Storytelling Superpowers For 2023 | #01

Storytelling Superpowers For 2023

No. 01 — read time 4 minutes

Welcome to The Soloist, a weekly newsletter where I share timeless ideas and insights about life, business, and art.

Have you ever noticed that some people are just really good storytellers?

They captivate a room, draw all the attention, and have everyone hooked on each word.

Learning to tell stories is important in life.

In business, it's damn near a pre-requisite.

Most founders and entrepreneurs struggle with telling a story. How do I know this?

I've been in the startup game since 2014. I went through Y Combinator in 2015, raised a Series A in 2016, and coached, advised, or invested in startups since 2018.

I used to be bad at telling my company's story even though I'd always been a naturally gifted storyteller.

Then I learned that storytelling can actually be broken down to a science.

Here are 3 simple steps I use to tell captivating stories that are memorable, repeatable, and practical.

Framework 1: Storybrand One-Liner

The #1 killer of startup pitches and stories is thinking they need to cram down as many buzzwords as possible.

"Future of Work"

"Internet of Things"

"Creator Economy"

These mean nothing to the audience. Worse, they damage your credibility.

The Storybrand One-Liner exercise helps you cut the fat and get to the meat of your story. It goes like this:

1. Identify your customer's problem.

2. Explain your plan to help them.

3. Describe a successful ending to their story.

Sounds simple, right?

Here's the step-by-step plan:

Identify your customer's problem:

• Be specific

• Make sure it's a pain point

• Get it down to a sound bite

Example: "Aspiring entrepreneurs often struggle to explain what their business does..."

Explain your plan to help them:

• Make it feel like a new idea

• Make it understandable

• Make it brief

Example: "so we work with them 1 on 1 to craft the perfect one-liner story"

Describe a successful ending to their story:

• Make it the "controlling idea" of your business

• Make it something they want

• Make it brief

Example: "so they feel confident talking to potential customers, investors, and employees".

I highly recommend doing the one-liner exercise by watching the Storybrand video here:

Framework 2: The Hero's Journey

Telling a good story has nothing to do with you.

It has everything to do with your audience.

Your job is not to be the hero. It's to make your audience the hero.

What does that mean?

It means taking them through the hero's journey, as popularized by Joseph Campbell is his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces.

The Hero's Journey goes like this:

1. Departure: The hero receives a call to adventure and enters a special world.

2. Initiation: The hero faces challenges and undergoes a transformation.

3. Return: The hero returns to the ordinary world with new insights or abilities.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it's the root of countless stories dating back to the earliest days of mankind, and as recent as modern literature and film.

Star Wars. The Matrix. Lord of The Rings.

So how do you use this in business storytelling? Are you Luke Skywalker?

No. Your audience is Luke.

Your business is Yoda. The guide. The mentor.

Whether you're selling a new CRM, reusable rockets, or tax prep course, crafting a narrative is how you hook people.

Nobody cares about what you do.

They only care about what you can do for them.

Framework 3: Pixar's Story Spine

Pixar is one of the greatest storytelling companies in the world.

But most of their success can be boiled down to the following template:

Once upon a time there was . Every day, . One day . Because of that, . Because of that, . Until finally .

That's it.

Toy Story. Finding Nemo. WALL-E.

All use that structure.

If you pay attention, it's similar to the Hero's Journey and the Storybrand One-Liner.

Ashwin Kumar, a fellow YC founder wrote an excellent piece on using the Pixar Story Formula for startup pitches. I recommend checking it out as well.

Putting it together to tell a story

I've used the above frameworks countless times on investor calls, strategic partnership meetings, podcasts, and speaking appearances.

The goal is to make it brief, make it elicit emotion, and make it memorable.

Takeaways

1. Storytelling is a science that feels like art

2. The best stories all follow a similar structure

3. Putting your audience first is how to grab hearts and minds

4. Nailing your story through practice and repetition means you'll never feel awkward when someone asks "what do you do?"

I hope this week's newsletter was helpful. Storytelling is one of my favorite topics to talk about and I love seeing people go from a limiting self-belief of "I'm bad at telling stories" to absolutely captivating storytellers.

Some links if you want to go deeper down the rabbit hole this weekend:

• ​Pixar's 22 Rules Of Storytelling​

• ​Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks

• ​Made To Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

Thanks for reading.

-Tom

​P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

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