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✍️Crafting Your Founder Story & Why It Matters

Author

Chandler Kirkman
July 14, 2023

Hey Business Owners,

Every business no matter how long it’s been around has a one of a kind founder story. The who, the what, the moment inspiration struck, and the moment the founder decided to act are all out there floating in the ether.

Chances are you’ve heard hundreds of founder’s stories. They’re featured heavily on social media, on TV, and in magazines because everyone loves a strong founder story.

“I was in law school when I decided I wanted to be a photographer. Only thing was, I knew nothing about photography and I didn’t have a camera.”

Two professional journalist friends saw an opportunity to launch a dedicated health and wellness media platform in 2017. Without knowing what would happen, they launched it anyway. The platform brought 5 million visitors in its first year.

While you may not be on Shark Tank anytime soon, there’s many reasons it’s worth taking the time to craft and own your business’ founder story.

In this newsletter, we’ll explore why founder stories matters, the key elements to include in them with examples, a few common mistakes to avoid, and the different situations where having a founder story ready to go can provide your business with more opportunities.

In 10 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

✅ why your Founder story matters

✅ what elements to include in a Founder story

✅ examples of unforgettable Founder stories

Why Your Founder Story Matters 💫 

#1. Storytelling works

When you’re engaged in a story, your brain activity acts as if you’re a participant in that story. As if you’re the main character/founder and their journey they go on is actually yours.

Functional MRI studies show our brains release happy chemicals when we follow our curiosity to find out what happens next in a story. This is why we listen to a fascinating podcast all night or binge-watch every episode of that new show.

#2. It’s Personal

Your founder story is unique to you and your business. While there may be elements that are usually included, there’s no way to fail. The story you tell can be long or short and include whatever you want. It’s your journey and telling it is one of the best ways to help you stand out and relate to your customers.

#3. Opportunities + Use Cases

Founder’s stories can be the difference between:

  • getting investors at launch or having to fund a business out of your own pocket

  • between making new connections and building your customer base or not

  • attracting top employee talent and scaling or staying stagnant in growth

  • between building your unique brand edge and being indistinguishable from your competition

How To Craft Your Story 📝 

#1. Identifiable Characters - Founder stories are written so we as listeners can get to know and root for the founder(s). Customers, investors, and future employees don’t want to work with faceless companies, they want to buy from, invest in, and work with other people like them.

#2. Include Genuine Emotions - Research has proven time and time again that having emotion in stories makes them more relatable and compelling. Simply saying the order of events of how the business was started while important to overall structure, isn’t the element that grabs attention. Think about your audience and how you want them to feel at the end of your story.

You may choose to change what emotions you focus on depending on if you’re sharing this story with customers who care more about your connection to what you’re selling (product or service), your business mission, and that you’re human just like them or with investors who care about whether you can survive adversity, how you’ll face challenges, and how you’ve previously overcome obstacles and remain determined to do what you set out to do.

#3. The Moment - Many founders forget to identify a specific place, time, or moment of when inspiration struck them. Instead they ignore time all together and say “we saw an opportunity, so we built X.” Your moment doesn’t need to be hyper specific either such as “It was a Tuesday at 9:01 and as the thunder roared outside, I had an epiphany.”

Think of a middle-ground moment to include like the first order you saw come in, the first time you held your finished book in your hands, the month that you graduated from college and realized there had to be another way to build X.

#4. Specific Details - Similar to emotions, you want to include specific details that whoever you’re telling your story to can relate to. If your clients are new parents, include a specific detail if you have one. If you’re trying to attract new employees, include a specific detail of how it feels to be part of a purpose driven mission and build something the world needs.

To find these specific details:

  • Think way back to when you first discovered your passion for writing, money, healing others, whatever it is that you do.

  • Think back to when you thought “there has to be a better way to do this.” What emotions were you feeling? what was the situation?

  • Look for the obstacles you’ve overcome to get where you are now. Examples: Building a prototype with recycled materials, guerrilla marketing with printed flyers, or how hard it was to get someone to take you seriously.

Watch Outs:

  • If you’re not the founder yourself, of course you can still tell the founder story. The story itself will stay the same but how you tee it up will change. Use personal moments as a transition into the founder story such as “In my first round of interviews, I was inspired by X.”

  • Avoid using corporate jargon or buzzwords. Nearly every business has a “commitment to excellence” for example. If you do end up using a buzzword, make sure to include how you and your business define it. If you’re not sure if a word is a buzzword, tell your finished founder story to a friend who’s not in your industry and ask them if specific words are vague.

STRONG FOUNDER STORY EXAMPLES 💪 

Spanx - Sara Blakely: Highly recommend listening to Sara tell her founder story on this episode of How I Built This.

One of my favorite parts of Sara’s story is how after all the trials and tribulations to get her original Spanx product made, she flew to Dallas to meet with a potential investor named Diane. The investor was starting to become uninterested in the middle of her pitch. Sara immediately changes the environment by asking her to come to the bathroom with her so she can first hand show how Spanx makes a difference in visible panty lines. It didn’t take long before Diane said it was brilliant and placed Spanx’s first order.

Mr. Beast - Jimmy Donaldson: Check out his full story in the linked blog post.

It’s hard to miss what Mr. Beast is up to these days. In addition to being one of the most subscribed to YouTube creators of all time, Jimmy also owns several side businesses such as Mr. Beast merchandise, Feastables, and Mr. Beast Burger. What you may not know is he started his first business as a teen selling digital items for a video game he loved or that while other YouTubers at VidCon go to parties at the end of the day, Jimmy hosts spaces where he and other creators watch and provide creative feedback on each other’s videos.

TRENDS 📈 , INSIGHTS 🧠 , & NEWS 📰 

ABOUT VERSA STRATEGY

Chandler Kirkman is the driving force behind Versa Strategy. She’s on a mission to elevate businesses’ marketing and empower Creative Strategists to think big picture about the business landscape.

In the past decade, Chandler has consulted with over a hundred businesses of various specialities from Fortune 100 companies to local small businesses. By infusing branding, advertising, and marketing efforts with her signature blend of creativity, strategic thinking, and enthusiasm, she cultivates a dynamic and empathetic approach that helps business owners better connect with their customers.

LET’S CHAT! [email protected]

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