So how does it feel to be a prophet? Yes, that is what you are, if you are a startup founder.
Think about it.
You woke up one day with a vision, an insight, an Aha! of such proportion that you KNOW it will change the world in your given business vertical. And you are determined to share it with the your ‘congregation’ – the businesses that make up your vertical
“OK”, they tell you. “Take it easy. I mean, seriously, think about it: You think that in the world of this vertical, worth billions, with all of its pedigreed business leaders, YOU, little you, figured out what no-one else has figured out? YOU are the one who figured out the missing-gap solution that is worth millions to billions of dollars?”
“Yep!”, you reply.
“OK”, they tell you. “Take it easy. Do you understand that for every 100 of you who think you have been touched by ‘the light’ of entrepreneurial inspiration, 95 of you will die on the Cross? And the cost of failure to startup founders and their families is no joke. You get that, right?”
“Yep!”, you reply.
“So you really, want to do this?”, they ask. “You really want to go out there and risk everything to bring your ‘message’ to the world, with a 5-in-100 chance of survival?”
“Yep!”, your reply.
Sounds like a prophet to me.
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So here you are, touched by business prophecy. You exist for one reason, and one reason only: You have a game-changing solution that is worth millions-to-billions of dollars for your business vertical. You have a HUGE money story.
With a value proposition that big, that game-changing, when you walk in the room and land your punch, your audience should react like they have been hit by the big, green fist of the Incredible Hulk. They should go flying backwards through three walls.
Yet instead, they look as if they have been sprinkled with pixie-dust by Tinkerbell.
At best, they look like they have been poked in the eye; you have managed to move them out of their comfort zone, but they are able to shake it off.
And you look down at your big, green fist and ask yourself, “What the heck just happened?” Why didn’t they go flying backwards through three walls? Why are they not as blown away as they should be?
Something is diluting in your punch. Something is diluting your impact.
There is only one of two reasons: Form or Substance.
We have all seen martial artists with light body-frames, who put their fist through several boards or bricks. And we have also seen individuals with huge physiques break their hand on the same stack of boards or bricks. Why?
Because form matters as much as substance.
You may, indeed, be a startup with a game-changing money story. But if your form is poor, you will still experience a Tinkerbell reaction in your high-value meetings.
Like martial arts, there is a model to this form. It starts from basics, and expands in its elaborate applications. We call this form Startup Alchemy.
Frosting vs. Cake
Too many times, startup founders are misled by creative-types selling storytelling. Unfortunately, many of these creatives have never founded and scaled a startup of their own, and so their advice is a bit like a history-of-war professor giving commands to a soldier on the battlefield. All of those creative ideas offer little value when the investor’s bullets start flying.
Remember this: There is a huge difference between business storytelling, or “strategic storytelling”, and sales-pitch storytelling.
As stated before, you exist because you represent an idea worth millions to billions of dollars. This is not theoretical. This is not fiction. It is either true, or it is not true. It is a Strategic Value Proposition. A factual, evidence-based money story. That is why your potential or actual customers are interested in you. That is why investors are interested in you.
Your audience is made up of smart business people. They know a huge money story when they see it. And if the cake is good, they will want a piece of it.
They are not fools. They will not be fooled by great-looking frosting (a sleek sales-pitch deck), if the cake (the Strategic Value Proposition) is garbage. And while cakes always sell better with frosting (yes, a nice design treatment of your deck is a good idea, if you have the budget), don’t get the cake and the frosting confused.
The business world is here for your cake. That business world includes customers, partners and investors.
Getting sharp on that strategic narrative, your money story, is everything.
Many, if not most, startup founders are inventors more than they are business people. And they make the mistake of telling a product story to their audiences, rather than a money story. Sure, your audience also cares about how you do it, but they are coming to the table because of what you do – and what you do is change the numbers on their spreadsheet.
We will get into this more later.