Caitlin Roberson
cr@clearww.com
HOWTO
PITCH INVESTORS,
INSPIRETEAMS &
‘BEST-FRIEND’
YOUR CUSTOMERS

StakeholderResults
Company Growth
Category
creation
FOUNDERS START COMPANIES
TO IMPROVE SOMETHING

THEIRVISION INSPIRES
ACTION.
1.Why the company exists
2.What’s different/better
3.What action to take
4.Why now

BUT BUILDING COMPANIES
CREATES PRESSURE.
Investors
Partners
Media
Customers
Board
Team
ProspectsCompetitors
?*#!
!#?*
Conflicting priorities d i l u t e results.
#?!*

INCONSISTENT RESULTS
INDICATE…
Seed
Storytellingeffectiveness
Growth
Venture
Pre-seed
Company growth
Maturity

Sales
Marketing
Ops
Product
HR
Engineering
…A METHODOLOGY PROBLEM.

STORY GONE WRONG
- VCs say no
-Star performers leave
-Low morale
-Poor Glassdoor reviews
-Partners under-deliver
-Customers churn
-G2Crowd says what?!
Leading Indicator
How consistently
does your team describe
vision & mission?

Results
CXO buyers
at odds
New tagline,
Analyst category
Gartner Magic
Quadrant
Master asset
IPO
Year 1 2 3
SALESVS. FINANCE
Enterprise software, Series F

REIMAGINEYOUR APPROACH
Start with
founders
Have
customer
convos
Build
scalable
architecture

WHAT IS STORY?
Point A Point B
Help,
wolf!
I’ll never
lie again!
x

BUSINESS STORYTELLING
Point A Point B
???
6.8
people!

3 STEPS: HOWYOU CAN…
• Distill your personal purpose into company values,
vision & mission, and tagline
• Design an category creating narrative
• Build lasting relationships withVCs and customers
• Teach your team to tell the same inspired story

PHASE 1:
DEFINE PURPOSE
START WITH THE FOUNDERS

Consumer product, pre-seed
ATALE OFTWO SISTERS

Taran Ghatrora, CEO

Bunny Ghatrora, COO

Organic tampons

VALUES EXERCISE
1. What do you remember most about childhood?
2. What events shaped you in adolescence?
3. What were your family’s happiest times?
4. What are your most painful memories?
5. What experiences shaped you in college
6. Early career?

VALUES EXERCISE
1. It is important for me be BE…
2. It is important for me to be KNOWN AS…
3. It is important for me to DO…
4. It is important for me to HAVE…

WHAT WORDS STAND OUT?

DISTILL RECURRENTTHEMES

HALLMARKS
OF INSPIREDVALUES
• Limit to <3-5
• Use surprising words & pairings
• Offer tangible concepts that people visualize
• Form the character fabric of your company
• Can be used as evergreen, guiding principles

—Jon Miller, Cofounder & CEO
“Consider couplets.”
“After Marketo:10 Things I’m Doing Better The Second Time”
Presented @ SaaSter Annual 2017: ScaleTogether
With Doug Pepper, Managing Director @ ShastaVentures

NEXT STEPS
• For ~7 days, record when you experienced [your word]
• Compare notes with cofounders, execs, family
• Flesh out values by describing experiences
• Cut word count to 25% (1-3 sentences)
• Same principles apply from previous slide

PHASE 2:
VERIFY ‘WHY’
HAVE CUSTOMER CONVOS

— Zig Ziglar
“Logic tells, emotion sells.”

SELECT CUSTOMERS
• Pareto Principle applies
• So does Account-Based Marketing
• Understand “jobs to be done”
• Ask standard questions & improvise
(Record & transcribe)

MATCH PRODUCTS &
PROOF POINTS

Email cr@clearww.com for template.
MESH & DOCUMENT ‘VOICE’
• Addresses tone, grammar logistics, content UX,
variance by content type, and more

EXERCISE
• Vision: Timeless statement of the world you see
• Mission: Timely statement of what you do to
deliver on your vision
• Brand Promise: Indicates vision & what you do
(eg: mission) for customers
• Positioning: Articulates where you fit into market,
general guidelines, not industry specific like GTM

MARQUISTAGLINES
Just do it Think different No software

TAGLINE BEST PRACTICES
• Short: 2-3 words, excise adjectives
• Thinks: Start with a command verb
• Feels: Imply purpose with noun
Seriously, this is going to take a while.

Care on purpose.

PHASE 3:
REFINE CORE NARRATIVE
BUILD SCALABLE ARCHITECTURE

6 COMMON MISTAKES
1. No purpose… on purpose? (Values)
2. All about you & your features (Hero)
3. Immediately pitches a solution (Sequence)
4. Lacks third-party proof (Proof)
5. Inconsistent journey, relationship (Scalable)
6. Leaves listeners hanging (Actionable)

MESSAGING BEST PRACTICES
• 5 Feels
• 10% Rule
• Real people language (usually from customers)
• Consistent story and tone (3-7X to trust)

STORYTELLINGTHAT SELLS
1. (Who are you/your
company?)
2. (Who is your audience?)
3. How does s/he current
understand, approach what
she needs to do?
4. Where & why do existing
approaches fail?
5. What data, anecdotes, proof
points back that up? (Impact)
6. What are requirements for a
new approach?
7. How can s/he execute a new
approach? (Crawl, walk, run)
8. What milestones & outcomes
can s/he expect? When?
9. What proof of benefits exist?
10. What can s/he do next?

PITCH DECK
Intro As-Is
Why existing
approach fails New
Requirements
Solution
How it
works
Proof Next
steps
(AUDIENCE
PROFILE)
DIFFERENTIATORS PRODUCT
[CATEGORY]
MATURITY
CUSTOMER
STORIES
Proof
STATS,
QUOTES

STORYTELLING PROGRAM
CXOs
Formal
sharing
Culture
Incorporate in
process
Certification
Measure
personalization
• Assets already mentioned + bios and 25, 50, 100 word value
statements
• Source materials: Company overview, one pager, customer stories

DESIGN MASTER ASSETS

MEASURETHE JOURNEY

Proof this works?

WHAT DOES AMAZONVALUE?
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.

WHAT DOES AMAZONVALUE?
Relentless customer focus
Thinking longterm
Bold investments
Measurement
Lean culture
Stock > cash

SUMMARY: STORY SWAGGER
1. Define purpose (Values)
2. Target an audience (Hero)
3. Educate, solve a problem (Sequence)
4. Provide proof (Proof)
5. Create relationship (Scalable)
6. Offer a clear next step (Actionable)

TIPPING POINTSStorytellingeffectiveness
Company growth
Visionary founders,
new approach
Purpose
Customers
Scalable
architecture
Business
outcomes

Caitlin Roberson: cr@clearww.com
Thanks!
& Conversation