Danny Matthews' Guide to Compelling Startup Narratives
Summary
TLDRIn this engaging talk, Danny Matthews emphasizes the power of storytelling in branding and securing investment. He argues that the traditional pitch formulas need reimagining to tap into the emotional side of the brain, which drives most buying decisions. By sharing personal experiences and practical examples, Matthews provides insights on crafting a compelling brand narrative that resonates with customers and investors alike, stressing the importance of starting branding from day one and iterating often.
Takeaways
- 🎉 The proven pitch formula needs reimagining to focus on telling a compelling brand story that invites customers and investors to see themselves as part of it.
- 🌟 A strong brand story should tap into the emotional side of the brain, as most buying decisions are driven by emotions.
- 🚀 The order and manner in which you tell your brand story can significantly impact the results you get, especially in terms of gaining traction and funding.
- 🧠 Understanding the problem and solution from a real-world application perspective helps in visualizing how the product or service fits into the customer's life.
- 🌐 Differentiating your brand from competitors can be achieved by focusing on your brand's unique personality and voice.
- 💡 The storytelling blueprint from Hollywood can be applied to brand building, involving a hero, a problem, a guide, and a call to action leading to success.
- 🔍 For early-stage founders, it's beneficial to start working on the brand story from day one and iterate often, as it helps in understanding the business you want to build.
- 🤝 When pitching to investors, showing a deep understanding of the customer's problem and how your solution addresses it can be more compelling than just presenting the idea.
- 🌈 In cases where the founder is not directly involved in the problem or solution, it's crucial to be curious and learn from potential customers to build a genuine and relatable story.
- 📈 The brand story is not just about the founder's origin story; it's a narrative that puts the customers or investors at the heart of the story, making them the heroes.
- 📚 'Building a Story Brand' by Donald Miller is recommended for those interested in applying Hollywood storytelling techniques to their brand and marketing.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the event that Daniel is introducing?
-The main focus of the event is on storytelling in branding, with a particular emphasis on how to create a compelling brand story for startups to gain traction and funding.
Why is the traditional pitch formula problematic according to Danny?
-The traditional pitch formula is problematic because it focuses too much on logical elements and fails to tap into the emotional side of the brain, which plays a significant role in decision-making, especially for buyers and investors.
What is the significance of neuroscience in the context of branding and storytelling?
-Neuroscience is significant in branding and storytelling because it helps understand how the brain processes information and makes decisions. By leveraging insights from neuroscience, storytellers can craft narratives that appeal to both the logical and emotional aspects of the human brain.
How did Danny's experience with the mortgage sector in the UK influence his approach to branding?
-Danny's experience with the mortgage sector led to the creation of a proof of concept that secured significant funding, even before it became an MVP. This experience underscored the importance of a strong brand story in attracting investment and gaining traction.
What are the two key elements that Danny believes a compelling brand story should achieve for early-stage founders?
-A compelling brand story should achieve traction and funding. It should invite customers and investors into a narrative where they can see themselves as part of the solution, thus increasing the likelihood of investment and market engagement.
What is the importance of the order in which a story is told during a pitch?
-The order in which a story is told can significantly impact the effectiveness of the pitch. Starting with an emotional narrative can hook the audience before presenting the logical aspects of the business, making the overall pitch more compelling and persuasive.
How does Airbnb's shift in marketing strategy illustrate the power of storytelling?
-Airbnb's shift from traditional customer acquisition through ads to focusing on storytelling and brand building resulted in a significant increase in their valuation. This demonstrates the power of storytelling to create a strong brand identity and emotional connection with the audience.
What mistake do founders often make when adding narrative to their pitch?
-Founders often mistake their brand story as their origin story. However, the brand story should be a narrative that puts the customers or investors at the heart of the story, inviting them to see themselves as part of the solution, rather than focusing on the founder's personal journey.
What is the Hollywood storytelling blueprint that Danny refers to?
-The Hollywood storytelling blueprint is a framework where a hero wants something, encounters a problem, meets a guide who gives them a process, and is called to action that leads to success and helps them avoid failure. This blueprint can be adapted for branding and pitching by focusing on the customer's desires and journey.
How does changing 'we' sentences to 'you' or 'your' sentences in branding materials enhance the message?
-Changing 'we' sentences to 'you' or 'your' sentences shifts the focus from the company to the customer, making the message more personal and relevant. This simple tweak can make the audience feel that the solution is tailored to their needs, thus increasing engagement and interest.
Outlines
🎤 Introduction and Event Kick-off
The paragraph introduces the event and the speaker, Danny, who is a familiar figure in the FI Community. Daniel, from the FI marketing team, welcomes the audience and acknowledges participants from various locations around the world. He emphasizes the international nature of the crowd, highlighting the global reach of startups. Before bringing Danny on stage, Daniel reminds the audience of the housekeeping rules, such as using the Q&A button for questions during the presentation. He also gives a brief overview of the event's agenda, which includes a presentation by Danny, a Q&A session, and a networking portion.
🌟 The Art of Pitching: Reimagining the Pitch Formula
Danny begins his presentation by discussing the common challenge faced by founders when pitching to investors - the saturation of similar pitches leading to a lack of differentiation. He emphasizes the need to reimagine the traditional pitch formula. Danny points out that while founders often have good ideas and teams, they fail to gain traction and funding due to their inability to tell a compelling brand story. He introduces himself and his background, including his significant achievement of securing funding for a mortgage sector concept in the UK. Danny also mentions his involvement with various enterprises and his role as a mentor, highlighting his extensive experience in helping startups.
🧠 The Neuroscientific Approach to Storytelling
Danny delves into the neuroscience behind storytelling, explaining that while the logical part of the brain is responsible for 20% of our decisions, the emotional part drives 50% of our buying choices. He argues that traditional pitch formulas fail to tap into the emotional aspect of decision-making. By focusing on the emotional brain, startups can better engage investors and customers. Danny uses an example of gift waste during Christmas to illustrate the difference between stating a problem and narrating a story that resonates emotionally. He also touches on the influence of habits on purchasing decisions and the importance of aligning the brand's narrative with the target audience's buying habits.
