Microsoft · Technical customer storytelling
Turning a founder interviewinto a .NET story.
How I connected BurnRate’s business problem to its technology decisions and shaped the interview into a narrative for developers and business readers.
The goal
Make the technology matter
Microsoft wanted a story showing how a startup used .NET and Blazor to solve a demanding technical problem. It had to give developers enough substance to respect the choices while helping broader business readers understand why those choices mattered.
I helped identify BurnRate as the customer, conducted the founder interview, framed and wrote the narrative, and worked with design partners on the finished presentation.
Editorial decision 01
Find the business problem first
Founder Robert McLaws was not choosing technology in the abstract. He was building a system to help companies make more disciplined revenue and headcount decisions. The application needed reliable calculations, an interface that could handle complex scenarios, and a development model a lean team could maintain.
That business problem became the narrative spine. The story established what BurnRate was trying to make possible and why the stakes were high before it introduced product proof.
Editorial decision 02
Turn technical choices into a sequence
The interview contained several threads: financial calculations, C#, .NET Core, testing, front-end performance, Blazor, open-source tools, and continuous delivery. I organized them as a decision path.
The sequence made the story legible to a non-specialist without stripping away the technical reasoning developers would care about.
Editorial decision 03
Use quotes as evidence
The strongest quotes did more than praise Microsoft. They revealed the founder’s standards, frustration, or decision logic. I selected quotes that explained why reliability mattered, what the earlier front-end approach could not handle, and why using C# across the stack changed the team’s work.
Product proof feels earned only after the reader understands the problem.
Reusable system
Build a repeatable interview process
I created a reusable customer-story brief with questions designed to surface the business problem, technical constraint, alternatives considered, reason for the final choice, evidence of change, and detail needed for a credible narrative.
The brief was created as a shared starting point for future stories. Claims about wider adoption require additional documentation.
Published output
BurnRate is fueling revenue success with Blazor
The completed customer story remains published on Microsoft’s .NET customer site.
Read the published BurnRate story