HBC · Project Brain
HBC company brain: first principles, business basics, brand system, product readiness, and activation plans. Austin is now treated as a city activation module — useful, but not the core brain.
Milestones
First principles · business basics · then activation
- Core brain is the company foundation: what HBC is, who it serves, why it exists, and what the first product must do.
- Business basics are required before launch pressure: logo, brand kit, voice, offer, trust rules, legal/ops basics, and product truth.
- Austin is a city activation module, not the company strategy. It should sit under activation after the core foundation is set.
Business basics checklist
foundation before activationBrand kit
- Logo / wordmark
- App icon + favicon
- Color palette
- Typography
- Photography / visual direction
- Social templates
Company basics
- Name: HBC
- Expansion: Hot Body Concierge vs Coach
- One-line description
- Domain / phone / support identity
- Pricing anchor
- Ownership of Vasari vs HBC architecture
Trust + ops
- What HBC can promise now
- What is explicitly not live yet
- Clinical guardrails
- Privacy / data posture
- Tester consent + feedback loop
- Manual concierge fallback
First-principles order
- 1. Define the company: what HBC is, who it serves, why it wins, what it refuses to be.
- 2. Package the brand: logo, visual system, voice, core claims, and trust posture.
- 3. Align the product: first tester flow, SMS behavior, stack experience, and product truth.
- 4. Then activate cities: Austin is one activation playbook, not the core strategy.
Right now — first principles
Top of the page on purpose — if it is not here, it is not happening before the next tester touches HBC.
This sprint
- 🔴 Reset to company basics — logo, brand kit, voice, core offer, trust posture, and product truth before activation.
- 🟡 Move Austin down — keep it as a city activation module, not the core brain.
- 🟡 Define HBC precisely — concierge vs coach, who it serves, what it does in the first interaction, what it refuses to overclaim.
- 🟡 Package the brand — mark, palette, typography, visual language, copy rules, starter social/landing assets.
- ✅ Then test product — 2–3 private testers only after the basics and tester path are clear.
Open / blocked
- Logo / wordmark — not finalized.
- Brand kit — needs first version before public-facing motion.
- Positioning hierarchy — HBC, Vasari, Vasari Health, and city activation need clean separation.
- Product truth — what is live now vs manual vs coming soon must be explicit.
Brand kit + positioning
core business basicsCEO recommendation
Before launch or city activation, HBC needs a usable brand kit and a clear company foundation.
The brand should make HBC feel like a stylish, trusted, text-first body concierge — not a generic health app, not a clinical program, and not just an Austin class guide.
North-star promise
Text your body goal, city, schedule, and preferences. HBC replies with what to book, eat, recover with, and run as a stack — starting today.
Brand line to explore: Send the goal. Get the move.
Positioning: HBC is national and SMS-first. Austin is an activation chapter, not the brand definition.
Logo / identity
- HBC wordmark
- Small icon/monogram
- App icon + favicon
- Light/dark usage
- Do-not-use examples
Brand system
- Primary/secondary palette
- Typography stack
- Photography direction
- Card/social templates
- Website component tone
Messaging system
- One-liner
- Who it is for
- What HBC does now
- What is coming later
- Claims and trust guardrails
Claims guardrail
brand trust before hypeCredible now
- SMS-first concierge conversation
- Meal/photo logging
- Oura + selected source connections
- Portal / first-stack readout
- Product guidance + shop
- Human/Hermes-curated recommendations
Do not overclaim yet
- Live class inventory or “3 spots left”
- Automatic class booking
- Fully shareable/runnable stack marketplace
- Apple Health / Whoop / Garmin / Strava live
- Live Rx/lab/pharmacy fulfillment
- Fully automated City Health Graph
Brand kit v0 deliverables
Website →Product readiness gates
Readout metrics →Pre-test check
- Invite path works
- SMS entry works
- Portal/stack link known
- Fallback manual ops ready
First request
- 2–3 testers
- One real ask each
- Specific first reply
- No vague coaching
Stack alignment
- One proposed stack
- Why this stack
- Today’s move
- Clear text action
Readout
- 5-question feedback
- Fix list
- More testers?
- Launch still paused?
