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Kara Community (Debbie Chang)'s avatar

I’m realizing that having something worthwhile to say is only half the work. The other half is helping people see why it matters—and feel enough to remember it.

I thought I had put together an excellent pitch deck for StartOut’s SF Demo Day last year. Only afterward—while working with one of StartOut’s coaches—did come to find out I had left out the most compelling part of the story: the death of my father, the promise I made to him at his bedside, and how that promise inspired me to build the company.

I had focused on explaining the business and omitted the part that explained why I felt it had to exist.

This is an excellent storytelling playbook that put words to that lesson: compelling evidence matters, but information alone rarely moves people. You have to make them feel something.

Meg Cutter's avatar

In non-profit, storytelling is everything. Really appreciate such a smart approach!

nAxis's avatar

The Crocs test is rather brilliant, thank you for that.

Jonathan Christiansen's avatar

Really powerful concept. Storytelling is the literally the oldest form of entertainment (and record-keeping), yet its easy to lose sight of that when we're lost in the sauce of our own project. Really appreciated this piece

David Moore Robinson's avatar

Excellent post! Who knew “Scott-free August” would yield such treasures!?

Kelly Buchanan Spillers's avatar

Where do we tune in for the livestream?

Matt's avatar

This is great. Thanks for revisiting it. I wasn’t around last year.

Anita Lacea's avatar

Mia, I love the stats that Scott and Ed use to open most podcast episodes with ("Today's number"). I take it you are behind those. That technique and this post taught me a lot about how to use data to tell stories.

Mark Danowsky's avatar

Chobani is the real winner