A Crowded Space

Struggling to Tell the Story

I have a couple portfolio companies that struggle with how to tell their story.  Their businesses are doing great, growing like crazy, but the founders still find it difficult to concisely and clearly craft the message to other potential investors, employees, prospects, and customers.

Here are my quick thoughts on how to tell a better story.

1) Start with Why.  Watch this Ted Talk by Simon Sinek. It’s a great outline for thinking about the messaging.

2) Keep it Simple.  Founders have a tendency to talk about complexity, because they understand the complexity of their business very well.  But the brilliant entrepreneurs make the complex become simple.  The complexity of their business tends to stay internal – it is not outward facing.  Tell a simple story and then be ready to dig into complexity wherever your audience would like to dig in.  

3) Practice and Iterate.  Explain it to people completely unfamiliar with your business and industry.  Try it every day with random people that you meet.  I did this in the early days of oDesk (now Upwork) every day.   I made tons of calls to customers, told people at the bar, told people on the bus, and hardest of all, I told my mom.  Each time I would try varying the message a bit and gauging the reaction.  It’s a great way to quickly refine the message.  Pay close attention to the questions people ask and iterate until people “get it” instantly.  This practice must be done in-person, it cannot be done by A/B testing email messages. 

4) Go Long, then Short.  First you should be able to describe a master plan and a 20-year vision for the company in short concise statements.  Tesla has one of the best master plans.

1. Build sports car
2. Use that money to build an affordable car
3. Use that money to build an even more affordable car
4. While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options

Once you’ve provided the long term vision, then you can explain the much shorter term go-to-market plan.  You should also have a very clear 1 year plan that describes how you’re executing on the next simple step along your master plan.  These 20 and 1 year plans need to be a key part of the narrative.  Start with the long game to provide context, then describe the 1 year plan to build confidence.

And now… a few book recommendations to help you on your journey.