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05A free course · Beta
You have one story. Every room needs its own cut.
The talk that wins an investor and the talk that opens a conference are the same story doing two different jobs. This course teaches you to build the deep version once and cut every other version from it.
Thirty minutes gets you a skeleton. Two to four focused hours gets you a talk you can rehearse.
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What you will use it for
One source talk, every room you face.
You write the deep version once. Each room then gets the cut it needs, timed and scripted at the open and close.
- The pitchA cut that ends on a clear ask, with the proof the decision needs moved to the front.
- The demo dayThree minutes, traction early, and one line the room remembers when the day is over.
- The keynoteA cut that frames the moment for that audience and hands them a way to see it.
- The speech you were asked to giveA wedding, an award or a farewell, built with the same method and ending on what you hand the room.
The real problem
It is almost never the delivery.
When a talk lands badly, the usual advice is about delivery. Smile more. Use your hands. Slow down. So people spend weeks polishing the surface of a talk that is broken underneath, and cannot work out why it still fails.
Where it breaks
What usually went wrong is the order. The public version got written first, the bio, the thirty-second intro, the deck narration, before there was a deep story to cut it from.
What this course does
A talk carved from a deep, true story carries a weight an assembled one never reaches. So this course goes deep first, then cuts. That order is the whole method.
The method
One Source Talk. Four Room Cuts.
You write one deep private version, longer than any talk you will give, for nobody. That is the Source Talk. Then you cut. The room’s job decides what moves, so the proof, the frame, the ask and the ending change together.
Win a decision
Pitch
Proof forward and quantified, ending on a specific ask while belief is still high.
Frame a moment
Keynote
Authority and framing, no ask, ending on a lens the room keeps.
Spread an idea
TED-style
The sell comes out entirely. It ends on the idea, built to travel without you.
Mark an occasion
Speech
Named people and the room itself, ending on a charge or a toast.
What is inside
Seven modules, in order.
- Module 1Why Talks LandWhat a story does inside the brain, the three forces weighted for a stage, and the Source Talk Method end to end.4 lessons
- Module 2Find Your ThroughlineWrite a first pass and then the deep version, cut one idea out of it in fifteen words, and find the shift in the world that makes your work necessary.6 lessons
- Module 3Build the SpineThe five beats. Find the turn first, then locate hook, stakes, idea and vision around it. Engineer the peak and the ending on purpose.5 lessons
- Module 4Make Them Feel ItSpecific over sentimental. Swap the summary for the scene, and use vulnerability as permission.4 lessons
- Module 5Earn Belief, and Own the EdgesCredibility through action. Script the open and the close word for word, and let the middle breathe.4 lessons
- Module 6Adapt to the RoomThe four cuts, built one at a time, then set side by side. What the job moves, and what never changes.7 lessons
- Module 7Deliver and RefineRehearse to natural. Cut to time. Treat questions as the last beat of the talk.8 lessons
Read what every lesson covers, or look up a term in the glossary.
How the course works
Your talk, written as you learn.
When a lesson needs your material, the fields sit right under it. Everything you write builds your Talk Blueprint, ten sections that end up holding the whole talk and a version of it for every room.
- 01
Read the lesson
A few minutes of reading each, in the order the method needs.
- 02
Write where it asks
Fields under the lessons that need your material. It saves on your device as you type.
- 03
Take it with you
Download the Blueprint, or copy it into ChatGPT or Claude with a note that explains the method, so the AI works from your material.
The working kit
Built to be used.
The method runs on writing rather than watching. These come with it.
Your Talk Blueprint
Ten sections that hold your finished talk. It fills as you write in the lessons.
The AI Story Interview
Nine prompts that take you from raw material to a built spine, including an investor sceptic audit.
The worksheets
Seven optional drills, one per stage, plus a teardown template. The lessons link each one where it fits.
The Talk Triage Framework
Seven decisions that pick the right cut for a specific room. Run it fresh for every stage.
The Room Index
Every room a founder walks into, with the job, the ending and the time budget for each.
The Swipe File
Openings and closings that work, with the reason each one works.
Worked examples
Fifteen talks, taken apart line by line.
The method is easy to agree with and hard to execute. So you get whole talks written out word for word, with the reasoning in the margin and an honest clock down the side.
One story, cut four ways
One founder story runs through the course. You see the deep version, then the same story cut four ways, with a note on every change and why the room’s job forced it. A second example does the same with a small, personal story.
The standalone talks
Three complete talks, timed below. A deliberately bad pitch, rebuilt so you can hear the difference. Plus teardowns of four talks you already know.
Three of the talks, at speaking pace
Every runtime comes from the word count at a real speaking rate.
Who this is from
Aaron C. Leaman.
I work in high-stakes communication. Founders raising first-of-a-kind capital. Teams walking into rooms where the decision gets made in twenty minutes and there is no second attempt.
I founded Brighter Future, which works on complex problems across stakeholders, pitches and raises. I co-founded The Decision Room, a closed-door capital convening in Zürich. Before any of that I made documentary films, which is where I learned that a true story told plainly beats a polished one.
This course is the method underneath all of it, written down in full. If you would rather we did the work on the material behind a consequential decision, that is the Belief Gap Diagnosis.
Questions
Before you start.
Is it free?
Yes. The whole course, every tool and every worked example. You enter your email once to open it.
What happens to my email?
It tells me who is taking the course, and I will write when new material lands. Ask me and I will delete it.
Where is my writing saved?
In your browser, on your device. Nothing you write in the course is sent anywhere. Download a copy whenever you like, and use the same browser to pick up where you left off.
Is there video?
No. It is a written course. Each lesson is a few minutes of reading.
I only need to pitch investors. Is the rest wasted?
The pitch cut is one of four and it sits in Module 6. Everything before it builds the source the pitch gets cut from, which is the part most pitch training skips. Founders end up on stages they did not plan for, so the keynote and speech material gets used eventually.
How long does it take?
Thirty minutes gets you a skeleton. Two to four focused hours gets you a talk you can rehearse. Working through all seven modules properly takes a few weeks alongside a job.
Why does it say beta?
The course is new and still being tested by its first learners. Every lesson, tool and example is there. If something does not work, use Report a problem at the foot of any page and it comes straight to me.
Do I need a finished story to start?
No. Module 2 is where you write it, badly and fast, in three hundred words. The whole course assumes you are starting with a mess.