While many founders often direct their focus to their product and go-to-market strategy, storytelling is foundational to the entrepreneurial journey. Whether it’s unlocking new funding rounds, attracting customers, or hiring and retaining employees, the ability of a founder to forge a connection with their audience is invaluable and could ultimately be the difference to a startup’s lasting success.
Reed Frerichs, Deal Flow and Portfolio Manager at Intel Ignite US was recently featured in Fast Company discussing the critical role of storytelling to the success of a startup. Drawing on his years of experience as an actor and producer in Hollywood, Reed now leads the storytelling workshop for the United States cohorts of Intel Ignite, Intel’s early-stage deep tech accelerator. In his role, Reed coaches founders to help them deliver value through sharing their stories.
Reed says founders must remember that they are the hero of their own journey, and having the courage to share vulnerabilities is an extremely powerful part of their story. However, founders should also keep their audience top of mind, in order to build rapport and inspire through an emotional connection in the storytelling process.
Reed’s biggest lesson from his Hollywood days? He says storytelling is “always a work in progress.” Whether tailoring messaging or adding new elements to the story, founders must learn to constantly adapt and evolve their storytelling.
Read more about how Reed is leveraging his storytelling experience from his Hollywood days and his advice for startup founders on how to become an expert in the art of storytelling in the full Fast Company article here.
