Startups

3 Reasons Your Startups Story Is Fundamental

Published

11 years ago

Apr 20, 2015

A few weeks ago, in my corporate job, I was asked to participate in a sales training session that was all about creating compelling stories After completing the session I remembered times when my own founder / startup story attracted me to new clients.

When I go out to visit businesses every day, my entrepreneur journey connects me with my clients because they know that I have been in their shoes before and can give advice from my own personal experience. It’s very common for startups to be receiving advice from people who have only learned through traditional education, what it’s like to face a particular problem, but they have never actually faced it themselves. It’s this real world experience, told via your own personal story that attracts people to you.

So many times I have gone to visit a business and the problem that I came to talk to them about is completely forgotten because they are so engaged with my personal story and want every last detail – who am I to deprive them? There are times when I win business and I don’t even know why, yet all I can put it down to is that they feel connected to what I do in some way and that compelling stories are responsible for this.

1. Stories are the key to selling any businesses offering

Over the last few years, businesses have realised the importance of story telling which is why there has been such an increase in content marketing. When you’re trying to solve a solution for a customer, talking about products and benefits is just not powerful enough. When you tell a compelling story of a real life scenario that subtly highlights the benefits of your product, you instantly have a better chance of the prospective client understanding your value.

If you think about the marketing world for a minute, the most successful advertisements are the ones that tell a great story. This is no accident stories sell. In this current age where everybody is fighting for attention and people have very short attention spans, a story that is short, sharp, and succinct will be much more likely to sell your products or services than a page of features and benefits.

“Stories are a communal currency of humanity”

2. Your compelling story makes it personal

Like any good story, it is important to show the conflict that has occurred on your journey. Don’t shy away from talking about the failures; in fact highlight them as much as possible. This will show that your story is human and make it even more personal. When someone shares with you a personal story, you’re drawn in and it allows you to experience the transfer of emotion that is so crucial in selling. As the founder of the business, your story is the most important of all. The reason you decided to be the 1% of people that start their own business is what your clients are interested in. Your story can build a bond with them that can only be broken if you don’t deliver what you say.

The public have a very high authenticity detector and when a company tells you that they can do something amazing, people just don’t believe it and think that it’s hype. When a company tells their audience through a personal story, the response is totally different. The story must be true though and the moment people feel that any part of it is made up; your credibility is lost forever.

The advantage that you have over corporates in this world of storytelling is that the moment they want to tell a story, it has to go through corporate affairs for weeks and weeks, who will usually end up censoring most of the good content and leaving you with something that sounds bland, for fear that if the real story is told, their public image might be tarnished. Failure to omit the negative parts of the story takes away the personal aspect, which is needed to connect to your customers.Your story highlights why you are different to everyone else.

If you want to know how to deliver a great story to a corporate then read the Thankyou Group advice,

“Great stories happen to those who can tell them”

3. Your story highlights why you are different to everyone else

One of the hardest things to do in the crowded, modern business world is to stand out. If you can work on your compelling story, this is a way for your startup to stand out and make people remember who you are. At the end of the day, if your startup helps business with their accounting software needs, no one will remember this when they are out at the pub on a Friday night talking to other business owners. What they will remember is the story of how your business came about and why you do what you do.

Think back to the last time you told your friends about a new smartphone app. Was the reason you told them about it because you heard an interesting story about the app? When I started telling my corporate friends about Uber, it was because of the adversity they were facing in the taxi industry and how they overcame it. I didn’t tell people about it because I found another way to book a taxi.

If you think about other startups in your industry, the chance of them having the exact same compelling story as you is very unlikely. The chance of another business having a product for the same market as yours is quite high. In the case of Steve Jobs, his story was always very compelling because he understood how to keep things simple. He didn’t talk about how an iPod could store 160gB of songs, he talked about how it could store 40,000 songs, which was much less technical and helped him talk to a broader audience.

