What’s your story?

The early days of a startup are very overwhelming, especially for first time entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, it is very common that even without a prototype, many entrepreneurs are already thinking of how to build a product that is appealing for investors — rather than a product that makes the world a better place! By doing so, they not only forget that doing business is not about having investors, but they also put themselves under huge pressure that negatively impacts the execution results, especially in early days. The flip side of the situation is that entrepreneurs often pack their idea with tech terms nobody understands and they do not dedicate enough time building a sexy — easy to understand — story that increases the opportunity of becoming a winner. But how to draft a sexy story?

Last week I had a mentoring session at Draper University in San Mateo where I was introduced to 6 startups that shared with me their business vision and chatted about their early challenges. Draper University offers startup newcomers a great framework for what it takes to come up with an idea, validate if applicable, go into execution, raise funding, scale the company and negotiate exit terms. Mentors and speakers are Silicon Valley serial entrepreneurs that share lessons learned, with the intent that students will not face the same pitfalls that experienced entrepreneurs have gone through.

What are you hacking on?

It is always remarkable to see a student’s overall understanding of the startup world, considering they were only in an ideation phase. Here are some impressions of whom I had the pleasure of chatting with, and their vision.

• Chester at “tourmeaway.com” is building a tool that connects travelers to & locals from Taipé/Asia — to create a “local” experience for tourists.

• Kevin is working on an idea to hold Facebook users accountable to how much time they really spend surfing on it — in order to increase productivity.

• Javal and Ashay at “curiosity” want to empower millennials to share their mobile screen with friends in real-time to create a much more fun experience.

• Jonathan at “froog wallet” wants to create a richer shopping experience by connecting payment systems and coupons in one app.

• Cristel want to bring childcare into the next level by creating a marketplace where parents can find a babysitter based on their kids’ skills / parents’ expectations

• Edmond at “samepage” is reinventing recruitment by creating a marketplace that matches based on passion and not on background.

How to make innovation tangible!

When driving innovation — the biggest challenge entrepreneurs face is explaining in simple words what the tool is for, while conveying the sense the world needs it. Most startups seek to explain a “feature based” value proposition, throwing around boring terms — rather than keeping it simple and breaking down a story about how the product can be used. Hence, 9 out of 10 pitches end up being disappointing for both parties! The “listener”, because it was not clear what the “entrepreneur” was trying to say. For the “entrepreneur”, as frustration grows — as another conversation had no outcome.

Because I made it my mission to help entrepreneurs avoid pitfalls I learned the hard way, I share a framework for innovators I came up with. While there are no silver bullets, the framework is thought to make it easy to build a story around a startup, which will increase the likelihood of the listener understanding the business potential and empathizing with the founder, the product, its value proposition and the purpose of it.

1. Why your tool?

• always start with: “because” __ “the segment // the target audience” __ “suffers that pain” __ “when doing this and that”, we came up with “startup name” __ “that does” __ “value proposition”.

2. How did you come up with the idea?

• When?
• What happened in that specific moment?
• What was the scenario / What were the conditions?
• How is it done today?
• What did you initially think that might be done better?

3. Who’s doing that?

• What qualifies you to be able to solve that?
• Whom did you hook to join you on that journey?

4. What did you do to validate your thought?

• With whom did you talk?
• How many?
• What did they say?
• What did you achieve in numbers?
• What’s the prototype (not MVP)?

5. What are you working on right now?

• Who’s your team that puts skin in the game?
• What’s the stage of your product?
• What’s your next milestone you are working towards?
• For when is the MVP planed?

Apply storytelling for

• Recruiting your members
• Customer validation
• Getting advisors
• Create the initial value proposition for website
• Family & Friends Investment
• To enchant whomever might add value

Tell the story and avoid a technical description when pitching high level. In order to get the listener’s attention and interest you want to make sure that you chew the topic in a way everybody can digest. Therefore, before you move on with other prios today, sit down and review your pitch. Formulate it and rehearse it; as long as people hearing that don’t get goose bumps — you don’t stop! Once that happens — you can be confident that your future stories will be mind-blowing.

TAKEAWAY

• Features are boring — while stories are remarkable
• Don’t hide behind the lack of uncertainty of if your product is going to be a hit — but be convinced of the “situation” you recognized you are about to improve
• Storytelling is not a coincidence — but requires a plan to “map it” and convey it with emotions
• Don’t aim to win a pitch — but to give your listeners goose bumps
• Before you pitch anybody — become a storyteller

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Originally published at whatittak.es.

Originally published at whatittak.es.