📈 The Power of Story in Branding
Danny stresses that the brand story is central to creating a vision and perception in the minds of customers and investors. He challenges the common misconception that the brand story is about the founder's origin story, asserting that it should instead focus on the customer or investor as the hero. Using Airbnb's success as an example, Danny illustrates how storytelling and brand building can significantly increase a company's valuation. He emphasizes that the order and manner of storytelling can greatly impact the outcome of a pitch and that the brand story should invite the audience to envision themselves as part of the solution.
🛠️ Crafting a Compelling Story for Your Pitch
Danny provides a practical guide on crafting a compelling story for pitches. He advises founders to discuss the problem and solution in real-world applications, making it relatable to the audience. He suggests using the 'ordinary world' technique to contrast life before and after the solution is implemented. Danny introduces the Hollywood storytelling blueprint, which involves a hero wanting something, encountering a problem, meeting a guide, and achieving success. He breaks down each step, emphasizing the need for clarity and simplicity in communicating the solution and the importance of highlighting the successful outcomes and the failures that the product or service helps avoid.
🚀 Applying the Storytelling Blueprint to Your Brand
Danny explains how to apply the Hollywood storytelling blueprint to brand building. He advises founders to understand their customers' desires and problems, to empathize with their struggles, and to establish their authority to solve the problem. He stresses the importance of simplifying the problem-solving process and clearly communicating the successful outcomes. Danny also highlights the need to articulate what failures the product or service can help avoid. He encourages personal transformation stories, allowing customers to see themselves evolving through the use of the product. He concludes with a practical tip on changing 'we' sentences to 'you' sentences in marketing materials to make the brand more relatable and customer-centric.
🤝 Engaging with the Global Audience
In the final paragraph, Daniel from the FI marketing team thanks Danny for his insightful presentation and opens the floor for questions. He encourages the audience to engage with Danny during the networking portion and to connect with him on LinkedIn. Daniel also reflects on the importance of branding from the early stages of a startup and the value of incorporating brand elements like mission, vision, and values into the company's growth trajectory. He concludes the session by inviting the audience to continue the conversation in the networking section and expresses his anticipation for further interactions with the global community of founders.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Brand Story
💡Emotional Buy-In
💡Pitch Frameworks
💡Networking
💡Proof of Concept
💡Investor Engagement
💡Personal Transformation
💡Hollywood Storytelling Blueprint
💡Founder's Story
💡Customer Journey
Highlights
The importance of telling a compelling brand story was emphasized, which can significantly affect a startup's ability to gain traction and funding.
The traditional pitch formulas were critiqued for being too focused on logic and lacking emotional engagement, which is crucial for buying decisions.
The concept of reimagining the proven pitch formula was introduced, advocating for a more story-driven approach that invites customers and investors into a narrative.
The role of neuroscience in understanding human decision-making was discussed, highlighting the 80/20 rule where 80% of buying decisions are emotionally driven.
A personal example was shared about hiring a cleaner, demonstrating how storytelling can emotionally connect and persuade better than logical arguments alone.
The power of storytelling in branding was emphasized, with the story being the core of the brand and influencing all aspects of marketing and perception.
Airbnb's strategic shift from buying customers to storytelling and brand building was cited as a successful example, leading to a significant increase in valuation.
The common mistake of focusing the brand story on the founder's origin story was pointed out, urging instead to center the customer or investor as the hero.
A storytelling blueprint based on the Hollywood formula was provided, outlining the structure of having a hero, problem, guide, and call to action leading to success.
The importance of understanding the customer's wants and problems was discussed, emphasizing the need to communicate in a way that resonates with their perspective.
The concept of two ordinary worlds was introduced, as a tool for mapping out the problem and solution in a relatable, before-and-after scenario.
Practical advice was given on changing 'we' sentences to 'you' sentences in communication materials, making the message more personal and engaging.
The presenter's own experience of securing significant funding with just a proof of concept was shared, illustrating the power of a well-told story.
The balance between focusing on product development and working on branding was discussed, advocating for early and continuous brand development.
The need to differentiate the brand from competitors was addressed, suggesting the use of a unique brand personality and voice as key differentiators.
The presenter encouraged founders to embrace storytelling as a self-development exercise, revealing insights about personal values and vision.
Transcripts
hello hello everyone I hope you are
having an awesome Tuesday my name is
Daniel I'm a part of the FI marketing
team and we're back again with a very
very exciting event and I'm particularly
excited about this one because our
speaker today is someone who we are very
familiar with uh at the FI Community he
is a director for fi London and he's
going to be speaking about a topic that
I personally really like which is
telling a compelling Brand Story and
before we bring uh Danny on stage and
get things kicked off I just want to ask
you all where are you all coming in from
let us know in the chat I can see that
we have people in from California okay
Englewood Portland Oregon awesome
Seattle Berlin
Lisbon Helsinki
Killa nice okay we have people here from
Romania New Jersey Finland awesome
awesome so as always a very uh
International crowd kind of tells you
all that you need to know about the
power of startups and their ability to
kind of uh connect people from all
across the world before we bring Danny
on stage just a couple of um
housekeeping rules uh folks if you have
any questions while Danny presents I
would urge you to click the Q&A button
right under the chat button that you see
on the right and drop your question in
there uh once we move on to the Q&A
portion Danny will uh answer all your
questions and yeah just to kind of
briefly go over the agenda as well uh
Danny will present then we'll do the Q&A
and then we do have a networking portion
afterwards where you'll get uh the
opportunity to hopefully speak to Danny
himself I'll be there from the FI team
and hopefully uh fellow Founders
aspiring Founders from all across the
world so yeah without further Ado a
could you bring Danny on
[Music]
stage hi
Danny hey guys thanks for having me
awesome thank you for being here with us
before I uh you know let you take the
stage and get out of your hair here
folks if you look at the bottom of your
screen you should see this reaction
button if you are enjoying what Danny is
saying if you're enjoying the
conversation everything that's going on
show Danny some love there we go Danny
everybody everybody's already very
excited keep it going yeah it's
great good stuff thanks everyone thank
you very much for for coming um so look
one of the most important skills you
will learn as a Founder is the ability
to pitch well um but and there there's
quite a big but when you stand in front
of investors you are joining a long
queue of startup Founders that are
pitching essentially for the same money
from the same investors who are using
