In the early 20th century American writer Ernest Hemingway made a bet with a friend who told him he couldn’t write a story in under ten words. It’s impossible, they said. Not one to give in, Hemingway came back with this one-line tale:
For sale: baby shoes, never worn
It really did have it all — an introduction, multiple characters, an emotional turn. Think about your favourite teacher at school or the stories your grandparents would tell you for hours. ‘Just one more story,’ you’d demand. Why did you want more? What makes a story so appealing?
People will tell you a pitch is based on a compelling story. A story does more than help spark an investor’s interest. It shapes everything you do — how you treat customers, whether you wear a suit or a hoodie, your company’s values.
During the week I heard oDesk Gary Swart speak. His ability to tell stories was immediately apparent. Each time, he held the audience in his palm. He made them laugh, engaged them. On Monday, he dropped by the Startmate offices in Redfern to chat with the company founders. He asked the founders gathered for topics they’d like to discuss. He picked up a whiteboard marker and made a list: the oDesk story, how to kickstart a marketplace, dealing with fraud, raising money. He was completely at ease as he sat on the table at the front of the room, and started to talk.
A few days later I sat down for breakfast at Sydney’s Shangri-La hotel, overlooking the harbour. We had organised an interview weeks before. Again, the same stories resurfaced. For me, it suddenly made sense. These stories had become part of the company’s folklore; in the early days, the site conveyed a maturity supported by a bunch of people running the “hamster wheel” behind the scenes. Smoke and mirrors. At first the site relied on people manually reading through incoming requests for contractors.
Now, 350 staff worldwide get up every day for the oDesk vision. Originally staff at oDesk would literally go and find the programmer in Romania, or the transcriber in France. ‘We need a developer in Romania, quick find someone!’, they’d say. Now these stories are now part of the company’s legend — details embellished, names changed.
Each startup has stories just like this. It’s the Sydney founder who works three nights a week in a restaurant then goes to Fishburners in the morning to work all day on his startup. It’s the Melbourne founder who has thrown her inheritance against the wall but has staged a comeback and is now paying herself a wage.
But the importance of storytelling goes beyond this. Everything that happens in your business — everything from finding customers to recruiting staff — needs to form part of your story.
Who is your customer? What’s their name? Why do I care about their problems?
Let me into their world.
The truth is Hemingway might not have even come up with his six-word tale. But what does it matter?
Everyone loves a good story.