B2B SaaS series of webinars. Soft Skills: Storytelling for SaaS founders

Richie AI's B2B SaaS series of webinars is on 🔊. The webinar about storytelling was a great success! We are thrilled to announce that the recording of the webinar with Joshua Schulman, the  public speaking and business communication guru, is now available on YouTube.  Follow the link to watch the full version of the captivating webinar and Q&A session -  https://youtu.be/eYknLBd12TM

Joshua talked about the following:

    - How to start a story

    - Hooks

    - Six-word stories

    - Tips for storytelling

    - Share session

    - Q&A

If you would like to share the webinar insights with your colleagues, feel free to share the recording: https://youtu.be/eYknLBd12TM

See you at the next event!

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Soft skills: Storytelling for SaaS founders

Storytelling is one of the best ways to pitch to your investors. SaaS founders can present their ideas in a story-driven format. Effective storytelling is a fine skill. A good pitch presentation with storytelling should be brief, concise, start with a hook, and resonate with its specific audience.

The Importance of pitching

Raising funds is an inevitable part of being an entrepreneur. In fact, raising money is as important as any other part of running a business. But raising capital for a startup is a challenge because of a lack of experience and limited resources. The only way to compensate is with a perfect pitch deck.

Your pitch deck will likely be your first communication with your investors. So it's vital to build the perfect one to raise credibility. Your pitch deck compensates for your lack of revenue projections, and it builds confidence in your startup.

The importance of storytelling

Storytelling is an effective form of client communication. Stories have been used to communicate human ideas and experiences to an audience since the beginning. And they remain effective today. A story brings your words to life.

Showing your investors a story is a great way to translate your ideas to them. You can communicate your motivation, your business's values, and your central business idea. Stories are also a great way to add personal charisma.

Stories build confidence and trust among investors. They feel like you're someone they can speak to and trust. A good story is all about making the audience understand what you understand and feel what you feel.

How to start a story

The first 10 to 15 seconds of a story are critical. Don't start with a scripted introduction. Look directly at your audience. And stand up when you pitch to them to occupy the screen. You'll start your story with a hook.

Hooks

A 'hook' is a literary technique that involves providing the audience with an interesting piece of information that draws their attention and keeps them reading. You want to give your audience a hook to capture and maintain their attention.

A secondary benefit of using a hook is that it calms down your anxiety and relaxes into a public speaking rhythm where you naturally expand your pitch.

Here are a few common hooks you could try:

1. Start with a quote. Many accomplished people throughout history have said profound and noteworthy things. Start your story with something they've said.

2. Use a statistic or a fact. Statistics are a powerful motivator because they convey factual information. Use a powerful statistic that captures the audience's interest.

3. Ask the audience a question. Asking a question is a great way to get the audience to think and mentally invest themselves in your story.

Six-word stories

Summarize your pitch in a six-word story. The short story could be funny, dramatic, sad, scary, or meet any other emotional mood. Writing a six-word story forces you to be concise and eliminate all the fluff from your pitch. It's vital to remove all the unnecessary pieces from your pitch to make it more powerful.

You could even transform your six-word story into your elevator pitch or use the 27 9 3 rule, in which you say 27 words in 9 seconds across three bullet points.

7 tips for storytelling

These 7 tips will help you deliver the most powerful story you can.

1.    Frame your pitch story in time.

Think of the beginning, middle, and end. That's the natural order in which people understand events. Take advantage of that fact by framing your pitch in the same order.

2.    Immediately get to the point.

Connect your story to the point of your pitch as quickly as possible. Everyone wants to get to the point as soon as possible.

3.    Know your audience.

After you know your audience tailor your pitch to them, their values, culture, and other characteristics. You want your pitch to resonate as deeply with your audience as possible.

4.    Only memorize the important aspects of your pitch.

Focus only on the most important bullet points of your pitch. Don't memorize the entire thing. Else, you'll end up speaking robotically and coming off as unengaging. Instead, your presentation should be as natural as possible.

5.    Be brief

Most pitches don't last longer than 5 to 10 minutes. Ensure your presentation fits your exact time slot. Do not create a presentation that lasts longer. Otherwise, you'll be seen as a rambler.

6.    Prepare FAQs

The audience is likely to ask questions at the end of your presentation. Save both your time and theirs by preparing for the most likely potential questions beforehand.

7.    Practice

Effective public speaking, presenting, and pitching are all skills, not talents. The only way to improve in any of them is to practice repeatedly. Practice your pitch as many times as possible.

In conclusion, storytelling is an excellent way to pitch your business ideas and goals to investors. Use the natural human tendency to resonate with feelings by giving your readers a story that convinces them to support you. To achieve this goal, your presentation should be brief, concise, have a powerful message, and be delivered organically. You don't want to read from a script or spend more time than necessary. Use techniques like the six-word story and the 23 9 3 rule to make your ideas more concise and remove unnecessary elements. The final presentation should be brief but powerful. 

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