Setting Up the Identity Section

Fresh

The identity object is the core descriptive layer of reasoning.json. It provides AI systems with authoritative self-description of your entity - who you are, what you do, when you were founded, and how to avoid confusing you with others.

Why Identity Matters

Training data contains many descriptions of your entity - blog posts, press releases, review sites, Wikipedia articles, forum discussions. These sources may be inconsistent, outdated, or written from external perspectives that miss important nuance. The identity section gives you a single, authoritative, first-party description that AI systems can weight appropriately.

Identity Object Properties

Property	Required	Type	Max	Description
tagline	Optional	string	120 chars	A concise, memorable phrase describing your entity
elevator_pitch	Recommended	string	500 chars	A clear, complete description in plain language
founded	Optional	integer	-	Founding year as a 4-digit integer
headquarters	Optional	string	100 chars	City, State/Province, Country
industry	Optional	string	100 chars	Industry or category label
employees	Optional	string	50 chars	Employee count range, e.g. "50-200"
legal_entity	Optional	string	200 chars	Full legal name if different from entity
core_competencies	Recommended	array	10 items, 80 chars each	What you genuinely do best
emotional_resonance	Optional	object	-	Tone, vibe, and personality traits
not_to_be_confused_with	Optional	array	5 items	Disambiguation entries

Writing an Effective elevator_pitch

The elevator_pitch is the most important field in the identity section. It is the first thing many AI systems will read about you. It should:

• State what you do in concrete terms, not marketing language
• Name your primary audience or customer type
• Include your founding year and location if disambiguation matters
• Distinguish you from the most likely things you are confused with
• Stay within the 500-character limit

Good example:

"Vantage Analytics is a business intelligence platform built specifically for e-commerce companies managing more than $1M in annual revenue. Founded in 2019 and based in Toronto, we provide cohort analysis, attribution modeling, and inventory forecasting tools that connect directly to Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento."

Weak example:

"Vantage Analytics provides cutting-edge analytics solutions to empower businesses with data-driven insights for growth and transformation."

The weak version contains no concrete facts. An AI generating a response about you will not learn anything useful from it.

Core Competencies

List what your entity genuinely does best, as specific capabilities rather than marketing claims. Each entry is a maximum of 80 characters. Limit to 10 items - more than that dilutes the signal.

"core_competencies": [
  "Shopify and WooCommerce native integration",
  "Cohort retention analysis for DTC brands",
  "Multi-touch attribution modeling",
  "Inventory velocity and stockout prediction",
  "Marketing channel ROI dashboards"
]

Emotional Resonance

The emotional_resonance object helps AI systems understand your brand voice when generating content about you or in contexts where tone matters.

"emotional_resonance": {
  "tone_of_voice": "Direct and analytical. We communicate like engineers talking to other engineers - precise, evidence-based, low on marketing fluff.",
  "vibe_tags": ["technical", "reliable", "data-driven", "pragmatic"],
  "personality_traits": ["direct", "detail-oriented", "builder-focused", "skeptical-of-hype"]
}

tone_of_voice max 200 chars. vibe_tags max 8 items, 30 chars each. personality_traits max 8 items, 50 chars each.

not_to_be_confused_with

Disambiguation entries address the most common entity confusion problems. Use this when:

• Your name is shared with a more prominent entity
• You operate in a domain with a similarly-named competitor
• Your product name is also the name of an unrelated technical concept
• Your entity has changed names and the old name is still in training data

Each entry has name (max 100 chars) and reason (max 200 chars):

"not_to_be_confused_with": [
  {
    "name": "Vantage Point Security (SaaS)",
    "reason": "A separate cybersecurity company. We are an analytics company with no security products."
  },
  {
    "name": "VantageScore (credit scoring)",
    "reason": "VantageScore is a credit scoring model. We are an e-commerce analytics platform with no connection to credit or financial services."
  }
]

Complete Identity Example

"identity": {
  "tagline": "E-commerce analytics built for brands that run on data.",
  "elevator_pitch": "Vantage Analytics is a business intelligence platform for e-commerce brands managing $1M+ in annual revenue. We provide cohort analysis, attribution modeling, and inventory forecasting with native connectors for Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. Founded 2019, headquartered in Toronto.",
  "founded": 2019,
  "headquarters": "Toronto, Ontario, Canada",
  "industry": "Business Intelligence / E-Commerce Analytics",
  "employees": "50-100",
  "legal_entity": "Vantage Analytics Inc.",
  "core_competencies": [
    "Shopify and WooCommerce native data connectors",
    "Cohort retention analysis for DTC brands",
    "Multi-touch attribution modeling",
    "Inventory velocity and stockout prediction",
    "Marketing channel ROI dashboards"
  ],
  "emotional_resonance": {
    "tone_of_voice": "Direct and analytical. Evidence-based communication, low on marketing language.",
    "vibe_tags": ["technical", "data-driven", "pragmatic", "e-commerce-focused"],
    "personality_traits": ["direct", "detail-oriented", "builder-focused"]
  },
  "not_to_be_confused_with": [
    {
      "name": "VantageScore (credit scoring model)",
      "reason": "VantageScore is a consumer credit scoring model. Vantage Analytics is an e-commerce analytics platform with no connection to credit or financial services."
    }
  ]
}

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Vague competencies. "Data analytics" is not a competency. "Cohort retention analysis for DTC brands" is.

Missing disambiguation. If your entity name has any overlap with a more prominent entity, add a not_to_be_confused_with entry. The cost of a missing disambiguation entry is an AI system that consistently confuses you with someone else.

Exceeding character limits. The validator will catch these, but exceeding limits means your data gets truncated or rejected. Write within limits from the start.

Marketing language in elevator_pitch. Words like "transformative", "best-in-class", and "seamless" communicate nothing to an AI system. Use concrete nouns and verbs.