How to Tell Your Story: A Simple Framework for Startups

BY OM MALIK
How to Tell
Your Story
A Simple Framework for Startups

Your values
are your story.
Be true to yourself.

How should I tell my company’s
story?
And what will entice reporters to
write about us?
We get questions
like this from startup
founders all the time…

Instead, what founders should be asking is…
What is my story?
Why is my startup’s story important?
And how does it fit into the greater context
of the world?

This leads to:
•• Scrambling to get attention at the last minute of a
news event
•• Treating PR as an afterthought
•• Defining storytelling success by short-term wins
•• Focusing on “quick hits” instead of a continuous
narrative
A common mistake
startup founders make
when pursuing PR
and storytelling:
An event-driven
approach to
media relations

Instead, startup founders should be thinking about…
•• Defining their message
•• Creating a long-term plan that amplifies that message continually
•• Understanding the trends unfolding in their market and shaping the
demand for their products
•• Providing meaningful context as to why their mission matters
•• Establishing themselves as subject matter experts
•• Building long-term relationships with reporters

Founders
must shift their thinking from tactics and
short-term content wins to long-term
strategy and impactful narratives that
develop continually over time.

Meaningful Storytelling
Example
“Six Ingredients to Watch Out for If You Have
Sensitive Skin”
-Self Magazine
Why is it meaningful?
The story supports Madison Reed’s long-term,
aspirational narrative and mission “To make luxurious,
at‑home hair color with ingredients you can feel
good about.”
AMY ERRETT OF MADISON REED

Now, let’s look at how to set the stage for
meaningful storytelling.
Before you pursue PR and relationships with the media, ask yourself
the following questions…

A common answer to this question is “everyone.”
Yet it’s impossible for a PR agency or team to be
successful when targeting all audiences.
Instead, identify your key audience (and be very specific).
Also, know that your audience could change as your
product evolves over time.
Who is my
audience?
1

All leaders should be well versed in telling your story
internally and externally.
Because if you can’t tell your story well to your team, you
can’t tell it well to the rest of the world.
Do members of
my leadership
team “get”
why our story
matters and
know how to
tell it well?
2

Some indicators that you’re not ready for PR include
the following:
•• Your startup is struggling to define its mission
or message.
•• You may change your startup name in the near future.
•• Your product is not yet ready for the public (bugs,
extremely limited offerings).
•• Your company is still in “stealth mode.”
•• Youdonotwanttodrivetraffictoyourwebsite.
•• You or other senior leaders are not comfortable
talking with the media and require further
media training.
Am I ready for
PR now?
3

It’s better to wait
until you’re ready than to tout your company
prematurely, as the latter can lead to lost
opportunities.

Consider your desired results before pursuing PR.
•• Are you looking to grow brand awareness so you
can appeal to potential hires?
•• Is your goal to drive qualified leads or gather
demo requests?
•• Do you want to establish yourself as a subject matter
expert within your industry?
What’s the ideal
end goal?
4

When you
communicate
clear goals
to yourPR agency, PR practitioner, or in-house
storyteller, you set them up for success.

When you decide you are ready to invest in
PR and brand storytelling, here are a few
things to keep in mind…

Short-term wins vs.
a long-term narrative
By default and sometimes in a rushed manner, startup founders think of
storytelling in terms of short-term, sensational content wins.
This could take shape as a brief mention in TechCrunch that doesn’t explain the
greater context of why your startup matters or a how-to blog post that goes viral, but
doesn’t actually help you reach tangible goals.
While these short-term wins may drive traffic and create brand awareness, they may
not support your long-term narrative.

How to think about your long-term narrative
•• Consider the human needs your product satisfies.
•• Explain why what you’re creating matters.
•• Focus on what will resonate with key audience segments.
•• Clearly articulate your company’s mission.
•• Repeat key messages to the media and in the content you produce.

Understanding the effectsof long-tail PR
•• Stories that continue to capture attention long after they publish
contribute to “long-tail PR.”
•• While attention can spike on the date of publication, value continues
to grow over time as a piece of online media is found and referred to
again and again.

It’s not about reaching everybody through
The New York Times now. Instead, it’s about seven
million blogs and learning to communicate with
those fragmented audiences or communities.
Traditional PR is oriented around mass media.
The new era is about niche media. That is PR 2.0.
It’s also “Long Tail PR.”
In the trade journal Daily Dog,
True portfolio founder and former
editor of Wired Chris Anderson
shared his perspective on long-tail
PR in terms of extending one’s
message across niche communities:

A storytelling timeline for startups
Here’s an example of how PR-documented milestones and contextual narratives intertwine over time.
ACQUISITION
IPO
EXIT
ORIGIN
STORY
Customer Win
Case Study
Partnership
Announcement
News Release on
Company Momentum
Product
Announcement
Executive
Hire
Founder
Proﬁle
Thought Leadership
Content
Thought Leadership
Content
Ampliﬁcation of
Company Mission
Founder Established
as Industry Expert
SERIES A SERIES B SERIES C SERIES DSEED
PR Milestones
Contextual Narrative

Think of your startup’s storytelling strategy
in two parts:
1 PR- and content-driven documentation of company milestones.
2 Stories that point to your long-term narrative, entice meaningful
dialogue and emotion, and establish you as a subject matter expert
in your industry.
These two parts are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are
interwoven and contribute to big-picture storytelling.

