Your pitch should be a hero’s journey

How to use the world’s oldest and greatest storytelling template to sell your startup’s story

Adapted by Sunny Su for startup pitching for NC State University Entrepreneurship: Andrews Launch Accelerator

Source (by Jon Itkin): https://medium.com/article-group/the-only-first-call-deck-framework-you-need-a5093f9649a0

Art: Alexei Vella

Storytelling will always be crucial

Storytelling is the act of capturing an audience’s imagination.

It’s the most precious skillset in pitching.

That will never change — because it can’t.

Entrepreneurs must tell stories because our success depends entirely upon sparking the imagination of our stakeholders.

Those stakeholders must imagine themselves owning the product. Stories put words and images in their heads to help them do just that.

The story-driven pitch deck is A powerful tool

Your pitch deck is one of your most powerful storytelling vehicles.

It’s the tool that every person in the org uses when speaking to a prospect. It’s what helps you tell a consistent story at scale.

Of course, there are many types of pitches. There are decks for investors and decks for customers. But here I’m talking about the deck that sells the strategic benefit of using your brand and and your product.

Any business leader will tell you: creating that kind of captivating story can be difficult.

This is especially true when you’re selling something technical to a sophisticated audience. This is where most entrepreneurs often fail.

Why? Because they’re too close to their business. Because each feature feels special. And because they decline to realize the most effective shortcut of all—every story is the same.

Every story is the same

The details of those stories aren’t the same, no. But the template for those stories is.

Here, the conversation about templates often turns to Y-Combinator Pitch Deck, or any number of deck templates. But those templates, too, are almost always variations on the oldest story template in the world.

You probably learned about it in high school English class. It’s called the hero’s journey:

It’s a pretty simple cycle:

1. A hero, living in an ordinary world, hears a call to adventure

2. Meets a mentor

3. Receives a supernatural aid

4. Passes the threshold

5. Finds helpers

6. Endures hardships

7. Transforms into a stronger version of herself

8. Pays a price

9. And returns to their normal life, changed.

There are many variations of this journey, but they’re all basically the same. It’s such a ubiquitous template that it provides the structure for many of your favorite Netflix shows and movies—from The Wizard of Oz to Toy Story 3, from Mary Poppins to The Matrix.

Unique details, same storytelling stages.

A pitch deck is a hero’s journey

There’s a reason screenwriters use this template!

A movie asks the audience to imagine themselves to be the protagonist in a fictional world.

To be the hero. To go on the journey. To win.

A pitch deck does the same thing. You’re asking your audience to imagine themselves as the hero.

That is, you are asking them to see a slightly different version of themselves — one that owns and uses your product, and is better for it.

One that goes on the journey. One who wins.

So when you construct your pitch deck, you’re simply telling the audience their journey as a hero.

You’re the mentor. The Gandalf. The Obi-Wan. The product and the brand.

The hero’s journey adapted for your startup Pitch

So! That said, here’s the template we’ve used with startup clients and global brands like MorningBrew, Nohbo, Neurun, CleanRays, NexReality, The Emmy Awards, Adidas, Jacuzzi, and many others to help their audience imagine themselves as winning the day.

1. Establish the context
   The world is changing around your audience. Set that stage. Tell them what’s happening.

2. Deliver an insight
   This insight is a hint toward navigating the changing world. Thus, this insight should…

3. Introduce a decision
   Your audience can either remain unchanged (and thus be passed by the changing world), or they follow the path suggested by the insight. This is the beginning of their journey. Think Luke on Tatooine in Star Wars.

4. Show what’s at stake
   Show what’s likely to happen. Who wins and loses in this new world? Establish urgency, gravity, instrumentality. What happens if you don’t act?

5. Introduce yourself (and your team)
   Pretty self-explanatory. Say what you are, with clarity and concision.

6. Show what you can do
   Explain the benefits of your business, product, or service.

7. Prove you can be trusted
   Reveal your pedigree, history of success, etc.

8. Show how to take action
   Tell them what the next step, with you, is.

Print this out and try it for yourself!

Try infusing this storytelling structure into your pitch, and let me know how it goes

Questions? Disagreements? Amendments? Get in touch on this fine website, or over on Instagram at @solestio