Startups

3 Ways That Storytelling Is A Startups Secret Weapon

Published

11 years ago

May 7, 2015

Roger Wu

Image Credit - Joel Brown

Storytelling is a tool that small companies can use against their bigger, deeper pocketed competitors.

Small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs can tell powerful stories that drive recall, emotion, and character that can lead to awareness and ultimately sales.

Since the beginning of time, stories have been told, yet only recently is storytelling making a comeback.

Here are 3 ways that stories can help you:

1. Stories provide a framework to remember

Throughout civilization, stories were used to pass on culture, history, and knowledge from one generation to the next. With few tools to record their stories, humans have mastered the art of storytelling and our brains have adapted to accommodate story’s format.

Today stories can be used for the narrative effects, which enable and jog people’s memories. For example, in the memory memoir, Moonwalking with Einstein, memory experts can create a specific story enabling them to recall hundreds, even thousands, of playing cards in order, simply by mapping story elements to individual suits and values.

Even “normal” people will never forget the candy that E.T. the extra terrestrial, followed out of the woods, as being Reese’s Pieces. Technology has allowed us to forget certain brand names, but with enough story elements, Google or Siri will be sure to connect the last mile for you.

In today’s world of on demand wants and desires, being able to communicate these elements is essential to your customers being able to know what to search for and how to connect.

“If you wish to influence an individual or a group to embrace a particular value in their daily lives, tell them a compelling story.” –Annette Simmons

2. Stories can be emotional and irrational

While data has always been important to advertising analytics, humans are much better at analyzing and evaluating stories than numbers. To illustrate, consider a study where students were told that they were suffering from terminal illness.

They were offered either the control drug, which is 50% effective, or one of four drugs effective 90%, 70%, 50%, and 30%. They were told one of three stories, positive (person took drug and was cured), neutral (person took drug and nothing happened), or negative (person took drug and got worse).

The results:

	90%	70%	50%	30%
Positive	88%	92%	93%	78%
Neutral	81%	81%	69%	29%
Negative	39%	43%	15%	7%

The effect of the stories played a greater role than the actual data. Even though the 90% drug is more effective than the control drug, respondents chose the control drug when coupled with the negative story. Likewise, the 30% effective drug is chosen much more when coupled with the positive story.

The detail and humanization of the story had caused irrational behavior, which might work to your advantage when competing against a larger, better capitalized, or resource filled company.

Similarly, our aversion to numbers can be seen by how we understand the underlying mathematics and translate the numbers into actual outcomes. The lottery, for example, provides a microscopic chance to win a large payout. Buying a ticket barely moves the mathematical odds in your favor, but changes your story from no chance to a “one in a billion shot.”

On the other hand, some court cases with near obvious outcomes are sometimes settled out of court. Even if the chance of winning or receiving a payout is 99.99%. Settling out of court turns your payout into a “sure thing.” While a chance and a sure thing are easy to rationalize, it is hard to put a value on increasing your chances from 50% to 60%.

Numbers are much harder to translate into emotions, which sometimes drives decision-making.

“If you’re going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all.” –Joseph Campbell

3. Stories allow brands to convey their values and change perspectives

Consumers are starting to value a brand’s story more and more: what does this brand stand for and what is important to them? Traditional advertising makes it difficult to convey these various angles, while stories can provide color and insight into the character of a company.

Story provides the “why” whereas traditional advertising is the “what.” The social responsibility stories of fashion accessories Warby Parker and Tom’s Shoes have made them mainstream. The human interest stories in Charity Water and Smile Train have brought them more awareness and new donors. The magical stories of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerburg, told through Hollywood’s lens, have catapulted them to legends.

The lens through which a story is told also affects the perspective desired. Stories like Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon and William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” demonstrate that the storyteller has much power in persuading what the viewers believe.

By telling your personal vulnerable story, you humanize your company and gain fans that want to see you succeed.

Stories are an amazing tool that any size company can use.They can help you remember, make things easier to understand, inspire you, and humanize your brand.

The amazing thing about stories is that money, size, resources, and stature are independent of the quality of the story and thus, it is truly David’s slingshot against Goliath.

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Roger Wu

Roger Wu is the co-founder of sponsored content marketplace, Cooperatize, where influential publishers write about your brand. He’s written a number of stories for Forbes, Quartz, and Mediapost and is on Twitter and Medium at @rogerwu99. You can find more stories about content at @cooperatize.

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Startups

How an LLC Can Help Shield Your Personal Assets

Published

2 months 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

2 months 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.