the same old pitch formula as you and
what's become very interesting to me um
working with startup Founders is that
the pitch Frameworks themselves are not
the problem but you know we we get into
this uh this cycle of if it isn't
broke uh so like most things that work
uh we don't really look to change them
very often so um now in contrast to that
I think you'll agree that over the last
couple of years a lot has changed and
uh that includes but it's definitely not
limited to the reason that people buy
and I think this leaves a massive
opportunity on on the table because
investors are buy buyers too they need
to buy into us and our ideas and
especially at a very early stage they
need to buy to us as Founders because a
lot of investors understand and realize
that as early stage Founders you might
pivot a few times and the idea might
look might not look the same in 12
months than it does today and I think
that's that's really important so let me
share some slides with you and I'm going
to um dig into this straight away to
give you a bit of a a a flavor and a
feel of how this is going to go today um
I want to go through these slides um
pretty quickly uh so I'm going to Rapid
Fire through there but then I'm going to
stick around at the end we're going to
have a Q&A and then I'm going to stick
around for networking as well so uh to
make sure that we can that we can get
the most out of this and you guys all
across the world can get really
selfish uh and only ask questions about
your business and your idea so let me
share these and let's get cracking so I
think and I believe that the proven
pitch formula needs to be
reimagined um
because most Founders have good ideas
and go to market at the right time they
have the right team uh the right product
even but they lose the opportunity to
gain traction and funding as soon as
they open their mouth and the reason is
because what comes out is about them
instead of inviting customers and
investors into a story that they can see
themselves part of so um what I want to
talk about today is how to create a
compelling story for your pitch so uh a
very quick hello to everyone who's
joined this event um over the next kind
of 20 minutes half hour or so I'm going
to teach you how to create a compelling
story for your pitch uh the kind of
story that achieves two things for early
stage Founders because let's face it
you're only after these two things
traction and or funding so most of the
people I speak to are um looking for
traction whether they're bootstrapping
and they just need some you know their
first 10 customers their first uh 100
people uh on their platform whatever it
might be they're looking for traction if
not they're looking for funding to
accelerate that my name is Danny
Matthews I'm the founder of short story
Ventures uh were a venture Studio where
change making entrepreneurs become
change uh gamechanging
Brands a uh my career took a really
interesting turn um when a proof of
concept I built for the mortgage sector
in the UK secured three and a half
billion pounds worth of funding from UK
government um that was from a proof of
concept um so to put that into context
it was way it was before it was even an
MVP so a lot of the startup Founders I
speak to are really looking to build an
MVP to get that traction whereas this uh
was something that got funded purely
from a proof of concept and an idea
really that I had and since then I've
worked with hundreds and hundreds of
companies to get traction and funding
using really traditional brand strategy
uh and design methods and many of them
are in the position you are now uh which
is the chicken and egg situation which
is you need traction to get funding but
you need funding to get some traction so
I completely get it I've been through it
myself when I see it over and over again
so I'm really hoping that what I'm about
to teach you uh with a compelling story
you get to do both of these much faster
than you would without it um I've
personally invested in four companies I
advise two St TOS I Mentor around 500
Founders as a director of fi in London
but also as uh a part of Enterprise
programs across the southwest of England
and Wales where where I live and for the
most part I see the same mistakes over
and over which I I'll share with you in
a moment but basically um I want to
share with you why the proven fit pitch
formula needs to be reimagined um first
and foremost
so for
decades maybe longer but definitely for
decades we've been given these
Frameworks to present ideas and
businesses to investors and sometimes to
customers too um and you've probably
come across them even as fi framework
you'll see them so the uh problem
solution framework or the vision
opportunity framework or uh there's a
team framework and traction framework
and there's loads and loads of them uh
Frameworks you can use to pitch to
investors or customers but all of them
in in my experience uh
black oh
sorry uh can you guys still
see my screen sorry I think let me
reshare this for
you um
so there it
go we
go okay guys sorry one
second
um
okay I don't know where that's gone um
but I'm going to look for
it so please bear
with
uh okay uh I've got it back now to
apologies uh we are back on truck so uh
where were
we here we go okay so um uh so why the
proven P pitch formula needs to be
reimagined so all all of these kind of
pitch formulas pitch Frameworks that
we're given lack a key element that I
think makes a huge difference and um one
of the thing I find myself constantly
saying is it's not rocket science but it
is neuroscience so all of this stuff is
embedded in how we think as human beings
and I want to share with you what that
means and and and what that looks like
so um this is the part of our brain
right the front uh which we use 20% of
the time in our bind decisions and that
is the logical part of our brain this is
why I think the uh The Proven fit pitch
formula needs reimagining because all of
this stuff is what it covers it covers
the problem solution opportunity team
traction Market size it it covers all of
those logical elements of why we buy
thing does it make sense is there a big
big enough market for it can I see um a
big enough problem that's being solved
by this solution um so most of them all
about logic what we miss is the
opportunity to tap into the emotional
side of the brain that um where we make
uh 50% of our buying decisions so the
majority of the buying decisions are
driven by emotion first um or through
emotion first so we make buying
decisions through the emotional part of
our brain first so that is
logically ironically where our efforts
should be if we want buying from
customers or investors and it's there's
a really fine line and I'll come to this
at the end of the slides but there's a
really fine line it's it's instead of
saying something like we stop waste in
the gift buying process you could say
every year at Christmas in the UK 400
million pounds is spent on gifts that go
straight to landfill so that's a real
example from a client and um there's a
very there's a difference in telling the
story of of a problem that's that you're
solving and just telling someone what
the problem is that you're solving so um
instead of saying we stop waste gift
waste um you can just tell the story of
400 million pounds is spent on gifts
every year just at Christmas that is
thrown into landfill so um something to
think about there and I'll come on to
more examples later um the last part is
process habit so a lot of why we buy
certain things is driven by habit if you
already subscribe to certain products
and services you're more likely to buy
more uh other things that way too so
during um the global pandemic I switched
a lot of household it cleaning products
pet food to subscription and until
recently I'm talking three four weeks
ago even my car was on a monthly
subscription so now we're seeing things
like designer fashion re rental and even
innovation in like property and housing
market where it's traditionally been um
especially in the UK you need to buy a
house and now we're shifting to more of
a rental mindset because we're used to
having this kind of recurring
subscription so so once we have
