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Origins Service Agreement

The 5ifth Floor | Origins Engagement

1. Parties

This Agreement is entered into by and between:

Service Provider: The 5ifth Floor, a story architecture studio and Delaware limited liability company ("The 5ifth Floor," "we," "us").

Client: The individual or organization identified in the signature block below ("Client," "you").

Together referred to as the "Parties."

The Client represents and warrants that it is entering into this Agreement in a commercial capacity, as a business entity or individual operating in a professional or commercial context, and not as a consumer for purposes of any applicable consumer protection statute.

2. Scope of Services

The 5ifth Floor will deliver the complete Origins system, comprising four named components. Each component is explicitly labeled within the final deliverable:

→ The Anchor: the core narrative kernel that grounds all communications, positioning, and strategic decisions.

→ Decision Deployment: the operational narrative layer that aligns internal decision-making with the founding story.

→ Capital Deployment: the investor and funding narrative layer, translating the story into the language of opportunity and return.

→ People Deployment: the audience and recruitment narrative layer, identifying and activating the people the story is built to reach.

All four components are delivered as a single, complete, integrated document in PDF format. The final deliverable is designed to be used as-is; it is not an editable template. Length varies by client and engagement and is not guaranteed to meet any minimum page or word count.

Delivery includes initial completion and one (1) round of revisions per component. Additional revision rounds beyond this scope are not included.

2.1 Discovery Session

The engagement includes one (1) Discovery Session of two (2) hours. This session is the primary source from which the Origins system is built. The Discovery Session is scheduled by the Client and marks the official commencement of practitioner work.

2.2 Client Responsibility for Accuracy

The accuracy and completeness of the Origins system depends entirely on the accuracy and completeness of information provided by the Client. The Client is responsible for ensuring all intake materials and all information provided during the Discovery Session are truthful, complete, and current. The 5ifth Floor builds from what the Client provides. If the Client provides inaccurate, incomplete, or materially misleading information, the resulting deliverable reflects that, and The 5ifth Floor is not responsible for revisions necessitated by Client-provided errors or omissions.

3. Performance Guarantees

The 5ifth Floor stands behind five guarantees that govern the quality and durability of the work. These guarantees are binding commitments, not marketing language. Each guarantee has a defined objective threshold that activates it. Subjective preference, including but not limited to aesthetic disagreement, change in direction, stakeholder opinion, or personal taste, does not activate any guarantee. Guarantees are triggered by verifiable, documented conditions only.

3.1 No Churn Guarantee

"If the work we build doesn't remain relevant and usable for at least 18 months, we re-tool it at zero cost."

What activates this guarantee: A specific component of the Origins system has become factually inaccurate or structurally inapplicable within 18 months of delivery due to a documented external change, such as a market shift, a company pivot, a category evolution, or a material change in the Client's business that was not foreseeable at the time of engagement. The Client must identify the specific component, the specific change that caused the failure, and demonstrate that the component can no longer perform its function as delivered.

What does not activate this guarantee: The Client prefers a different approach. Aesthetic direction has changed. A stakeholder gave negative feedback. The Client "doesn't like it anymore." Internal organizational changes that the Client chose to make. The component is being used less because of deployment decisions, not because the work itself became irrelevant.

Expiration and Claim Deadline: The triggering failure must occur within eighteen (18) months of delivery of the final Origins system, as described above. Claims must be submitted in writing within thirty (30) days of the Client identifying the triggering failure. Claims submitted more than twenty-four (24) months after delivery are not eligible.

3.2 The "It's True" Guarantee

"When you hear your Anchor for the first time, you'll recognize it as something you've always known. If you don't say 'that's what I've been trying to say,' we haven't finished."

What activates this guarantee: The Client identifies specific language, claims, or framing in the Anchor that directly contradict positions the Client expressed in intake materials or during the Discovery Session. The test is documentary, not emotional: the Client must cite the specific Anchor passage and the specific intake or Discovery Session record it contradicts, demonstrating that The 5ifth Floor introduced content that conflicts with what the Client actually stated. The 5ifth Floor reviews both sources as part of the claim assessment.

What does not activate this guarantee: The Client prefers different word choices. A specific phrase sounds awkward. The tone doesn't match expectations. The Client feels the language could be stronger. The Client didn't realize what they truly believed until after delivery. Any feedback that amounts to aesthetic preference, evolved thinking, or a desire for a different angle, rather than a documentable conflict between the Anchor and the Client's stated positions on record.

Expiration: This guarantee expires twelve (12) months after delivery of the final Origins system. Claims submitted after this window are not eligible.

3.3 The "First Room" Guarantee

"Your Anchor holds the first time you walk it into a room that matters: a board meeting, funder conversation, or pitch. If it collapses under pressure, we rework it. We don't deliver tools that only work in theory."

