# Stripe Brand Voice

> Highly technical, direct, and action-oriented, speaking to developers as peers with candid insights and precise instructions.

## Positioning
Stripe Dot Dev is a technical resource hub designed for software engineers and technical founders. It provides practical guides, engineering insights, and community support for building web and mobile applications that handle payments and business operations.

## Voice principles
- **Action-led:** Start instructions and navigation with strong, imperative verbs (Build, Ship, Explore, Accept).
- **Unapologetically technical:** Use precise engineering terminology (init, deploy, Terraform, SDKs) without diluting the message for non-technical audiences.
- **Candidly experienced:** Frame blog and video content around real-world friction, opinions, and practical solutions (e.g., acknowledging when things fail or get stale).
- **Direct and routing-focused:** Keep support and help copy strictly functional, telling users exactly where to go for what they need.

## Tone by context
| Context | Tone |
|---|---|
| Hero/Intro | Instructional, comprehensive, and benefit-driven. |
| Blog/Video Titles | Conversational, opinionated, and narrative. |
| Navigation/Actions | Imperative, brief, and highly structured. |
| Support/Help | Direct, helpful, and community-oriented. |

## Lexicon
- **Use:** Build, ship, deploy, init, terminal, production-ready, SDK, API, changelog, workflows, agents.
- **Avoid:** Fluffy marketing adjectives (seamless, revolutionary, synergistic), enterprise jargon (solutions, paradigms).

## Messaging do's and don'ts
**Do:**
- Address the developer directly and informally (your docs, your terminal).
- Focus on the tangible end result (accept payments, ship a Stripe app).
- Acknowledge technical realities and friction points (failing, stale, zero crypto knowledge required).
- Start actionable guides with strong verbs (Learn, Get started, Explore).

**Don't:**
- Hide technical details behind vague marketing copy.
- Overcomplicate simple routing instructions.
- Use passive voice for user actions.
- Talk down to the reader or over-explain basic development concepts.

## Evidence
- "Welcome to Stripe Dot Dev"
- "Learn how to build web and mobile applications to accept payments, send payouts, and manage your business online with Stripe."
- "Your agent is failing because your docs are stale"
- "From init to deploy: building with agents and Stripe Projects"
- "Provision a production-ready dev stack from your terminal"
- "Ship a Stripe App"
- "Get started with Payments"
- "The Stripe Discord is good for getting quick answers from the community."