emotional buyin we're halfway there 50%
of our brains are there so if you're
targeting the Right audience so um start
with a motion you're halfway there and
if you're targeting with the the Right
audience and their spending or buying
habits they should align with your
revenue and business model and then all
you have to do is a little bit of justif
justification a little bit of logic uh
behind it and you done so um and I
wanted to share a personal example with
you so in a conversation with my wife
about basically about hiring a
cleaner um I know she earns say 50 an
hour and a cleaner would be 25 an hour
so half of that logically it makes sense
to hire one but instead of just saying
to my wife it's half of what you earn
per hour so let's get a cleaner which
wouldn't really tap into the emotional
part of her Bier brain instead would
just tap the logical part of the brain
instead I said to her look every single
day you wake up and go about your busy
day um fighting to spend time on the
most important things that add value to
your life only to come back to a messy
home and having to do another job before
you can enjoy what's left of the day
with friends or family or me and imagine
every day coming home to a house that's
tidy the laundry is done and the places
you spend the most time in are
hygienically clean you just pay for it
as a recurring payment and it's less
than you pay for the TV that you never
get to watch because you're always
cleaning the house and cleaning up after
everybody right that that's a much
better way to get buying emotionally I'm
tapping into I'm telling the story of
what she goes through every single day
and I'm explaining to her the logic uh
behind the buy decision after she's
bought into that so
sometimes believe it or not the thing
that's missing from your pitch isn't
what's in the pitch it's just the order
you tell the story in and how you tell
the story so the order you pitch in can
make a massive difference to the result
that you get so storytelling I want to
make a big Point here your
story is your
brand um I don't care how anyone wants
to Def Define what branding is it all
comes from your story every single story
that's ever been told creates a a vision
in your mind or a um a uh thought or
perception in your brain about what is
in front of you what you're doing just
put the ls back on um so um it tells a
story so your story is your brand and
everything that is part of your brand
including all the traditional things
vision mission values uh marketing
messages all comes from your story if
you really understand how to tell it so
I want to share an example that happened
um very recently over the last couple of
years from Airbnb an incredible
story um in itself in the market so
during coid um Airbnb lost about 85% of
their business overnight it completely
stoed their IPO where they were valued
at I think it was between about 70 and
80 billion as a valuation Brian chesky
decided to cut their marketing budget in
half so you know they lost most of their
business so they had to do something
pretty drastic so they cut 50% of their
marketing budget completely gone forever
and instead of buying customers which is
traditionally what they were doing where
they would spend on PPC ads Google ads
Facebook ads things like that they cut
buying customers
completely and they moved to
storytelling brand building if you like
and a short while after they switched to
that uh by a short while I mean you know
a couple of years they ipoed at over 108
billion it added um just their shift
from buying customers you know dollar
for dollar um and switching to a
brandbuilding storytelling style of
marketing added 20 % to their valuation
around 20% to their valuation so one one
point I do want to make on this is
Airbnb are a unique Beast as is Brian
chesky as an incredible human being and
founder um but what worked for them then
is still working now and I'm seeing this
every
day Airbnb no longer tell people about
booking a house rather than a hotel
which is their kind of initial messaging
they talk about experience
they talk about treating somewhere like
a home even if it's just for a night
they became
storytellers so the biggest mistake
Founders make when adding narrative um
to their pitch is really obvious to me
but may not be obvious to you and it's
this we've historically been led to
believe that our Brand Story is our
origin story and it's not your brand
story is not the story of you as a found
and where you came up with your idea and
how you took it to
Market your brand story is a narrative
that puts your customers or investors at
the heart of the story it tells a story
with them as the hero and not you or
your company and in telling that story
you invite the customer or the investor
into a story they see themselves
becoming a part of so that's a big thing
that I want you to take away so how how
do you create a compelling story for
your pitch I wanted to make sure that I
give you something really practical and
something that you can use right now so
I'm going to tell I'm going to run
through how to tell your story I'm going
to do it really quickly and then you can
go back over this in the replay um and
then I want to start Q&A so number one
talk about the problem and solution in
real world application it's amazing how
many Founders I here pitch and I have
very little idea what they do until I
ask them where their idea came from and
all of a sudden they tell me the real
world application or applied story about
how they found the problem and how
they're solving it and and in a way that
I can visualize it in my own life so um
a really quick story I can't I can't say
who it is because um it's kind of a live
story or live thing that's going on but
uh someone I was sitting in office hours
with a founder and he was telling me
about his product and how amazing it is
and you know the technology involved and
how it's going to change the world and
all this stuff and I was like it sounds
amazing but I don't know what it is I
don't know what you're talking about um
and I said tell me where the idea came
from and all of a sudden he told me this
story about um about him getting up in
the morning and the things he did and
that like the real world way in which
that it fits into his day-to-day life
and all of a sudden I was like yeah
that's me I know exactly what you're
talking about and and I connected with
it straight away so try and tell talk
about the problem and the solution in
its real world application how does this
apply to my life and you'll be on your
way to telling a really compelling Story
number two consider two ordinary worlds
so this is a really easy way to kind of
map out how this is going to solve the
problem and one is I want you to write
down just just write a little story
about um the a day in the life of the
person how their life is now so their
Ordinary World right now and then do it
again so you can even do it down the
middle of an A4 piece of paper if you
want to write down how it is now and
then the other side uh write down the
same story but with your product or
solution in it and it will give you a
very clear black and white this is
what's going on and actually sometimes I
see these after stories or like how it
is now and after stories at the
beginning of a pitch and they are
amazing they're a great way to get
people B in really really quickly so we
can rarely change the habits and
behaviors of the masses um people rarely
do it no matter what the stories you
hear are so if you can tell a story that
feels
familiar you're more likely to engage
people um and the great way I found to
brainstorm this is through this it's
it's through ordin two ordinary worlds
one of how it is now and one after
you've solved the problem so here's the
really black and white thing here's the
storytelling blueprint and this comes
from a Hollywood storytelling thing so
you you would have seen you would get
the sense that this is what happens in
movies so the Hollywood storytelling
blueprint is a hero wants something and
they encoun encounter a problem they
meet a guide who gives them a process
and calls them to action that leads to
success and helps them avoid failure
