Danny Matthews' Guide to Compelling Startup Narratives

Summary

In 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

00:00

🎤 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.

05:03

🌟 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.

10:03

🧠 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.

15:03

📈 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.

20:05

🛠️ 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.

25:07

🚀 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.

30:10

🤝 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.

Keywords

💡Brand Story

A compelling narrative that connects the brand with its customers and investors by highlighting the problem it solves, the vision it represents, and the emotional journey it invites its audience to embark on. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of creating a brand story that resonates emotionally before presenting logical facts, as it can significantly impact the effectiveness of a pitch and the overall brand perception.

💡Emotional Buy-In

The process of engaging an audience's emotions to gain their interest and commitment before presenting logical or factual information. The video emphasizes that storytelling should tap into the emotional aspects of the brain, which is responsible for approximately 50% of buying decisions, to create a connection and build a persuasive argument.

💡Pitch Frameworks

A structured approach to delivering a business pitch that typically includes elements such as the problem being addressed, the solution offered, the market opportunity, and the team behind the venture. The speaker argues that while these frameworks are commonly used, they often lack an emotional component, which is crucial for effectively engaging investors and customers.

💡Networking

The process of building professional relationships and connections that can offer support, collaboration, and opportunities for business growth. In the context of the video, networking is an essential part of events and meetups, allowing founders to engage with like-minded individuals and potential investors.

💡Proof of Concept

A demonstration or a version of a product or idea that验证s its feasibility and potential value in the market. It is often used to attract investment or partnerships before full-scale development. The speaker shares his experience of securing funding based on a proof of concept, highlighting the power of a compelling story in the absence of a fully developed product.

💡Investor Engagement

The process of capturing the interest of investors and maintaining their involvement throughout the development and growth of a startup. It involves clear communication, demonstrating the value proposition, and establishing an emotional connection. The video emphasizes the importance of storytelling in investor engagement, as it helps investors see themselves as part of the startup's journey.

💡Personal Transformation

The change or growth that an individual undergoes as a result of engaging with a product or service. In the context of branding and storytelling, personal transformation is a powerful narrative tool that illustrates the impact of the brand on its customers' lives. The speaker suggests using personal transformation as a key element in brand storytelling to show the 'before and after' state of customers.

💡Hollywood Storytelling Blueprint

A narrative structure often used in movies where a hero wants something, encounters a problem, meets a guide who provides a solution, and takes action to achieve success while avoiding failure. The speaker suggests adapting this blueprint for brand storytelling, positioning customers as the heroes and the brand as the guide, to create a compelling and engaging story.

💡Founder's Story

The personal narrative of the founder that explains the origins of the startup, the challenges faced, and the vision for the future. While traditionally considered central to brand storytelling, the speaker argues that the founder's story should not be the focus but rather the narrative should center on the customer or investor as the hero.

💡Customer Journey

The process or experience a customer goes through when interacting with a brand, from the initial awareness to the point of purchase and beyond. The speaker emphasizes understanding the customer journey and their emotional needs throughout it as a critical component of effective brand storytelling and pitch creation.

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