Written by Siddharth Karnala
Storytelling’s Value in Business
Storytelling is an invaluable, humble beginning for startups as it creates an avenue to build credibility on an emotional level, bring revolutionary ideas to life, and incorporate a human-interest element for engagement. Since startups are representative of the new and indeterminate, establishing credibility with investors and consumers is an essential first step through emotional appeals for the ultimate relevance to compel interest with storytelling as the only viable strategy. Behind every great idea lies an equally influential story that places it into a meaningful context for an authentic startup pitch fueled by a visualizing show-not-tell approach. Individuals naturally gravitate towards engaging with any cause stemming from a humanity angle that benefits a community, so a startup with a story conveying a mission statement beyond just turning fruitful profits will likely earn the coveted support to move forward. Given the above points, I resolve to further express the value of storytelling with anecdotes from my own experiences in a couple of instances.
Pitching Stories on Shark Tank
The personal experiences I will highlight are watching the entrepreneur television program Shark Tank and fundraising efforts for my power soccer team. Shark Tank is an ABC reality show centered on individuals pitching their business proposals to four investors who decide whether they are worthy of an investment deal. While watching, my observations revealed that the investors agreed to support individuals with a compelling story-oriented pitch focused on the profit projections, plus expected funds to receive, the overall motive behind developing their product, and how it is helpful for everyday individuals.
Fundraising Appeals in Power Soccer
Power soccer is the fastest growing adaptive sport in the world for individuals in power chairs to compete in a game similar to soccer where they utilize wheelchairs outfitted with metal bumpers to kick the 13-inch ball around an indoor basketball court while outmaneuvering opponents, which I play avidly with a team here in San Jose, the Steamrollers. Our fundraising efforts failed to yield productive results until 2015, when we changed the approach to spotlight personal player stories about the sport’s immense value outside just playing with speeches as well as illuminating imagery at every available public forum that resulted in the City of San Jose donating funds to purchase equipment namely the modified wheelchairs and the San Jose Earthquakes forming a partnership with us.
As evidenced here, storytelling is the universal bridge to connection in all aspects so that people can see the value in extending support.
Bibliography
Simon, R. (2019, April 27). The Real Danger of Going on “Shark Tank”: Copycats. WSJ; The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-real-danger-of-going-on-shark-tank-copycats-11556357401