that's basically the long and the short
of it and I'm just going to run through
each section now with you so and again
go back rewatch this you know pause it
do it properly uh so how to build your
startle Brand Story step one what do
they
want write down what they what your
customers want but write it down how
they understand it so sometimes we can
say oh people need people need this but
that's you telling them what they need
instead of
them telling you what they think they
want and there's a very distinct
difference between me thinking someone
needs something and them thinking they
like I just want that like some people
are just oh I just wish I had more time
but I'm trying to sell them this like
crazy detailed widget that makes no
sense to them so there's a very distinct
difference between what people want and
what you need to teach them they need uh
so that's first what do they want
what's their problem um and most people
have two types of problems one is the
external problem which is how they see
it and the internal problem is how it
makes them feel uh remember this is all
about emotion so we want to understand
that emotion what is their problem
external and
internal why you now this is the only
part in this whole story process where
you get to talk about yourself and the
only things you get to talk about is
empathy
so uh
why um so have you experienced this
problem
yourself if yes great tell them about it
if not uh how many people have you spoke
to or met that have encountered this
problem and share their story instead
that's empathy number two is Authority
why should I listen to you why should
you be the person to solve this problem
over anyone else that's Authority next
um how do you solve the problem give a
really clear process
if one thing has become clear to me over
the years it's that people will go and
buy off my competitor if they
communicate clearer even if their
product is terrible if they communicate
clearer than I do people will go and buy
from them because our brains are
attracted to Clarity and we're looking
for Simplicity and Clarity all the time
so if someone gives a simple clear offer
uh even if it's a terrible product
people are going to buy it over buying
from me so how do you solve the problem
simplify the process three or four steps
maximum um and make it really easy to
understand like what do you need to do
you need to buy the product you need to
you need to send us the results we need
to send you a report whatever it is um
five the successful outcomes so whatever
the outcomes of them using your product
is um they need to understand that so
what are the results and then finally
what failure does it help me avoid these
two last points are are very important
and I'll tell you
we will we can be given all the benefits
and and uh features in the world to buy
a product but until we know the
consequence of not buying it we won't
buy it so you can give me all the deals
forever you give me the best phone deal
I don't know mobile phone contract deals
or whatever but uh unless you tell me
that if you don't if you don't switch to
this new contract you're going to pay
more or whatever the the um the downside
is unless unless you articulate that to
me my brain isn't really going to
understand the full extent of the offer
so make sure you include the failures
that your um that your product or or
service helps them to avoid that's a
really really important step and finally
if you can articulate a personal
transformation um then that's great it's
just a really nice way to um to
articulate uh who they become or what
they become in the process
of buying from you so um and the way
that you do this is you know just to
brainstorm and play around with who do
they who do they come from being and
what do they become in the process uh
and give it a name give it a label uh do
they become a an authentic self or do
they become a uh a productive genius or
you know whatever it is give it a label
a really succinct couple of words label
um it just helps people recognize
themselves and become part of a tribe
and a community so how do you use this
right now you've got your story how do
you use it I'm going to tell you one
thing to go and change if anyone is uh
on this event um and you're thinking
this is great but you know this is going
to take a while for me to sit down and
and go go and create a story or whatever
go use chat GPT or whatever want to do
um that's going to take some time I'm
going to tell you one way that you can
use right this second and I will
guarantee personally that it will make a
difference to the
uh it'll make a difference to the amount
of people that care about what you're
doing the amount of customers or
investors you have
interested that is
this go to your website your material
your deck your slides your pitch
whatever and change any sentence that is
a we sentence so it has we or I at the
beginning of it like we are we are
creating whatever it is and I want you
to change it to a you or your sentence
now what I mean by that is it doesn't
necessarily have to start with you or
your but it has to um the perspective
needs to change from we it's all about
me and we to this is all about you and I
care about you and I care about the
result and I'm going to give you some
examples number one instead of saying
we're changing health care so you can
get the care you need when you need it
just say the care you need when you need
it and that it's such a simple like the
line is so
thin you wouldn't even you wouldn't even
recognize it so and um you know I've
been talking about Neuroscience in the
brain so so let me just um let me fit
this in with that when you do this so
when someone goes to a and it says we
have we are an award-winning healthc
care provider our brains switch off our
subconscious brain switches off and it
says this isn't about me and you click
the back button but when you go to a
website or you see a message and it says
the care you need when you need it our
brains go oh this is about me and you
scroll and that's a really simple
example of just changing how you say
something it's a very very simple simple
tweak um that changes how people receive
the messages and which is why I say a
compelling story for your pitch because
you're essentially saying the same thing
but just by that tiny little tweak you
make it more compelling to the person
reading another example experts in Block
Chain to help you control your identity
with just your phone it says what they
do but um it's all about them they're
experts you know we're great at this
instead just say your identity is yours
control it just just with your phone um
it it switches the receiving end to be
about me and not about the company
another one we have 15 years experience
in building no code solutions for
AI build an app in a day no developers
or designers need it this is so simple
instead of it being we're amazing
because we've made this no code solution
incredible instead the person reading is
receiving it as I can build an app in a
day and I don't even need to hire a
developer or a designer so just a couple
of examples so go to your landing page
your slide decks your pictures and
change those sentences change the way
that you're communicating to instead of
talking about you and your business
business there's a time and place for it
granted um but instead of talking about
you and your business you're you're
inviting people into a story they want
to become part
of and that's me please do um connect
with me on LinkedIn happy to take
questions and uh yeah very much looking
forward to engaging with all of you from
all over the place today uh in the
room
Daniel uh Danny if you can see your
screen you're getting a ton of love I
think it's pretty obvious that folks
loved it uh thank you so much for that
very practical and very insightful
presentation and I don't know if you can
see the Q&A section but we have a ton of
questions here for you but I do want to
kind of kick off with the question of my
own and this is something that um I
think a lot of really early stage
Founders Wonder uh let's assume you know
I'm a startup founder I have a ton of
work to do because I don't have a
