In mid-2020, at the height of Covid and cancel culture, a small team of five founders moved into a converted condominium office with a bold vision: create an app that would unite Americans around traditional values, connecting them to community, information, and products that aligned with their convictions.
Voices were being silenced on social media. Trusted information channels were fractured. Families were looking for alternatives. The leadership of Public Square believed they had the answer—but their strategy lagged behind their ambition.
They had raised enough money to start, but the plan for growth was small: use traditional pay-per-click advertising to drive traffic to a website and slowly acquire users. The problem wasn’t just tactical—it was existential. They weren’t asking, “How do we build an app?” The real question was, “How do we build a movement?”
Prophetic partnered with the founding team to reframe everything. The envisioning process pushed them to stop thinking like an app startup and start thinking like a cultural movement.
Key questions guided the breakthrough:
• What if Public Square positioned itself as the central hub of a values-led economy?
• Who already carries influence with the very audience we need to reach?
• How do we craft a story that unites consumers, businesses, and cultural leaders under a single banner?
The answers weren’t in banner ads or PPC campaigns. They were in relationships with influential voices already shaping culture. Through our Envisioning sessions, it became clear: dozens of trusted leaders across media, podcasts, and grassroots communities were already asking for exactly what Public Square was building.
Instead of paying for clicks, we would partner with people.
Together, we authored a narrative that positioned Public Square as more than a marketplace. It was a grassroots community pushing back against censorship, giving voice to a previously ununited silent majority.
Prophetic’s strategy transformed Public Square’s trajectory:
• Storyline & Identity: Crafted a values-first narrative around identity, belonging, and conviction—not just features.
• Influencer Partnerships: Shifted from digital ads to an influencer and movement-led growth strategy, fueling exponential adoption.
• Investor & Partner Narrative: Authored a story that attracted significant capital, credibility, and high-profile advocates.
• Platform for Leadership: Elevated CEO Michael Seifert into a voice for the movement, securing appearances on major podcasts and news programs nationwide.
As adoption grew, Prophetic also helped incubate and launch brand extensions born from user data:
• EveryLife: A values-aligned diaper company, created after moms on the app searched for alternatives to mainstream brands.
• Eeden: A feminine care brand designed to celebrate womanhood, in a moment when much of the industry was redefining it.
Public Square didn’t just grow an app. It birthed an ecosystem.
The results were profound:
• Public Square became one of the fastest-growing values-driven platforms in America.
• The narrative authored in Envisioning fueled two years of momentum that culminated in a successful IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.
• The company executed the largest SPAC of 2023, cementing legitimacy and attracting unprecedented grassroots investment.
• Unlike typical IPOs dominated by mega-investors, Public Square’s Day One was marked by hundreds of thousands of small transactions—ordinary families investing hundreds or thousands of dollars each. The people the platform served became its owners.
What began as five founders in a condo became the flagbearer of a values-led marketplace.
By reframing the challenge from “build an app” to “ignite a movement,” Prophetic helped Public Square transform from a startup idea into a cultural phenomenon. Today it stands not just as a platform, but as the hub of a new American economy—built by the people, for the people, with conviction at its core.
The story of Public Square proves the power of Envisioning. When you lift your eyes from tactics to destiny, you don’t just build a company. You build a legacy that shifts culture.