even non-technical stakeholders understand" |
| AI Speed | "Generate goals, steps, user stories, and acceptance criteria in seconds" |
| Integration | "Build product backlogs on story maps, then send to JIRA" |
6.3 Key Differentiators¶
From website, implied differentiators: 1. Story mapping methodology - specialized tool vs. generic PM platforms 2. AI deeply integrated - not bolt-on, throughout the workflow 3. Two-way sync - not just export, bidirectional with issue trackers 4. Unlimited free guests - collaboration without seat-based costs 5. Visual approach - 2D map vs. flat backlog lists
CEO input needed: What makes StoriesOnBoard different from: 1. Generic PM tools (ProductBoard, Aha!)? story mapping/agile focus 2. Project management tools (Jira, Azure DevOps)? story mapping, managable backlogs 3. All-in-one tools (Notion, Coda)? specialized for product teams, software development 4. Direct AI usage (ChatGPT, Claude)? specialized for software development, integrated into workflow
6.4 Core Value Delivered (inferred from testimonials)¶
Based on customer quotes on website: - Speed of visualization: "I can visualize what they're saying at the speed that they are explaining it" - Non-technical accessibility: "transparent for non-technical guys" - Time/resource efficiency: "far more effective with our time and resources" - Organization: "keeping things organized... saving me so much time" - Full workflow: "build the product backlog, then plan the sprints, prioritize tasks, assign to team members"
7. Strengths & Weaknesses¶
7.1 Current Strengths¶
- Specialized story mapping focus, visual backlog management
- Recognized in market, mature, trusted product since 2015
7.2 Current Weaknesses¶
- AI capabilities are lagging behind new agentic AI like Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot
- 3.
7.3 Technical Assets¶
Integration infrastructure - Jira Cloud & Server - Azure DevOps & TFS - GitHub & GitHub Enterprise - Trello - Slack, Zapier, Figma, Confluence
AI infrastructure: - Token-based AI usage (already billing for AI) - Custom AI function capability (user-defined prompts) - Multi-language AI output support - Free public AI tools (lead generation)
Security/Enterprise (mid-market ready): - ISO 27001 & SOC 2 compliant infrastructure - SAML 2.0 SSO - IP-based access control - Security audit logging - GDPR compliant
CEO input needed: What's the tech stack? What AI provider(s) used?
8. Business Context¶
8.1 Revenue Model¶
Two product lines with different positioning:
Story Mapping Tool (simpler)¶
| Plan | Price | AI Tokens | Products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $19 first user, then $9/user/mo | 50k/mo | 1 |
| Standard | $26 first user, then $12/user/mo | 100k/mo | 10 |
| Pro | $45 first user, then $15/user/mo | 150k/mo | Unlimited |
Product Management Platform (full suite)¶
| Plan | Price | AI Tokens | Products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | $16/mo (1 user) | 20k/mo | 1 |
| Plus | $29/user/mo | 100k/mo | 10 |
| Premium | $55/user/mo | 150k/mo | Unlimited |
Enterprise: 40+ users, custom contracts, volume discounts, dedicated success manager
Pricing strategy observations: - "Save up to 20-25% with annual billing" - encourages annual commitment - "Unlimited Guests For Free" - reduces friction for collaboration - AI tokens as usage-based component - creates natural upgrade path - 14-day free trial
9. Open Questions for Research¶
Based on current position, key questions this research should answer:
- Is story mapping as a methodology growing, stable, or declining?
- Are AI tools replacing or augmenting the need for structured story mapping?
- What AI capabilities would mid-market PM/BA users actually pay for?
- Where is the "why not ChatGPT" answer strongest for our domain?
Notes¶
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