Tell Your Origin Story to Build Connection and Trust
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Some of the favorite work I get to do is with NextCycle Colorado. Led by my friend, Juri Freeman, they run an accelerator program who supports entrepreneurs with innovations around recycling and composting to save our planet.
NextCycle Colorado’s program culminates each year with a pitch competition in Boulder that I love to emcee. But that’s not what this post is about.
Pitch Lab helps these NextCycle entrepreneurs craft their origin stories in preparation for the pitch competition. Below is some of the tips they learn during our story selling session together:
Why Storytelling
Have you ever gone to a live comedy show, laughed hysterically, went home, went to bed, and woke up the next morning unable to remember a single joke? I have too. But if I asked you about your favorite movie of all time, chances are you could easily recall the basic plot. That's the power of storytelling.
Stories are sticky, memorable, and emotional. They work on a different part of your brain than facts, figures, and short data. As an entrepreneur pitching a new concept for composting and recycling innovation, telling your origin story at the beginning of your pitch is one of the most powerful ways to:
Differentiate yourself from your competition
Build stronger connections with your audience (investors, employees, customers)
Reveal your character and build trust
Take a listen to this origin story from Mile High Workshop, 2023 People's Choice award winner. How did their story make you feel?
Great origin stories tell people why you do what you do. They help you quickly build trust and connection, especially in a pitch competition environment.
5 Essential Elements of a Great Origin Story
1. Story Framework
Story frameworks like the story spine and the hero's journey are great in certain circumstances, but I personally don't like them for business storytelling. They're too complicated, and when you can't use the framework to your exact needs, it makes you feel like a poor storyteller.
Instead, use this simple storytelling framework that will work for you every time:
1. What's your setup?
2. What's the conflict of the story?
3. What's the resolution of the story?
That's it - setup, conflict, resolution. Keep it simple and straightforward.
2. Conflict / Inciting Incident
Conflict is the most important part of your story because without conflict, your story is just a series of events. When telling your origin story, your conflict needs to be the inciting incident.
What happened?
Where were you?
What were you experiencing (for better or worse) that forced you to take action and start off on your path of being an entrepreneur and starting your company?
Your inciting incident is the exact moment you decided this was going to be your path. This conflict is super important because it raises the "so what" factor of your story. A good inciting incident with strong conflict adds emotion, drama, and raises the stakes.
3. Brevity
As they say, brevity is levity. Do you know someone who is absolutely horrible (like Grandpa Simpson bad) at telling jokes and stories? Chances are, it's because their setup isn't brief enough.
When crafting your origin story, start with the inciting incident - the conflict. Then work backwards and only give as much information as needed to provide context for that incident. Your setup should be as brief as possible.
Over time, your origin story should get shorter, not longer. The more you tell it, the more succinct it should become.
4. Details
Details are what draw your audience in. When it comes to details, focus on quality over quantity. You don't need to provide too many details to paint a vivid picture.
For example, if you're describing a beach, you could say: "The sun was glistening on the water, the temperature was perfect, and I could feel the soft sand between my toes." Just these few evocative details can transport the listener to their favorite beach memory.
Concrete details also make your story sticky and memorable. When adding details to your origin story, think of it like a movie scene. What are the key details that will immerse your audience in that moment?
For a great example of this, watch Jeff Bezos’ origin story where he crafted desks out of doors in the early days. Those specific, concrete details make the story engaging and real.
5. Segue
The fifth essential element is the segue. This is all about story linking - how are you going to connect your origin story to your pitch deck and the problem your business solves?
Think about how comedians can cover a wide range of topics in a 45-minute set. They're able to do this because they use segues to seamlessly transition between bits. That's what you want to do with your origin story.
Bridge your story to your pitch in a natural way. This will help build trust, foster connection, and convey your "why" to investors, employees, and customers. Link your story to the challenges you're solving with your recycling and composting innovation.
Put It All Together
It's easy to tell a good origin story; it's really hard to tell a great one. Crafting an effective origin story takes practice and time. This is a process of months, not days.
You'll also need to adapt your story for different audiences. You don't need totally different stories, but you'll want to tweak things to ensure your story resonates with investors vs. customers vs. employees.
To become a better storyteller, start keeping a story file. Any time you get an idea for a story, write it down. Otherwise, you'll forget it. Take every opportunity to practice telling a succinct 60-90 second story, even if it's just in casual conversation. Always be testing and iterating.
Your origin story is a powerful tool to differentiate yourself from the competition, build stronger connections, and win more deals. Keep working at it, break a leg, and I know you'll do great!
Your Origin Story Checklist
✅ Develop your simple story framework of setup, conflict, resolution
✅ Identify your inciting incident that sparked your entrepreneurial journey
✅ Hone your story to be brief and succinct
✅ Incorporate concrete, evocative details to engage your audience
✅ Practice seguing from your origin story into your pitch
✅ Adapt your story for different audiences
✅ Start a file to capture story ideas and practice telling stories often
