Why your story is Crucial for Startup Success 

Your timing of releasing content in topics that are our common challenges is perfect. Thank you and Phillip for this thoughtful and direct advice 🙋🏻‍♂️

Thanks for having me. Had lots of fun joining your video 😍

I recently attended a tech event ......and the best storyteller got funding

This will be a long comment but I think I have suggestions for the top 5 list that are worth hearing (sorry, Screenwriter here): 1) You wanna consider that your story will have a beginning, middle and end (as stupid as this sounds). This means that it will feel incomplete if you do not set up your situation, then show how you deal with it and resolve it with an end that shows how you (your company) went for a) to b). You want to make sure also that you deliver your "punch" or "twist" in the last 10-20% of your story so that it can build up suspense to this moment. Will turn out well or wouldn't it? Then you get the solution and don't linger on it for longer after that. In and out! 2) I can suggest using set up and pay off. You want to have something around in your beginning that towards the end saves you or gives you the clue you need etc. - to make an example: "I was aware that big Media Franchises were making all the money so I was a bit concerned about trying to make my TV show work because we did not have any Franchise attached. (Story then goes on about our trials until the final moment:) But then I realized, what if we would BUILD a franchise from the ground up? No creator had ever tried it but when I looked into it we found it was possible! Okay so - forgive the bullshit wording but notice how in the beginning I used the "Media Franchise" as a problem to overcome which wasnt really the focus (the TV show was the focus) but in the end I came full circle understanding that the obstacle was the way. Its quite useful to do something like that and happens I think a lot in start ups where it is about overcoming a problem and then offering the solution to others for a price. 3) To add to the elements of surprise tip: Surprise is quite useful but what I can honestly recommend even more then that suspense. Hitchcock has the most used example: You have 5 people sitting around a table, having a conversation, very dull. All of a sudden (surprise) a bomb goes off. There is 10 seconds of shock. Thats it. However: Tell the audience the bomb is under the table and the conversation becomes engaging and tense because all the time you wait for the bomb to go off. Its called dramatic irony. There are other ways to create suspense: Most importantly suspense is the question of: Will a or b happen. Its not a vague tension (we don't know whats going to happen), its concrete: Will they fail or make it? Founders beware: The person listening already knows that you made it otherwise you would not be telling the story. So be very careful that there is aside from "making it" something else to loose: Remind yourself of films in which you know that the protagonist probably won't die. You need to have something else at stake and your story needs to center around that other thing that has a really real chance of failing otherwise the audience already knows the end of the story and you put them to sleep 4) Mixed endings: If you end on a note that is "Yes, but" - so you managed to achieve something but there was something sacrifice in the process - that is a more powerful and real ending because people know: "Thats life! Shit happens, its not all roses and tulips." That being said: Be very careful it might expand the scope of your story because you need to get more elements in and you have limited time. To add this you need to be extremely economic. 5) Economy: I suggest to outline your story before you write it. Figure out who the characters were, what happened and how you want to fill it in the "beginning, middle, end" story form (3 acts for starters, if you are a pro you can use stuff like a 4 act structure). You are telling a real story so it is a question of what to include and what to remove. Make sure before you write your story that you know all the elements and you cut out every little thing that was not directly required. And do write it out, even if you will be verbally presenting it. You can go off script later but you will have it out of your mind once. When you write you will have to make it concrete and that helps solve all the little problems you don't think of if you have to tell the story in real time. It helps you make it better. 6) Emotions: I agree that emotions are important. Here are some tips for how to add them to your story: - You don't want to have too much of them otherwise you make your audience cringe (that happens because your audience did not have enough time to get invested with the characters and the stakes). So especially in the beginning of your story you should be very careful with adding big words, dramatic inner dialog etc. That is stuff reserved in measures for the climax of your story - When you add emotion try and not do it with symantics but use the story structure. If you use symantics you again risk making the audience cringe because it comes across as if you are forcing it. If you build it into the structure it will feel effortlessly dramatic and there is no "dramatic presentation" needed to bring out its effect. It requires a bit more tinkering and skill but here is how to start: What do you care about? What is at stake? What is it that you risk to loose? What is the potential future that you will never reach? You then don't say it straight up and out loud but you weave it in: In the beginning you establish it as something you want to do (again, don't overdo it, you are at the beginning of your story) but then towards the end, when you are challenged, you have to remember the thing, your value in the beginning and you decided to push through/find a way/it gave you the inspiration/you got back on track. We are using again the Set Up, Pay Off thing I mentioned at the top (structure) and therefore it will be coherent and satisfying because things matter in the story - and that is implicit meaning and that is very powerful. - Sometimes you might not want to have an emotional story. My own founder story is something that yes, has a bit of emotion in it because we were dishartend at how difficult it is to get into the industry but in the end it was about how it was an impressive solution and how we pulled ourselves out of the mud with inventiveness and we don't really wanna put "racing hearts" and "sweaty palms" anywhere in the story because it works on the "wow, that is so cool" in the end and not on the "a single tear ran down my cheak". 7) I don't agree with Tip #4 unfortunately. We see superhero movies and watch Jedi knights: It can be engaging without needing to be small. In these stories you can relate because there is a person who wants to get from a to b. As a human we can relate to that as long as we understand why we want to get from a to b. We all have the same basic wants and needs and you can be Elon Musk trying to build a rocket and telling a story how it all got too much and how he had doubts if he could bare that responsibility and I would not call that a small story but we can all relate to it anyways because we (hopefully) all have at some point been in a situation where it all became to much and in which we questioned if we were cut out for this thing. So I think the most important thing is showing them the underlying humanity, being vulnerable (but not too much, don't dwell on it, just mention it) and showing that you had to fight your way from a to b. People don't believe or trust folks who have all things given to them - we want to see you struggle and succeed just based on your resourcefulness, good heart and hard work. Any questions, I am here for you guys. Sorry for the long text - its something that I am passionate about so I wanted to leave it here. I have nothing to sell you haha, enjoy the day ;)

Awesome....! Presentation quicker but with limited context with strong messages

Thank you once again!

Thank you for the high quality content 👍

Very nice as usual. Keep up the great work

Be the Hero of Your own Story

The amount of advice i have been given where they told me i should leave out my mum was dying when i realized my co panh had global potential or that i shoukd keave out i broke my ankle and the business almost feel apart while i was in a wheelchair… and naturally these touchpoints were epifanies. Thank goodness i didnt listen, but also thank you for underliming my belief system. Also heine your should do a story with oren pitchanything. It is super intereresting and changing my game right now

Can you make a video on when it is the right time to try and approach an angel investor with your startup?

Hello! Thanks for the content! Do you do any consulting work? We have a new app and I have some questions

It surely matters why I did what I do. However I don't think I want to tell anyone who has eye balls to see what I'm doing, why I do what I do. They can see it

hi i love you

Hai I want to talk to you # Am in India 🇮🇳

Hello sir Can U Give me Reply