To see just how many companies don’t understand the art of storytelling and why so many of them don’t stand out, just go to the about us page of 10 websites. You will notice that the vast majority have a very similar story and it’s very short. You should do the opposite and aim to tell as much of your story as you can with text, video and photos. To avoid making the mistake that cooperates make, focus on leaving out the jargon and cutting out the acronyms that most of your audience won’t get. This is what will set you apart.

If you want an amazing compelling story then listen to Wes Chapman talk about why he created A Human Life. It’s so powerful and inspiring that you instantly want to know more about his startup. Find a way to tell your story in the same way and you could have a similar effect. Wes leaves nothing out and talks about how he was molested and the struggles he had as a child.

I hope I opened your eyes a little to the power of storytelling and brought it front of mind for you. If you have a great compelling story then please share it in the comments section below.

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Tim Denning

Aussie Blogger with 500M+ views — Writer for CNBC & Business Insider. Inspiring the world through Personal Development and Entrepreneurship You can connect with Tim through his website www.timdenning.com

6 Comments

Startups

How an LLC Can Help Shield Your Personal Assets

Published

2 days ago

Aug 1, 2026

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Addicted2success

You are a freelance designer, and your client sued you over a trademark mistake. If you believe that your personal savings are safe, then you may be wrong. You are operating as a default sole proprietor. You and your business are the exact same person. As a result, your personal bank account, your car, and even your home are legally up for grabs.

However, if you start an LLC, you can build a legal shield between your business liabilities and your personal life. These days, you can easily form an LLC online.

How Does This Legal Shield Work

When you start an LLC, your business gets a distinct legal identity. Now, your LLC can open its own bank accounts, sign contracts, take out loans, buy equipment, and be held responsible for its own actions. You are not liable. This boundary between you and your business is called the “corporate veil.”

Visualizing the Separation

Inside the Shield (Business Assets)

Everything your company owns is included in this shield. If your business faces a debt collector or a lawsuit, only your business assets are at risk, such as:

Money in the business bank account
Inventory and raw materials
Office equipment, computers, and company vehicles
Business intellectual property

Outside the Shield (Your Personal Assets)

You don’t have to worry about your personal assets, such as:

Your personal checking and savings accounts
Your home and personal real estate
Your family vehicles
Your retirement funds (401k, IRA) and personal investments

What LLC Protection Covers

Business Debts and Contracts

When your LLC signs a commercial lease, hires a contractor, or buys inventory on credit, these are the obligations of the LLC. Your creditors will come after the assets of the LLC if your business can’t pay.

Lawsuits

If your business is sued over a contract dispute, faulty service, or an operational issue, lawsuits will be filed against your business. All your personal assets are safe.

What LLC Protection Does Not Cover

Personal Torts

The term “tort” refers to an act that causes harm or injury to someone else. The LLC shields you from the mistakes of your employees and general business liabilities. However, it never protects you from your own personal actions. For example, if you personally commit fraud, you can be sued personally.

Personal Guarantees

Vendors often hesitate to lend money to new, growing businesses. Such businesses don’t have long credit histories. Lenders often require you to sign a personal guarantee.

How Owners Accidentally Destroy Their Protection

The legal shield provided by forming an LLC only works when you run your business properly. The corporate veil can be pierced when a court decides that your LLC is not legitimate and strips away your protection in a lawsuit. This usually happens when you make one of the following three mistakes.

Commingling Funds

Many small business owners often mix their personal money with their business money. You are commingling funds when you use your business debit card to buy your personal groceries or you deposit a client’s payment directly into your personal checking account. The legal wall crumbles when you don’t treat your business and personal finances as completely separate.

Missing an Operating Agreement

An operating agreement is the legal document that outlines:

How your LLC is run
Who owns what percentage
How profits are handled

If the creditor’s lawyer finds out that an operating agreement is missing, they may argue that your LLC is just a shell.

Falling Out of “Good Standing”

When you start an LLC, you must file annual reports and pay franchise taxes to keep it active. The state will place your business in “Administrative Dissolution” or bad standing if you miss any of these deadlines. You could lose your limited liability protection if you operate a business under an inactive or dissolved LLC.