What activates this guarantee: The Client deployed the Anchor in a high-stakes context, such as a board meeting, investor meeting, or pitch, and the Anchor failed to communicate the core narrative to the audience. "Failed to communicate" means the audience did not understand what the organization does, who it is for, or why it exists, not because they were uninterested, declined to invest, or gave critical feedback on the business itself. The Client must submit a written account of the deployment within seventy-two (72) hours of the meeting, including: the date and format of the meeting, who was present (roles, not necessarily names), and a specific description of what questions or responses from the audience demonstrated that the core narrative did not land. Third-party written feedback is welcome but not required. The Client's own contemporaneous written account, submitted within the 72-hour window, is sufficient.

What does not activate this guarantee: The meeting did not go well for reasons unrelated to the Anchor. The audience was not the right fit. The Client improvised away from the Anchor in the room. The Client was underprepared or nervous. The investor or board passed on the opportunity. Outcomes such as funding secured, partnerships closed, or decisions made are not covered by this guarantee. Only the Anchor's communicative clarity is subject to it.

Expiration: This guarantee expires twelve (12) months after delivery of the final Origins system. Claims based on deployments occurring after this window are not eligible.

3.4 The "Anti-Maybe" Guarantee

"Your Anchor has to answer every major decision you bring to it with a clear yes or no. If it's giving you 'maybe,' it's not your Anchor yet."

What activates this guarantee: The Client brings a specific, real, documented decision to the Anchor, such as a partnership consideration, a hiring decision, a market expansion, or a product direction, and the Anchor cannot produce a clear directional answer. The decision must be submitted in writing. The 5ifth Floor and the Client will assess the Anchor's response to that specific decision together. If the Anchor genuinely cannot resolve the decision into a directional yes or no, the guarantee is triggered and The 5ifth Floor continues work on that component.

What does not activate this guarantee: The Client feels uncertain generally. The Anchor doesn't address a topic outside its designed scope (the Anchor governs narrative and identity decisions, not operational, financial, or legal ones). Feedback that the Anchor "feels ambiguous" without a specific decision test. A decision that is inherently ambiguous by nature and would resist resolution by any framework. The Client's own uncertainty about the decision itself.

Expiration: This guarantee expires twelve (12) months after delivery of the final Origins system. Claims submitted after this window are not eligible.

3.5 The "Compounding" Guarantee

"Every piece of work we build should be doing more for you 12 months from now than it is today. If it's not, we built decoration."

What activates this guarantee: At or after the 12-month mark from delivery, the Client can document, with specific evidence, that a component of the Origins system has become structurally less useful, less applicable, or less effective than it was at delivery, for reasons within The 5ifth Floor's control. "Within our control" means the foundational work, specifically the narrative architecture, the framing, and the story logic, has failed to hold. The 5ifth Floor reviews the documented evidence and makes the determination of whether the failure is attributable to the work or to deployment.

What does not activate this guarantee: The Client wants a refresh. The market has evolved in ways that were not predictable at the time of engagement. The Client has not deployed the work consistently. The work is being used less due to internal organizational choices, staff turnover, or strategic pivots the Client made after delivery. The Client believes the work could be better without identifying a specific structural failure.

Expiration: This guarantee expires twenty-four (24) months after delivery of the final Origins system, providing a minimum twelve (12)-month activation window following the required 12-month observation period. Claims submitted after this window are not eligible.

Guarantee Review Process

All guarantee claims must be submitted in writing to The 5ifth Floor by email to goingup@the5ifthfloor.com or by written delivery to 1617 Kendale Ave, Memphis, TN 38106. Upon receipt, The 5ifth Floor will acknowledge the claim within five (5) business days and schedule a review session within fifteen (15) business days.

The 5ifth Floor will conduct an initial assessment of whether the objective threshold has been met based on the criteria defined above and will share its assessment with the Client in writing within fifteen (15) business days of receiving the claim. If the Parties cannot agree on whether a guarantee threshold has been met within thirty (30) calendar days of the initial claim, the dispute resolution process in Section 12 governs.

Re-Work Cap. Re-work performed under any guarantee is capped at a combined total of thirteen (13) hours of practitioner time across all guarantees in a given engagement. This represents the full-engagement-fee equivalent at The 5ifth Floor's standard rate of $600 per hour, and aligns with the total liability cap in Section 9. Re-work does not reset or expand the original engagement scope. Once The 5ifth Floor has provided thirteen (13) hours of re-work across all guarantee claims in a given engagement, The 5ifth Floor's obligations under all guarantees are fully satisfied, regardless of any remaining guarantee terms.

Guarantees apply to the original Client and original engagement only. They are not transferable.