When talking about what they offer, people often focus on the features of the product (what it does) and not how it connects with their clients or investors (why they should care). This deck shows how to build skill and confidence in speaking purposefully and passionately about your product or service using the tools of story. Speaking in this structured way builds empathy between you and your audience. Story is not just about finding ways of talking about your past but is a powerful tool to inspire people to show them your ideal future in a way that they buy into it.

1. Story for Startups
Rob Grundel / Somekind
@robgrundel / @somekindxstory

2. @somekindxstory#storyforstartups
Me

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Why Do We Tell Stories?
• Education
• Teaching
• Entertainment
• Communicating
• Building Empathy
• Leading
• Sharing purpose
• Sharing values

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How Story Works - Psychology
• As a story begins the brain of the teller is lit up, the
listener not
• As the story progresses, if it is told well, the same parts
of the get lit up
• The idea contained in the story is transferred to the
listener but mapped on to their own experiences and
biases

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How Story Works - Evolution
• Imagine the first stories told 60-40,000 years ago
• The best ones, or the best parts get told on
• Builds culture

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– Salman Rushdie
“Those who do not have power over the story
that dominates their lives, the power to retell
it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and
change it as times change, truly are
powerless, because they cannot think new
thoughts”

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How Can Startups Use Story?
• Leading
• Building
• Branding/Marketing
• Pitching
• Hiring
• Strategy

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Where Can Stories Be Set?
• Past
• Present
• Future

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Structures
• 3 Acts
• 5 Acts
• Hero’s Journey
• Story Spine

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How Are Business Stories Different?
• Open vs Closed
• Implicit vs Explicit Call to Action
• Me to We

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Types of Business Stories
• The personal / founder story
• The pride / what we do story
• The future story
• The behaviour change / best practice story
• The empathy / who our customers are story

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–Steve Jobs
“ To me marketing is about values. This is a
very complicated world, it's a very noisy world,
and we're not going to get a chance to get
people to remember very much about us —
no company is. So we have to be very clear
about what we want them to know about us.”

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What Is Your Culture Around Story
• Who are the characters?
• What is the goal?
• What are your values?
• Who is telling your stories?
• Where do your stories come from?

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Audience
• Who are you trying to reach?
• What stories to they have?
• Where do you want to get them to?

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How Do You Tell Your Story?
• Audience
• Place
• Time
• Show Don’t Tell
• What’s at Stake?

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How to find a “good” story
• Relatable
• Vulnerable
• Has a “gleaming detail”
• Has a lot a stake
• BUT, not always the best story, but the right story

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Tips for Sharing Your Story
• Create Space
• Breathe
• Only tell one story to make a certain point
• Be aware of your context / connect yourself to it
• Get in late / get out early

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Stuff to Read
• Do Story / Bobette Buster
• Tell to Win / Peter Guber
• Story / Robert McKee
• Secret to Leadership / Steve Denning
• Seven Basic Plots / Christopher Brooker

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Stuff to Watch
• Simon Sinek / How Great Leaders Inspire Action
• Steve Jobs / 1984 Ad Introduction
• JFK / What You Can Do For Your Country?