Storytelling (or ‘storyselling’) is all about inverted triangles
I really know how story connects to audiences. It is an intuitive skill that I have honed over the years.
My approach is kinda like the journalist's inverted triangle theory where you share the most important info first - but I've tweaked it a bit.
I start by getting the audience on the same page and then taking them on a journey into the detail.
Otherwise you are in danger of giving people details when they have nothing to 'hang' that information onto, so it floats about in their head keeping them slightly distracted from having their full attention on your content.
Let me show you an example and you can see what you think about my approach....
Storytelling is really important in the start-up world as investors are looking at hundreds of decks, and you may have a problem you are solving in an area that people don't fully understand.
Here is a traditional pitch deck format:
1. Title page / Content page / Introduction
2. Founders / Team / Top team / The people / Leadership team
3. Company purpose and mission / The problem
4. Our solution & traction / HOW we solve the problem
5. Why now & Why us?
6. Market size / TAM/SAM/SOM model
7. Our service/product / Our USP and competitive advantage
8. Business model / Financials & forecast revenue/p&l / Pricing / Unit economics
9. Competition
10. Use of funds
11. Contact us / Let's talk / Call to action
But to me the above has all the info out of sync. For instance the founders/team info is irrelevant until I know the problem/solution as how will I know that their experience is right?
You are telling me the market size but I have no idea what your business model is until I almost get to the end of the deck.
Here's the order I use - you will see I make good use of the classic 'hero's journey' in the upfront bit too.
1. Title page / Content page / Introduction
2. The Problem (the world without your product plus some stats to support valid this lens, why now, why us)
3. Our service/product (the hero)
4. Business model / Financials & forecast revenue/p&l / Pricing / Unit economics
5. Market size / TAM/SAM/SOM model
6. Competition / Our USP / competitive advantage
7. Founders / Team / Top team / The people / Leadership team
8. Use of funds
9. Contact us / Let's talk / Call to action