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The Exoskeleton device helps you sit while standing
Japanese startup Arkelis has developed a device that can be expected to stand for hours.
Buzz60, Buzz60
Which version of these startup stories is best?
Version 1: By the mid-’50s, Ray was selling milkshake mixers to restaurants that didn’t need them.
And then it happened. That fateful day that changed everything.
It was that day that Ray discovered a new business practice that he had never seen before, never called a customer. Ray was surprised that he decided to work with the siblings who owned the restaurant 100%. They soon hired Ray with enthusiasm and courtesy.
Wrath to riches.
Within 10 years, Ray Kroc’s vision for McDonald’s spawned hundreds of stores, millions of hamburgers, a multi-billion dollar empire, and spawned an entirely new industry: the fast food business.
Version 2: Middle Manager Ray Kroc joined McDonald’s in 1955 and helped grow the restaurant into a global chain of fast food restaurants, now serving nearly 70 million customers each day.
Or what about this?
Version 1: Jeff probably had an enviable, solid Wall Street job that would have lasted him for years if fate hadn’t intervened.
One day, Jeff’s boss gave him the job of analyzing a new industry. Jeff was surprised by what he learned, that is, it was growing at an incredible 2,300% annually. He had to be a part of it. Jeff quit his job and he and his wife got the car. While she’s driving west, Jeff comes up with a business plan to sell stuff – first books and later everything – on the newfangled Internet.
Five years later, Jeff was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
Compare that with this version of the same facts.
Version 2: Amazon.com is an e-commerce company founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and based in Seattle, Washington.
I mention these two similar facts about similar businesses because too many entrepreneurs think of their business story as the latter, i.e., practical facts and hard data, when they should be sharing the former, i.e. a compelling story, in a compelling way. Speak up.
People love startup stories
You love stories. I love stories. We all do. People love to hear, talk and share stories.
What is your story? Stories create emotions, emotions foster bonds, and bonds breed sales.
Movies are stories. What about books? Stories. And what about the good news about the ‘fire zone’? You bet, good story. Stories engage people. It draws them in and makes them want to know more.
As the New Yorker put it in its review of Jonathan Gottschal’s book, “Fairytale Animal,” “Gotschall’s compelling thesis is that humans are natural storytellers—that they can’t help telling stories, and that they change things that aren’t. Actually stories to stories because they love narratives so much. Everything – faith, science, love – needs a story for people to find compelling. No history, not for sale. “
Your brand needs an origin story
For a small business, few things are better than a good origin story about a brand or business. It humanizes your business. Consider the story of Jeff Bezos. Wasn’t the story of how he came to be with Amazon more engaging and humanizing than a Wikipedia-like reading of Amazon.com? So, too, your business.
You have a great story, you know you will. Maybe it’s how you raised the money to get started, or your earlier years, or how you landed that big client. Whatever the case may be, I want to encourage you to tell him. Make it part of your marketing and social media.
Post it, say it, share it.
Because, above all, remember: “No story, no sale.”
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