Vonnegut’s Shapes for Founders

In my classes at General Assembly, I’ve been borrowing Vonnegut’s axes (and a rough version of a couple of his shapes) from this video to help entrepreneurs better convey what their companies do.

For example, his Cinderella shape is a nice template for the Uber story: we’re sitting around tormented by taxis (evil step-relatives), until one day smartphones and GPS show up (the ball), creating the possibility, however remote, of a happily-ever-after Promised Land (married to royalty), that we can finally reach thanks to Uber (fairy godmother), who removes obstacles along the way by letting you rate drivers, store payment, etc. (turning a pumpkin into a chariot).