076. Storytelling About You

Last week,Kat talked a lot about storytelling and I highly recommend following her on LinkedIn for more of her great content.This week.I want to double down on storytelling and share my observations and suggestions on how you can do a better job of telling your story and your company story.Every story has a great cast of characters.And in your fundraise story,you are one of the main characters.One of the things I see all the time at pitch competitions is the team slide filled with logo jumbalaya and the voiceover is something to the extent of,and we have a great team filled with incredible careers.It's usually crammed in at the very end as the MC is trying to pull the founder off the stage because their time is up.If you're doing the equivalent of this in your pitch to VCs,you are missing out on a very important piece of your pitch.An investment into your startup,is an investment into you.One of our partners at SpringTime is fond of saying,past success is the best predictor of future success.You have to tell your story of success,ideally early in the pitch.Do it concisely.And whether you have20years of experience or two,I challenge you to summarize it.Into two to five minutes.Then,and this is the critical piece,have one to two anecdotes about how a singular experience ties into your current work.Storytelling is not vomiting facts.Stories have heroes,villains,plot,twists,and triumph.In order for your company to triumph,you and your team have to be the heroes.