co-founder I'm still kind of building
out my product I'm still uh researching
my target audience is it too early for
me to start working on my brand or
should I be focusing on acquiring
customers like what's the balance or is
there no balance you know yeah that's a
great question Daniel so the the
conversation I think I have most often
with Founders is that branding is often
viewed as an exercise and um and it's a
it's a huge mistake because what happens
is if you if you treat it as an exercise
it only happens Ever every so often and
it becomes laborious long- winded um
expensive you know even if you go from
using a freelancer or you get someone in
for equity and then you maybe go to an
agency further down the line and pay a
little bit more and get the quality and
what have you
um it's it's still a mistake here's how
I think about it you should treat your
brand the same way as you treat your
product which
means get started early I'm a big
believer in branding from day one if you
really understand it so do this really
early on and it will it will Empower
every single thing you do so if you do
this if you understand your story early
on if you understand your brand early on
your vision uh what the kind of change
you want to see in the world the kind of
people you want to hire your story and
your brand if you do it properly and you
do it from day one is going to help you
understand the kind of business you want
to build the kind of company you want to
exist in the world and the more you
understand that the better you can
communicate it and the better you can
communicate it the faster people will be
able to understand and engage with you
um which leads to um much much more
exponential growth than you would get
without it so yeah it's it's something
that I believe you should do early on
and iterate often so include it in your
Sprints even if you want to put it that
way if you're iterating on a product
every week or every fortnite as part of
your Sprints you should also be um
discussing your brand and how that
should evolve and how that should change
and how you should explain something or
um uh
or communicate something to investors
stakeholders outside world customers
whoever it is um it's a hum it's a huge
part of building a business I think is
often um
misinterpreted and just to kind of add
to this from a very practical sense what
are some of those really important brand
elements that I need to be aware of
right like I do understand there's the
message and there's the copy right that
I might add to my landing page but what
are some of those other things that I
need to kind of really
tune the um the very high level
strategic elements of branding things
like mission and vision purpose or why
if you if you want to go that far um are
all very very important so I would add
those what I find often is people
misinterpret those branding elements to
be external things so I need to tell
everyone about my vision or or I need to
um make sure people know what our values
are when really you don't need to do
that at your stage what you do need to
use them for though is an internal tool
for Direction so you want to start
working on what your what you see the
change becoming in the world because of
what you do so you want to work on the
vision you want to start um
interrogating your values and if your
personal values are going to filter to
the company
or whether you're um whether you want to
you're willing to um uh maybe put them
you know one of yours aside because of
what you believe it should be for the
business and you know all those I think
they're very important because they will
shape how the company grows um going
back to Airbnb Brian chesky gives a
really good example sometimes where he
says it's really difficult if you've
built the company from the ground up to
then get someone else to helicopter in
the to the summit and run the company
when they haven't seen that journey and
I thought that was a great example and a
great um analogy to use because um that
is often what happens with a brand you
know a the founder doesn't do a brand
from day one and it doesn't build and
instead um gets to the top or gets
funding or whatever that means for them
and all of a sudden decide oh we we
should spend a bit of money on the
brands now and then it's a whole like
you got to break the business apart just
to put it back together again to figure
out what the values are in the brand so
doing these things like values uh
mission and vision story is really
important not just for customers and
investors but internally as well you
know who who do you think you're going
to hire where do they come from what's
their background and and who do you want
included in this in this journey that
you're going on I
guess awesome so there you have it folks
brand from day one
awesome so we let's go to um some of our
audience questions here and we have this
really great one from Emmanuel he asks
how can I build a story if I'm not
directly implicated in the problem or
solution yeah it's great question
Emanuel so
um you you can build a story of a
customer um because they will understand
the problem and the solution um so what
you're trying to do really is you you've
got to be much more curious about the
problem solution uh potential
customers um and who they are to to
build that story you you essentially you
have to build from you you can't go off
assumptions you know if it's your
problem what I find so what I find a lot
of people Founders um say is you know
this is my problem so it must be a huge
problem when actually that's not true
sometimes just because we've had a
problem we still need to validate that
that is a big enough problem for you to
solve in the market whereas if you
haven't been part of the problem then uh
you can't make those assumptions you
have to go and learn and be curious and
uh and learn from the customer so it
very much as part of the validation or
um the customer research process you
have to go to them and learn everything
you can um and not rely on your own
assumptions at all I hope that answers
your question a
moment awesome so just kind of um
staying on the storytelling um bit right
now we have this question which asks
what are your top tips for
differentiating your brand with a
competitor just to kind of uh change
this question up a little bit right
assuming you're in a category where you
have a lot of similar options right so
how do you tell a story
that might be different even though your
customers might have the same problem
right how do you stand out yeah exactly
so this is um this is quite difficult
thank you parck by the way um par in um
the FI London fall uh cohort
um thank you for the question so this is
quite difficult and it will take some
iteration uh so that's the first thing I
will say but if you're essentially you
know there's there's people people in
the same category as you they're solving
the same problem they might have the
same customers as you so that's the
first thing to figure out are you going
after the same target
market
um if you are uh what's great about that
is that someone else is doing some of
the work for you you just have to find a
differentiation Point whatever that may
be
um and sometimes that's just down to
your your Brand's personality or how
that develops so um and I've been trying
to think of a good example of this
um there's there's a there's a internet
service provider in the UK called cooku
Broadband they're basically BT affiliate
British Telecom Affiliated so they use
the same lines the same equipment
they're just a service provider so
they're just a brand on top of a service
that's already being provided elsewhere
but the reason that they are um picking
up some traction is because number one
their offer is very slightly different
they spotted a gap in the market for no
contract so just a monthly rolling
contract so that's kind of part of
product but their brand is quite quirky
and fun uh they're basically like the um
consumer brand version of dad jokes
because everything they talk about is
about eggs and chickens and you know if
they uh if you have to refresh something
they talk about the chicken and egg and
um so it's in their language so what I