Announcing a seed financing round may be the perfect
time to partake in a feature interview where you describe
why you started your company, the passion behind the
project, and an explanation of the need your product
satisfies.
This will help you hit two birds with one stone:
funding announcement + founder profile.
For instance…

What does “building your long-term narrative”
look like in action?
Let’s explore it through an example…

Meet Fractyl
The Scoop
•• Type 2 diabetes is a massive problem that affects
tens of millions of Americans.
•• We all know someone who is suffering from this
illness, but rarely do they reveal how much it impairs
their everyday lives.
•• Fractyl has a strong human interest story, medical
technology story, and story of innovation that people
affected by metabolic diseases will be eager to read.
A medical technology company working to
cure type 2 diabetes through a minimally
invasive procedure.

Once you know the nuts and bolts of your narrative, you must then
practice telling it to various audiences.
•• To understand the language of various types of news outlets,
read those publications and get familiar with the types of content
they feature.
•• Great PR practitioners will prep you on what interests individual
reporters, what they’ve written in the past, and how your story can
best appeal to them.

Let’s practice telling Fractyl’s narrative to various audiences:
STORY TYPE NARRATIVE OUTLETS*
Human Interest Fractyl could change the lives of the millions of Americans affected by type 2
diabetes. This includes Jane Doe, a single mom who struggled with diabetes and
the scary prospect of insulin therapy. Since undergoing Fractyl’s procedure, she
now has new hope.
The New York Times
Health Care Editor at
The Washington Post
Medical
Technology
This is how the procedure works: we rejuvenate the portion of the small intestine
that is altered by modern diets, which helps to reverse insulin resistance.
Medical Journals
Popular Science
Innovation We’ve been thinking about type 2 diabetes all wrong. To date, western medicine
has focused on issues with the pancreas when treating type 2 diabetes. We think
this disease is actually rooted in the gut, and here’s why…
TED Talk
Fast Company
Inc. Magazine
General Fractyl is a medical technology company on track to reverse insulin resistance
and resulting metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes. Here’s why the
co-founders are uniquely positioned to succeed and what this innovation could
mean for health care.
Wired
Techcrunch
The Verge
Wall Street Journal
* Many of the publications listed above are considered top tier and are difficult to land. If you are very early stage, start with a
healthy mix of niche publications and online media first, i.e., set realistic goals for each stage of your business.

•• You only have a few seconds to make an impression.
Using a proxy is a shortcut and attaches the baggage
of the other company to your brand.
•• Entrepreneurs should be great at describing their
product with their own words, in few words. What’s
your 10-second pitch?
Don’t use a proxy to
describe your company.
“The UBER of X”

•• Start building relationships with niche reporters
and influential bloggers early on.
•• Connect with fellow industry experts to talk shop.
•• Meet with contacts regularly to discuss
industry-relevant events.
•• Don’t wait until you have hard news to contact
a reporter.
Don’t wait until you need
something to reach out.
The Godfather
approach to
relationship
building

Invest time in
relationships
and you will see the fruits of your labor.
Reporters are more likely to ask for your
opinion once trust is built.

Buzzword aside…
Here’s how to
think about
thought leadership

•• Hyper-focused commentary on timely trends within
your industry
•• An article predicting the future of your industry
•• Selective interactions on social media where joining
dialogue helps to establish you as an industry leader
Thought
leadership is:

•• Medium posts about topics that don’t have anything
to do with your industry
•• A blog post covering your latest product
announcement
•• What’s already been said and done
Thought
leadership
is not:

Controlling your
message and
establishing trust
Both PR and brand-owned content help
you tell your story, but with different levels
of control. Find your balance of both for a
comprehensive storytelling strategy.

•• You can drive the conversation in an interview with a
journalist, but they ultimately hold the key to how your
story will be represented.
•• A great PR person will secure these opportunities
and help guide the message as best as they can by
working closely with the reporter before and after the
interview.
•• However, there is zero visibility into the final story
prior to publishing.
PR
Low level of control
over message
High level of
authority and
audience trust

•• This includes your company’s press releases, blog posts,
LinkedIn posts, Medium posts, and other public-facing
communications.
•• Since you’re producing the content, you can control your
message fully.
•• But authority and trust must be built over time.
Brand-owned
content
High level of control
over message
Lower level of
authority and
audience trust
(at first)

Key takeaways
•• Storytelling is a long-term strategy.
•• PR is a tactic for delivering upon that strategy.
DON’T DO
Don’t reach out to reporters only when you need their help. Do look to your PR practitioner for opportunities that will
allow you to build those relationships over time.
Don’t tell your story the same way to every audience. Do consider your audience every time you pitch an idea or
produce brand-owned content.
Don’t take an interview with a reporter if you’re not yet familiar
with their publication.
Do familiarize yourself with the publications that align with
your industry and related industries.
Don’t expect your PR team and in-house storytellers to
automatically understand the long-term goals of your
company.
Do brief your team on the goals you are trying to achieve
through PR and storytelling to set them up for success.

Additional Resources
“How to Write a Good Blog Post” by Om Malik
“My Top 25 Daily Tech Reporters” by Om Malik
Wired’s Chris Anderson: “Start Practicing “Long-Tail PR””

About
Om Malik
Journalist Om Malik founded technology blog Gigaom in 2001. With seed funding
from True Ventures, he turned the one-man blog into a media company and
research firm. Not long thereafter, Om became a venture partner at True Ventures.
In 2014, he graduated to partner at True where he continues to invest in promising
networking and internet infrastructure technologies.
Om regularly writes for The New Yorker and provides commentary on tech trends
to broadcast channels including Bloomberg West, NPR, and BBC television and
radio. Om started writing about tech in the early 1990s at Quick Nikkei News
before joining the founding team at Forbes.com. After a short stint at HQ Asia
Pacific as an investment manager, he then returned to the media world as a
senior writer for Red Herring and later at Business 2.0. He published his first book,
Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist, in 2003.

Storytelling is
sharing your values.
Be true to your values

How to Tell Your Story: A Simple Framework for Startups

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