Lakshmi Pratury, CEO of INK talks, shares insights on the art of story telling for entrepreneurs.
Edited excerpts
When I work with someone on their story, the first thing I want to get to the bottom of is that who are you? I think we try so much to be somebody else — you listen to somebody talk and then you say I want to sound like that. I want to be authoritative. I want to be smart. I want to be funny. But I think its first important to find out who you are.
If you are not the kind of person who likes to tell jokes, opening with a
joke is a really bad idea but if you are somebody who is a goofball its great to start with a joke because that is really who you are. I encourage people not to listen to others talk when they are thinking about their story. I think they need to find their own voice, whatever that is because it is when you are your most authentic self, that you become really really dear to the listener.
The mistake we all make a lot of times is that we want to say everything we want to say quickly so that you can fill that 10 minute time or 5 minutes time. The point is if you have 5 minutes you should really talk about only one thing and if you have 10 minutes, only about one and a half things. Its not about talking 8 things faster in those 5 or 10 minutes. So I think it’s really important to think about what do you want to say which leads to next question of who are you talking to? Who you are talking to is extremely important before you get to what you want to talk about.
Then there are the simple things like where are you talking and why are you talking to people. I think this ‘why’ is really the most important thing. When we ask the question why, a lot of times we are thinking of why do I want to talk to these people. The real question is why do these people want to listen to me? What am I giving them so that they would want to listen to me? Why should they stay for those minutes and give you their most precious thing they have which is their time and listen to you? I think the most important question we need to answer is that can I give them something so that it makes it valuable for them to stay and listen to me, instead of thinking why should I talk and what will I get out of it. If we got all those questions answered then we can have a great pitch.
A lot of times it is about entrepreneurs selling their ideas — for funding, for advisers, for getting great board members. I think we just get very anxious to share everything we are in the limited time that’s given to us. Or we very quickly move to an elevator pitch which is all about features — your market size, your product — they’re all facts. But what is really important is why again are you telling that story at the bottom of it all? Its a very good practice to ask so what, so what, so what, till you get to the point that you can say this is why. For example, when you are working on a computer chip you could say you should buy this because this many transistors, that many gates. So what? Because then your computer will run faster. So what? Then you can do your spreadsheets faster. So what? It will make you more productive. So what? That will give you more time to spend with your kids because now you are spending less time on these spreadsheets. Now i’m listening! If I use this, it gives me an opportunity to spend a little bit more time with my family. That is a real benefit for me. Its the same thing when you are pitching to VCs, its the same thing when we are talking to potential customers. What is the ultimate emotional benefit for anyone to use your product?
We are told a lot of times in business schools don’t be touchy, you got to be strong when you walk in, you own the room. I never believe in it and I think the one thing that always makes a story really appealing is your vulnerability — your ability to be vulnerable, your ability to say I don’t know, your ability to say I’m searching, your ability to say I want you with me on this. That’s what makes it appealing.
I have seen how, when a story is well curated, when a person takes the time to create a story that matters, it always yields results. The key is you cannot tell the story expecting a result. When you truly are not expecting anything and tell the story being your most vulnerable self, that’s when you will get something. The stories that leave the greatest mark on you are the ones that touch you the most.