City activation module — Austin
not core brainAustin activation boundary
- Downtown / 2nd Street / Rainey
- South Congress / Travis Heights / Bouldin
- Zilker / Barton Springs / South Lamar
- East Austin / Holly / East 6th
- Clarksville / West 6th / Lamar
| Category | Seed nodes |
|---|---|
| Fitness | [solidcore], Urban Lagree, ToddPilates, CorePower, Black Swan, Barry’s, Rumble, LOVE Cycling, Castle Hill, Lift ATX, Crux |
| Outdoor | Barton Springs, Lady Bird Lake, Deep Eddy, Zilker, Texas Rowing Center |
| Recovery | Restore, sauna/cold plunge, milk + honey, Viva Day Spa, StretchLab |
| Food | Flower Child, True Food, Honest Mary’s, Picnik, JuiceLand, sweetgreen, CAVA, Snap Kitchen |
Activation stacks
Austin examples; core stack doctrine stays nationalStack UI + experience
needs product sprintToday’s best move
Book Sculpt or Lagree this morning. Protein after. Recovery walk tonight.
Plan
Class
Pick Solidcore/Sculpt if you want body comp; classical Pilates if sore.
Post-class protein
25–35g protein within 90 minutes. HBC can suggest nearby options.
Recovery
Zone 2 walk or sauna/cold plunge depending on sleep and soreness.
Text action
“Run this tomorrow” · “Swap class” · “Send food options” · “I booked it”
Experience principle
A stack should feel like a beautiful recipe that starts doing work by text — not a dashboard, program, checklist, or generic habit tracker.
The first stack moment should answer: what is my goal, what happens today, why this move, and what do I text next?
Current product truth
- Current portal `Stack` is a read-only timeline of recent signals filtered by Fitness/Nutrition/Longevity.
- `/portal/first-stack` reuses the same stack UI and redirects to login if no member session exists.
- There is no real stack template / user stack / share link / runnable protocol model yet.
- Empty first-stack is common because it needs real signals; onboarding answers are not yet projected into the stack.
Wave 1 stack MVP
- Starter stack seeded from onboarding: goal, city, constraints, schedule, check-in time.
- Protocol view: outcome, today’s move, 3–5 steps, why HBC picked it, text actions.
- SMS-first control: start, swap, confirm, pause, ask why — all from text.
- Concierge provenance: sources/details stay in drawer, not on the surface.
- Stack accept moment: “Want me to run this for 3 days?” yes/no.
Stack experience flow
from intent → action → repeatUser texts: “Leaner by July. Austin. Mornings. Pilates + strength. Gluten-free.”
Capture city + goal + constraints with minimal friction.
HBC proposes 1 stack: Pilates Lean, Travel De-Bloat, Sunday Reset, etc.
Do not show a catalog before the user sees one useful pick.
HBC gives today’s class/food/recovery recommendation and a backup.
This is the magic moment, not the dashboard.
User accepts: “Run it.” HBC texts check-ins and adapts around soreness, travel, meals, and schedule.
Protocol behavior can be manual/Hermes-operated for Wave 1.
After 72 hours, HBC asks usefulness + repeat/disappearance test.
Use answers to decide what stack becomes productized first.
Three UI prototypes to test
pick by Day 3 user feedbackRecipe Card
One beautiful stack card: goal, steps, timing, “run this” CTA. Best for social/shareability.
Today Board
Today’s best move + next two actions. Best for activation and SMS follow-through.
Thread Companion
A visual receipt of what HBC is already doing in the text thread. Best for “no app habit.”
Fix first
- Magic-auth first-stack link
- Seed starter stack from onboarding
- Persist city/location context
Build next
- Minimal stack template model
- User stack state: proposed/running/paused
- Reminder/check-in schedule
Later
- Shareable/remixable stacks
- Automated city graph matching
- Availability/booking integrations
Private testing + SMS proof
product readinessTester pool
- 2–3 people maximum this week
- People who will text back quickly and give blunt feedback
- One wellness/fitness-adjacent user
- One busy operator/traveler use case
- Optional wildcard outside the wellness bubble
Invite line: “I’m tightening HBC before any launch. Can you test one real request this week and be brutally honest about where the experience is useful or confusing?”
Schedule + readout
Project Brain home| When | Milestone | Target | Track |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before test | Product readiness check | Invite/SMS/stack/fallback path understood | Product |
| Tester 1 | First useful interaction | One real request, specific reply, 5-question feedback | UX |
| Tester 2–3 | Repeat the loop | Compare confusion, perceived magic, and next-action clarity | Signal |
| After tests | Alignment readout | Fix list, readiness decision, whether to invite more users | CEO |
Use
- Body concierge
- Wellness concierge
- What I’d book
- Stacks / protocols
Avoid
- Diagnosis
- Treatment claims
- Guaranteed weight loss
- Medical coaching as lead
Verify
- Class times
- Booking URLs
- Pricing
- Injury/medical complexity → professional guidance