Startups

Move Fast without Breaking People: Product Safety Lessons for Ambitious Startups

Published

3 weeks ago

Jul 15, 2026

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Addicted2success

Fast growth can hide product risks until customers get hurt, especially when safety comes late in development. A software bug can be patched, but a chair, charger, or smart device can cause a burn, fall, cut, or crash.

For founders moving from a prototype to mass sales, the cases handled by Michael Kelly Injury Lawyers in Boston show why launch goals should not push testing, warnings, and foreseeable risks aside. A product claim can involve the design, how a unit was made, user instructions, or several firms in the supply chain.

Why Minimum Viable Should Never Mean Minimally Safe

A minimum viable product should test whether people want an idea, not how much danger they will accept. Teams can delay colors or premium finishes, but not guards, safe heat limits, sound wiring, or clear instructions.

Set Safety Rules Before the Build

The product brief should define who will use the item, where, and what could happen during setup, cleaning, storage, wear, or mistakes. It should also consider what a child, guest, tired worker, or first-time buyer might do.

Shared rules help teams move faster. Designers know which guards must remain. Engineers know which parts cannot fail. Suppliers know what cannot change without review.

Test How People Really Use It

A neat demo is not the real world. Users place products on wet counters, soft rugs, or rough ground. They skip a guide, use the wrong cable, or handle an item in unexpected ways.

Testing should cover misuse without predicting every extreme act. When a risk can be reduced through a guard, lock, stop switch, or clear signal, that design change is often greater than a warning alone.

How Design and Manufacturing Risks Differ

Some risks are built into the design. Others arise when production fails to match the approved plan. Teams need to identify the source before choosing a correction.

Design Problems Start with the Plan

A design problem can affect every unit. A base may tip, a blade may sit too close to a hand, a control may activate too easily, or a battery space may trap heat.

Final inspection cannot repair a flawed plan. The team may need a new shape, shield, limit, material, or control, followed by testing before more units ship.

Manufacturing Problems Break the Plan

A manufacturing problem occurs when a unit or batch does not match the approved design. A fastener may be missing, a weld may be weak, a wire may be damaged, or the wrong component may enter production.

Good records help define the scope. The team should know who made each part, which batch used it, what checks occurred, and where units went. Fast trace work can keep one fault from becoming a wider crisis.

When Customer Feedback Signals More Than Dissatisfaction

Support teams hear about delays, difficult setups, strange sounds, and refunds. Most reports are routine. Yet heat, smoke, sparks, breakage, sharp edges, sudden movement, falls, or failed guards require review.

Treat Complaints as Safety Data

One report may lack key facts, but similar reports can reveal a pattern. Staff should record the model, batch, date, use, photographs, and outcome, then alert someone who can pause sales or order testing.

Teams should not blame unusual use before asking whether another reasonable buyer could make the same choice. A support ticket can be the first sign of a hazard that lab testing missed.

Preserve the Product and the Record

After an injury, the product can help explain what failed. A repair, disposal, or undocumented test can remove evidence. The same applies to old labels, manuals, test files, customer messages, and design notes.

Startups should keep relevant items safely, record who examines them, and preserve earlier versions of instructions and warnings. This history can show what changed and why.

Why Warnings Must Reflect Real Use

A warning works only when a user notices it at the right time. Dense text at the back of a manual may not help during setup. The message should name the hazard, explain the harm, and state what reduces the risk.

Placement matters too. A charging risk belongs near the port. A weight limit belongs where weight is added. Even so, warnings should not replace a safer design when the hazard can reasonably be removed.

How Founders Can Preserve Speed without Cutting Safeguards

A delayed launch, redesign, or recall can feel like defeat. In practice, early action can prevent harm, protect trust, and give the team better facts for the next version. The strongest startups move quickly because their systems protect people.

When a product injures someone, legal guidance can help preserve the item, collect design and manufacturing records, identify responsible companies, and examine whether a defect or unsafe choice caused the harm.