Lesson 4: Building Your Story - How to Talk About Your Company
Understanding Why Stories Matter
Think of every great business pitch like telling a story. When you tell your story well, investors can easily imagine your company's future. A good story helps them understand not just what you do, but why it matters and how big it could become.
The Four Parts of Every Great Business Story
Part 1: The Problem You're Solving
Start with what's broken in the world. For example:
"Small businesses waste 10 hours every week just doing paperwork. That's time they could spend growing their business. We know because we talked to 100 business owners, and they all faced this same problem."
What makes this work:
- Uses real numbers (10 hours)
- Shows you did research (100 business owners)
- Makes the problem feel real and important
Part 2: Your Solution
Explain how you fix the problem. Keep it simple enough that anyone could understand:
"We built software that turns a 10-hour paperwork nightmare into a 30-minute task. Business owners take a picture of their documents with their phone, and our system handles the rest."
What makes this work:
- Clear comparison (10 hours vs. 30 minutes)
- Easy to picture (taking a photo)
- Shows the clear benefit
Part 3: Why Now?
Explain why this is the perfect time for your solution:
"Three things changed recently: Everyone has smartphones with great cameras, AI got good enough to read documents accurately, and small businesses are finally comfortable using cloud software."
What makes this work:
- Shows you understand market timing
- Lists specific changes that make your solution possible
- Makes investors feel the opportunity is urgent
Part 4: The Big Future
Paint a picture of how big this could become:
"There are 30 million small businesses in the US alone. If we help each one save even 5 hours a week, that's 7.8 billion hours saved each year. At just $20 per business per month, this could be a $7 billion company."
What makes this work:
- Uses real market numbers
- Shows clear math
- Makes the opportunity size crystal clear
Practice Exercise: Writing Your Story
Take 30 minutes to write your story. Answer each question with one clear paragraph:
- What problem are you solving?
- Who has this problem?
- How do you know it's real?
- What does it cost people?
- How do you solve it?
- What exactly did you build?
- How does it work?
- Why is it better than other solutions?
- Why is now the right time?
- What changed recently?
- Why couldn't this work 5 years ago?
- Why would waiting be a mistake?
- How big can this become?
- How many customers could you have?
- How much might they pay?
- What other opportunities could open up?
Testing Your Story
Before meeting investors, test your story with three different people:
- Someone who knows nothing about your business
- Someone who works in your industry
- Another founder who has raised money before
Ask them:
- "What parts were confusing?"
- "What questions did it leave unanswered?"
- "Does the opportunity sound exciting?"
Common Story Mistakes to Fix
- Using Too Much Tech Talk
Instead of: "Our ML-powered OCR system uses advanced NLP..."
Say: "Our software reads documents automatically..." - Making Unclear Comparisons
Instead of: "We're 10x better..."
Say: "Our customers finish in 30 minutes what used to take 5 hours..." - Being Too Modest
Instead of: "We hope to grow..."
Say: "Based on our current growth, we plan to..."
Your Story Checklist
Before moving to the next lesson, make sure you can:
- Tell your story in under 5 minutes
- Explain it without any technical terms
- Include real numbers and examples
- Make the opportunity size clear
- Answer common questions easily
Homework
- Write your story following the four-part structure
- Practice telling it to three people
- Time yourself telling it - aim for under 5 minutes
- Record yourself and listen for unclear parts
- Write down all questions people ask you
Note: Remember, a good story takes time to get right. Don't worry if you need several tries to make it work. That's normal.