Your Startup is Make-Believe

Your startup is make-believe and that is okay.

When starting a new venture, it is all fiction. Founders operate in conditions of uncertainty. At the earliest stages, nothing about their venture is real. It is nothing more than a story. So, entrepreneurs must be great storytellers. They must be visionary. They must see the world differently and have a story that tells us how to get to a new and better place.

What do they need to include in their story?

An entrepreneur's story begins with the world as it exists today. There is something wrong with this world. But it is not the world that they envision. Something better can exist. The entrepreneur is going to help us get there. They include in their story what they imagine as the way to get there. Typically, this is their product or service. It is their solution to the problem. They complete the story about how they are going to build and offer their solution to the world. It is the journey they are going to take. It is the journey we are going to take with them.

Can you imagine the same world they do after they tell you the story? Suddenly, their story becomes more real.

An entrepreneur’s story is critical for their success. If they are going to access key resources, they need to convince as many people as possible about the reality of their story. Do all of the conditions come together in a convincing way?

Here is a quick example of an entrepreneur’s story.