An Unexpected Journey: The Story of Building Bloomstory
How two non-techies went from starting a video marketing agency to building an AI-powered marketing solutions that predict better outcomes and optimize business’ marketing.
Welcome to the first-ever issue of Founder's Corner – our unfiltered behind-the-scenes journal at Bloomstory.
I’m Vanessa, co-founder of Bloomstory 🫶🏻
I've been building Bloomstory for just over a year and a half now.
But somehow, it’s the past two weeks that have felt like the true beginning.
So let me take you from where it all began to where we are today in the hope that our story helps motivate you to stay on your path, keep going and trust the process.
The Unexpected Starting Point
In July 2023, my friend (and now co-founder) Jason approached me with an idea:
"Let's start a video marketing agency together. Let's figure out why videos go viral."
The timing was perfect.
I had just closed the chapter on my previous business, Work Me Shape Me (WMSM) — a fitness and social brand, where I managed everything from social media and brand deals to running in-person events and building a thriving community.
But deep down, I knew I always wanted to be a creator.
I was the first among my friends to own a digital camera — at just 9 years old, that was a huge deal back then. Kids did not own their own gadgets.
I’d spend hours on iMovie, editing videos purely for fun.
There was this time I got my friend together to create a promo video for shoes that could supposedly make you fly (yes, just for fun).
By 22, I set off on a 9-month solo adventure across the world — and, of course, I documented all of it.
The dream back then? To become a YouTube vlogger.
But pressured by my parents - I put aside what felt like my calling, and went and got a stable corporate job instead.
But I never lost the spark, so I started WMSM, and I also freelanced on the side as a Creative Strategist and helping brands create UGC (User-Generated Content).
So, when Jason approached me with his idea, I thought ‘Hey…..why not?! I have nothing to lose.’ It meant working alongside someone I trusted, in a space that aligned with the direction I wanted to go.
That's how Bloomstory v1.0 was born: as a short-form video marketing agency.
Little did I know, it would kickstart a one and a half year journey that would take me in directions I never imagined.
The AI Pivot
We quickly realized that the video marketing space was saturated and we needed an edge. That's when we started exploring AI—and it opened an entirely new world for us.
AI was just blossoming, we saw so many potential opportunities for how to leverage it to get our edge. It inspired us to dream bigger, beyond just offering video services. But the path was not straightforward and we made many mistakes and pivoted many times.
Over the last eighteen months, we pivoted multiple times—from an AI & Automation Agency to a AI Qualitative Research company. Through periods of confusion, we attended countless events and spoke to strangers in an effort to find answers.
But through all these iterations, our core mission remained constant: helping brands and businesses grow by understanding the stories behind their audience.
It’s why we are called Bloomstory.
The Moment of Clarity
Two weeks ago, driven by some ‘startup drama’ (more on that in another newsletter), we pivoted again. Or re-pivoted rather.
This time, it hit different.
Maybe it's the conviction that only comes after 18 months of trying, researching, learning, failing, and building... because we finally found clarity in our direction, aligned with the core question that started us on this journey "why do videos go viral"?
At its core, that was about providing more creative certainty.
Because the truth is - a lot of marketing material and content that brands put out is based on intuition and expensive A/B testing to see what works.
What if we could solve that??
What if you could ask hundreds of people what makes them tick, click, and buy before you even launch your campaign?
Bloomstory Today
That is what Bloomstory is today.
First, we turn real conversations - from online reviews, social media comments and survey data into campaign insights to help you understand the different segments of your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Next we take that data and fuse it with AI to create AI-powered personas.
These AI personas replicate real people, allowing you to test your copy, ads, video scripts, or imagery—and get feedback on what resonates and what flops.
We know that AI-powered personas can never replicate real life human customers. But this helps you predict better outcomes and close the gap of simply guessing when launching expensive campaigns.
I believe that by understanding people better, we can tell more compelling stories that genuinely connect with brands’ customers.
Full Circle Moments
This is truly a full circle moment in two powerful ways.
Full Circle Moment 1:
What we're building today at Bloomstory is essentially what we were trying to create over a year ago.
Back then, we had the vision but there were some missing pieces and we lacked the tools and skills to execute it clearly.
Through all our pivots and explorations, we've been circling back to the same core mission: helping brands understand their audiences better to tell stories that help them grow.
When you're navigating uncertainty, it's easy to feel like you're wasting time or questioning if you're on the right path.
But looking back, all our pivots—from building automation systems to running AI experiments to conducting user interviews with strangers - weren't distractions.
They were all breadcrumbs leading us on our journey to where we are today.
As two non-technical co-founders who couldn't code a year ago, we've now built an MVP and website from scratch using AI. It shows how far we've come and how far AI has advanced in just eighteen months.
And AI will only keep advancing
Full Circle Moment 2:
Looking back, every chapter of my journey led me here — from being the kid obsessed with making videos and telling stories, to creating UGC for brands, to building community through WMSM.
All of it prepared me for what I’m doing now at Bloomstory.
I'm now applying all these experiences to tell Bloomstory's story, build a community, run events and help brands tell stories that resonate with their audience.
Understanding how to build connection with people has never been more important than right now, in the era of AI.
It’s a reminder that no experience is ever wasted. Every skill, every curiosity, every passion you follow — it’s all laying the foundation for what comes next.
So lean in. Keep creating. Keep exploring.
You never know how it might come full circle.
Thank you for being here at the beginning of this new chapter.
What have we been up to at Bloomstory?
It’s been 3 weeks since we officially pivoted Bloomstory to focus on developing AI-powered personas — and let’s just say, we haven’t wasted a minute.
In the first 10 days alone, we:
Built and launched our MVP
Designed and launched a brand new website from scratch
Completed a full brand and design refresh
Announced our new direction publicly
Launched our newsletter and published our first post
Kicked off user interviews to gather early feedback
Right now, I’m focused on speaking to potential users to gather feedback and understand what features they want to improve the user experience. Meanwhile, Jason is head-down in dev mode, improving the MVP.
I’ve also challenged myself to build in public — 30 days of creating videos about sharing the behind-the-scenes journey. And honestly? I’m only on Day 2 and already feeling … wired but also buzzed from it. They say do the thing that scares you… so here we are.
I’m always open to having a chat so feel free to reach out :)
Have a good weekend 💚
Vanessa Hoh is the co-founder of Bloomstory, where she writes on the Founder’s Corner column. She shares her personal journey as a founder, offers behind-the-scenes updates on Bloomstory, and how she personally uses AI to work smarter for business, everyday life and content creation.
You can follow her on LinkedIn.
At Bloomstory, we help businesses understand their audience deeper by turning conversations into campaign insights.
We are also building a synthetic persona tool for founders, marketers, and strategists. It’s currently in development, but sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date on our progress.
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