think what I'm trying to to get out
parck is um if your problem and solution
is the same and you're trying to
differentiate from competitors you can
only really do that through your Brand's
personality your Brand's voice and by
essentially developing it as a as a as a
personality so not just in how you look
but how you sound and the words you say
and the phrases you say and you know
have a bank of things that you might say
there was um some of you will be will
recognize tide as a bank when they first
started they weren't actually a bank
they were just a ring fenced Barkley's
account um with um debit cards basically
they had this brilliant campaign for
businesses which was to give out
stickers and things and it was like I
love doing paperwork and then it had a
little line underneath that said said no
business owner ever or something like
that and they they essentially create
created or grew their brand off that
because they had a unique personality
even though they were doing the same as
a lot of other um competitors so yeah
it's it's all in how you use your brand
Brand's personality not just the the USP
or the problem or solution um that makes
sense
P awesome I hope that answers your
question paric so we have this question
here from Parnell Parnell asks you
mentioned winning customers investors
with only a proof of concept uh no
tangible service or product yet can you
walk us through what they call selling
or storytelling on the come right uh I
I'm a little confused with the end of
the question here but I think what
they're trying to say here is how do you
shape your story for you know a proof of
concept right how do you tell that
story
so proof of concepts are actually great
the selling point of this was that I
didn't have a product I was essentially
trying to solve my own problem um so and
I'll tell you a little bit about this
so previous to me being in branding and
design becoming a designer I was in
financial services for 10 years I
started off in private medical insurance
in the UK and then um grew a a broker
essentially so an insurance broker and
eventually we both got qualified and
started doing mortgages so we would do
mortgages for houses um in the
UK I think it was almost immediately
when I entered the mortgage industry I
had been in insurance for so long where
everything was online and it was really
easy to do an application and uh there
was no paperwork involved and then I Ed
mortgages and it was the opposite it was
like traveling for hours I had to
because of the the regulation we had to
sit face to face with a client uh and
then I had to travel home and I had to
do the research present a
recommendation um the whole process from
start to finish took anywhere from 10 to
15 hours per client before I even knew
whether I was going to get paid or not
and if they failed the application I'd
have to start all over again now um I
could see that there was probably four
or five off-the-shelf softwares that I
could either get for free or by paying
20 $30 a month that if I could just link
them um through apis is what we
understand them as now but if I could
just link them in some way and make them
work together
autonomously I could make this process
an less than an hour um and that's what
I did I went and got off the shelf
software I put together the proof of
concept I used zapia to basically link
them and essentially started generating
business for my own mortgage broker
business with this proof of concept um
the story I told you was just then was
the exact same story I put on LinkedIn
uh that I told people at networking
events that I uh told people at industry
Awards and peer reviews and um regulator
meetings and all the rest of it um and
it was through that that I started to
gain traction and and interest from um
from not only people in the industry but
investors as well so I've got time
timing lights in here have to tell to
turn on every now and again um and um
yeah that's that's the exact same story
that I told them at the time it was I've
got this problem and I needed to solve
it uh I don't have the resources to go
and build this but I've kind of built it
with off the shelf software and uh so I
met with a few investors and eventually
they said we didn't realize at the time
that this wasn't a product we we thought
it was already built and I said no and
they said well we can't we can't invest
in something that isn't built yet and I
was like that's very strange I Now
understand that as ridiculous because
people invest in things that aren't
products all the time um so that didn't
happen but one company did say yeah we
don't care come build it for us uh and
that's what
happened um uh but yeah so hopefully
that answers your question but um you
the the benefit of it being a proof of
concept concept and not a product is I
have nothing to show I have to tell you
the story of what my problem is and how
we're going to solve
it awesome so what I really like about
your example there is I think it also
shows how Scrappy you are as a Founder
right Scrappy and resilient and just uh
Innovative and creative if that makes
sense and I think if you're talking to
an investor
particularly in this environment right
where it's kind of tough uh for you know
very early proof of concept stage
startups to raise funds I think that's a
good side because essentially everybody
kind of knows right investors invest in
people not necessarily just the idea or
the
product yeah exactly yeah I think they
knew that this was going
to uh my thing anyway I think they knew
that this was going to change or pivot
or have to be tailored uh in some way or
um targeted in some way and it did
eventually eventually um had to be
tailored for what we call in the UK the
shared ownership Market or the
affordable housing market which is a
very strange long process if you want to
buy a house um uh so yeah this this was
a great solution for that so it ended up
pivoting and being a very simple and
straightforward solution for a really
complex
problem awesome awesome so we have a
pretty interesting question here from
Noah Noah asked if my solution answers
different pain points uh for different
Persona should I be telling multiple
stories or should should I just focus on
one lead
story great question uh no I think it is
um it's a great question Noah so the
context of in which that I teach people
to tell stories and and walk people
through telling brand stor specifically
um the context of that is usually in
something like this like a presentation
or a talk or something and I can never
get as much detail uh as is required to
do something um to tell a larger story
or context behind a something like this
so it's a great question to ask the
short answer
is a little bit like a Hollywood movie
you have the movie you also have scenes
you also have characters and essentially
what you want to do is you want to build
up the story with all of those different
elements as you get in a movie so you
want to
understand the characters personas in
this case right you want to understand
what their pain points are how they
differ um and then later on you might
want to understand what their
relationship is to each other do they
ever see each other do they not do they
ever cross paths it's really interesting
as a a slightly strange example of this
is if you ever see two people walking
down the street with sunglasses on and
one is unbranded from a supermarket that
maybe cost $25
and one is a
$780 pair of uh Prada sunglasses or
whatever um what you'll find is that
they're from the same Factory and
they're the same model just one has a
logo on it and one doesn't but it
doesn't matter because those two people
will never cross paths or very rarely
cross paths right they're not going to
bump in they're not going to be friends
that are going to go oh where did you
get them sunglasses and got mine from
Prada or got mine from the supermarket
or what they're just not not going to
happen but understand in the that
context in a story is actually quite
important because it might affect
something further down the line so um in
the short answer to your question is
that think about it like a movie and
have the scenes and the chapters and the
