storystack - the role of narrative and story telling in your startup
TRANSCRIPT
STORYSTACKThe Role of Narrative and Story Telling in Your Startup
The Idea Village / New Orleans
March 26, 2014
PRESENTATION
• Live on www.alanweinkrantz.com blog & Slideshare
• Ask questions….I’m not here to “lecture…”
• Based on belief sets, principles, and experimentation
• Real world examples at the end
TODAY
• Learn about the role of narrative and story telling for your startup
• Take-away five steps you can apply through the end of 2014
• Build a body of work that will contribute to your being discovered
• How it can help lead to media coverage
• Add a layer of value to your brand
Background…
ABOUT
• Tech PR / Branded Journalism
• 30+ years…. been through major shifts & cycles
• U.S. and Israel
• 2nd time at Idea Village
Client Work 60% !
Mentoring / Volunteer 20% !
Branded Journalism 20%
My Mix….
YES, I’M ON…
• SoundCloud
• YouTube
As story tellers you have the opportunity to add a massive layer of value to your startup
What’s Branded Journalism?
The art of applying story telling and building narratives to support and
reflect a brand’s values…
Having a body of work separates your startup… all vying for attention
WHO’S HERE?
• Need 3 volunteers / 2 minutes each
• What’s your story?
• What makes you interesting?
• How do you….?
50 years
The Four Coders
Coders & Story Tellers
The Coders & Story Tellers of New Orleans
Rock & Jazz Music is code.
MENTORING
•Speaking / Writing / Observing / Watching
• Geekdom - San Antonio
• TechLoft - Tel Aviv
• TechStars Cloud - San Antonio
• MexicanVC (500 Startups) - Mexico City
• Microsoft Azure - Tel Aviv
GOOD NEWS :)
•Very low cost / no cost to create a start-up
•Big Idea
•Core team
•Strong will
•Servers / hosting
BAD NEWS :(
•Someone in New York, Madrid, San Francisco, Singapore, Tel Aviv, Mumbai is thinking the same thing as you are :(
•Hard to have a defensible position
•Hard to protect your IP
•Getting traction is tough
QUALITIES THEN...
•Strong Intellectual Property
•Defensible technology
•Strategic investors like Intel, AT&T, Cisco, Motorola
•Traditionally, VC funded
QUALITIES NOW
•No Intellectual property
•Nothing really defensible
•Strategic investors & partners - Friends, Family, Angels, 500 Startups, Google, Intel, etc.
•Up until recently....No funding, or angel, micro, friends & family funding
•Easy to run a virtual company... no real address, presence from a co-working space and an IP phone number
THE WORLD AS WE KNEW IT
•Hardware
•Software
•Telecom
•Security
•Bio Sciences
Go to School Go to College / University
Summer Job Travel
Go to Work
THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
•Consumer Web
•Mobile
•SaaS
•Subscription
•eCommerce
High School Start-Up Gap Year Start-Up
Year of Travel College / University
Start-Up Work
Startup Quit Day Job
Startup
The new tools of building your startup
Technology Stack
LAMP Java
Python OpenStack
Ruby AWS
StoryStack
Blog YouTube Instagram Twitter LinkedIn
SoundCloud FaceBook
WHY
• Builds a new type of defensible position
• Your body of work helps you define who you are
• Media can discover and cover you
• Can lead to new types of unexpected deal flow
StoryStack
Story
Narrative
Voice
Engagement
Discovery
STORY
• Sets the stage for the heart and soul of your company
• Builds and expresses culture
• Attracts customers, partners, media, etc
VOICE
• Techie
• Businesslike
• Expert
• Fun
• Leader
NARRATIVE
• Connected events
• Gluing your story together
• Ties your channels together
• Helps you express, connect and engage with your ecosystem
ENGAGEMENT
• Lets you listen
• Give your customers / partners a voice
• Enables amplification of your story
• Which can lead to….
DISCOVERY
• An act of faith
• People are searching for you
• Let them discover you
• Find others
• Get discovered, covered by media
content (curated,
contributed, posts)
socialcommenting
writing
Branding your startup with content adds a unique layer of value
Your Startup’s Voice
BRANDED JOURNALISM EXAMPLES….
• News
• Content
• Story Telling
• Media
WHAT’S YOUR VOICE ?
• Techie
• Fashion
• Sports
• Music
• Culture
EXECUTION…
• Agree to some basic milestones
• Don’t be afraid to write
• Don’t publish until you feel comfortable doing so
• Build out an editorial calendar
• Share the responsibility with your co-founders
EXECUTION
• Decide on the outposts (channels)
• Allow 90 days to get the process going
• Use stock tools
• Your SmartPhone is a very powerful story telling platform
SUGGESTED READING
!
• www.adweek.com/topic/branded-content
• www.digiday.com
• www.battellemedia.com
• www.ragan.com • all photos (except for The Beatles, BB King, etc) by me.