For startups, storytelling is crucial because it lets them clearly articulate what they do and why potential customers should be interested. It also differentiates them from rivals.

1. Storytelling:
Why it matters
and
How to Do It
January 2012

2. “Storytelling is, by far, the
most underrated skill in business”

3. Stories and storytellers
are all around us

4. Cave drawings dating back to 15,000 to 13,000 BC

5. William Shakespeare

6. The Grimm Brothers

7. Eminem

8. Rick Mercer

9. Ron Popeil

12. Why do Stories Work so Well?
1. They’re memorable
2. They’re motivating
3. And now they’re really
shareable

13. But what does storytelling
have to do with startups?

14. Everything!

15. But Here’s The Thing……

16. Most startups
are bad storytellers

17. No Perspective

18. They talk about product, not
what consumers need

19. Wrong Toolset

20. How do you start to tell stories?

21. Storytelling starts from….

22. Baked into the corporate DNA

23. How Come?

24. Convince
friends &
family

25. Convince
friends &
family
Attract
Employees

26. Convince
friends &
family
Get Attract
Customers Employees

27. Convince
Raise Capital friends &
family
Get Attract
Customers Employees

29. What do
you do?

30. What do you do? Who needs
it?

31. What do you
do?
What are
the key Who needs it?
benefits?

32. What do
you do?
What
problem Who needs
it?
are you
solving?
What are
the key
benefits?

33. ….And
WIIFM?

34. The fuel for your marketing channels

45. Think Stories, Not Products

46. Put Yourself in the Other Person’s Shoes

47. Party Where the Party is Happening

48. Be Different, Unique…or Both

50. “To hell with facts!
We need stories.”
- Ken Kesey

51. Thanks!
www.markevans.ca
@markevans
mark@markevans.ca
http://bit.ly/startupscanada