characters outlined as a whole and then
yes if you have multiple personas that
you're solving that problem for then um
then outline those as well because your
solution might affect them differently
and it might actually affect your
customer Journey down theone when you're
doing product development or building
something awesome I love that answer
it's kind of like a movie right I love
that uh okay so we have a question from
AA uh she has two questions here but
because we're kind of short on time and
uh unfortunately so we'll just kind of
look at the second question which I
thought was super interesting uh are you
required to create a story for both your
customers as well as investors uh how do
these stories
differ great question um either or and
both is the short answer but um
so I I think first of all you want to
have the customer story and the reason
for that is that even if you're talking
to an investor they are going to want to
see that you've thought deeply about the
problem that you're solving and that
you've either gained traction or you've
got good understanding of it um from
their point of view so I would do the
customer story first if you are
targeting investors and that there's
quite a
big um Trend I guess you could call it
at the minute about people trying to
find sector specific investors because
that's not always the case but um people
may be
finding
um like impact investors is a really
good example actually so if you only
want investment from good money that
comes from a good place and they don't
invest in oil or you know whatever it
might be um then um it becomes really
beneficial to do a investor story as
well because as well as letting them
know that you understand the customer
deeply you're also telling them a comp
compelling story about them becoming
part of something bigger than that a lot
of impact investors in this example want
to drive change so they want to become
part of it they want to shout about it
and they want to tell people that
they've invested in this company because
they're doing good things um so yes I I
would do customer story first uh it
would help you understand your customers
as well as investors and then in
investor story as well um and and just
like the last question they should form
the overall movie if you like a movie
script or the overall story as part of
that and actually going back to the last
question and very relevant to this you
know um the analogy for what I'm saying
about uh characters crossing over is
like superhero movies you have
Spider-Man and then you have you know uh
Iron Man or whatever and then all of a
sudden they're in the they're in the
same movie and then someone else comes
Captain America's there and Fantastic 4
or what have you um you know that's
that's still a movie script and the
you've understood previously like movies
ago um if they're going to cross paths
or you know if that's going to happen or
not um yeah anyway I go what I
digress awesome so okay uh unfortunately
we are really short on time here so what
we'll do is we'll take one more question
before we jump into our networking so we
have this question from Melena and she
asks is it is it good if all founders
follow the same pattern of Storytelling
or is it better apologies for the noise
at the back
fireworks uh sorry guys uh yeah so the
question is is it good if all founders
follow the same pattern of Storytelling
or is it better if you differentiate
right um they believe that you know it's
always good to be unique or you know
what's your perspective on this is there
a framework that you should follow or
should you kind of look to do your own
thing with this yeah so um yeah great
question Melena so um and
hello uh yeah look everyone everyone can
use a story framework um the thing
that's going to differentiate you a
little bit like the Park's question is
your your Brand's personality and how
you communicate it the storytelling
framework isn't isn't the issue itself
um it is how you tell the story um and
just understanding what your what Your
what your personality is and your tone
of voice and how you want to get that
across um is what's going to
differentiate so everyone can use this
framework work it's why it works it's
why the others work the problem solution
framework the team framework traction
Etc it's why they all work it's just
sometimes the order in which we tell the
story in or or the order in which we
pitch in is the only thing missing from
making this an emotional buy and first
and a logical later um instead of what
it currently is which is I'm the founder
of this startup and um here's what the
problem is and this is how we're trying
to solve it which is very logical brain
we're just switching it round and we're
trying to tell the story from an
emotional point of view first to make
sure we get Buy in before we tell them
why it's a Nob brainer to buy in um with
their money um so yeah you can all use
the same framework there's an incredible
um there's a really good book that tells
the process of um Hollywood storytelling
specifically in movies and for marketing
uh called building a story brand um and
I would recommend for anyone to put your
headphones in uh go and get the audio
book get a piece of paper and spend four
hours doing this exercise um it will
make a humongous difference and I can
tell you that time and time again this
has if not doubled tripled uh the amount
of traction that you get in terms of the
number of users or whatever in a short
space of time it's a great
investment awesome awesome thank you so
much for that answer and believe it or
not a ton of people were asking
recommendation for books so I feel like
you answered that as well uh yes
building so it's building a story brand
by Donald Miller that's probably the the
most marketing Focus that that you can
use awesome awesome thank you so much
for doing this with us Danny uh we we
love the presentation we love the
Insight it's always really great to have
leaders from the Fi Network join us and
kind of share their knowledge with our
Global audience it was also really great
to have Founders from the FI London
program as well so thank you everyone
for uh those who attended and yeah
before we jump into the networking uh
Danny would you maybe share some parting
words any message that you want to give
the folks
here sure um yeah I guess just to
encourage you it's it's really easy
to um to treat branding as a as a I'll
do it one day kind of
exercise um and I just want to encourage
you that figuring this stuff out really
early is a great way not only as a
marketing sales branding exercise but
actually as a uh as a self exercise um
it's amazing how much I've learned about
myself by doing the storytelling process
um and a branding process and digging
into things like values and what I care
about in the world and what I want to
change in those things um so yeah treat
it as um some self-development and and
go and dig around a little bit you'd be
surprised what you
find awesome awesome there you have it
folks thank you so much for joining us
today uh if you're interested in
learning more about fi do visit us at
fi. um if you want to attend another
event we have um two events a week
happening uh so uh head on over to
fi. events uh we will now be jumping
into the networking portion Danny will
be sticking around so you'll see a table
with his name on it uh do let him join
the table first because I know
everybody's really excited to speak to
him but yeah so you'll have a chance to
talk to Danny I'll be there as well and
you'll hopefully be able to meet some
really really great Founders from across
the world thank you so much for joining
us today and I hope you all have an
awesome day
ahead
Ver Más Videos Relacionados
Branding 101: How To Build A Strategic Brand in 2024
Lec 25- Crafting customer value proposition, sustainable competitive advantage and positioning-2
How I changed my startups pitch deck to raise $2.3 MILLION
Brand Strategy For Designers: How to Get Started (Part 1)
How a Personal Brand Can Help Your Career | Grow with Google
Stop Hiding Who You Really Are: Be Authentic W/ Corey Poirier
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)