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Hello and welcome everybody. This is Joe from Celebrated
I.O. your go to startup podcast for startup founders,
scale up executives and venture capital
insiders. In today's episode, we dive into
the power of strategic storytelling for startup
growth with our guest Ehud Dror,
founder of Tailoring your story. Ehud is
renowned startup pitch expert and narrative strategist
who helps tech founders to turn complex
ideas into founding ready investor
decks, go to market messages and memorable
keynote stories. With a track record of guiding some of
Israel's most innovative startups, Ehud
unpacks how clarity, belief and emotional
resonance can differentiate your brand, attract
VC funding and align your team. If you're a B2B
SaaS founder, deep tech entrepreneur or a growth stage
executive preparing to pitch. This episode is
packed with insights on using startup storytelling, pitch check
optimization and strategic communication to
win in competitive markets. Ah, we met at the EU
Startup Summit in Malta. And now welcome. Draw.
Welcome Ehud. Sorry. Welcome Ehud. Welcome to
Startup Radio. Hi. Hi.
Very excited to be here. It is my
pleasure. Let us dive in straight with
narrative and strategic communications.
It's all about storytelling with you, but why storytelling the most
underutilized tool in startup growth?
So I like how you dove into
the pain point at the very first question,
but I wouldn't be a storyteller if I didn't start with the sentence
let me tell you a story, right? So let me tell your story.
Most founders think storytelling is something you do at the end,
when in fact it should shape everything from the start. Founders
often invest in product, in tech, go to market,
but forget what makes people believe. Storytelling
isn't fluff, it's a strategy dressed as a narrative.
It aligns your team, it earns investors trust
and help customers understand what you do and
most importantly, why it matters. I mean,
most pictures I see are loaded with features
and jargon. Most entrepreneurs use them to sound
bright and trendy and they think the big tech
worlds make the difference. But who really
understands what the algorithm or how the algorithm
works, right? Investors and partners actually
have to tell you. Ehud, what is really interesting
is the longer I do this, the
more I can really feel you. For the very simple reason. You go on
the website or you listen to a presentation of one of founders and he
drones on for like 20 minutes and at the end you think what the
hell are you guys actually doing? Right? That is a
point you're trying to make and I've seen so so often. Yeah.
So basically the algorithm, no one understands
how it works, including investors, so you can
feel free to let that part go. So
investors and partners, at the end of the day, seeking
clarity, vision, conviction. Okay,
a great story delivers. All three. Startups that know how to
tell their story don't just raise money faster, they
move faster. Because once people believe in you, you're
halfway there. When people believe
in you, you're halfway there. That's a pretty good quote.
So we already talked about startup narratives.
What makes a startup narrative resonate with both
the investor and the customer community?
So, that is a great question, but the simple answer would be that it
doesn't.
Okay, now you got us. Now we got some explaining to do. Yeah,
and the more complex answer would be that the best
startup stories live at the intersection of vision and
relevance. For investors, it's about
scalability and belief. They want to know you're solving
a real problem in a way that can grow customers. On the
other hand, it's about empathy and clarity. They
don't want to know you understand them, or they do
want to know you understand them and can improve their lives. A
resonant narrative bridges both by. By answering three
questions. Why now? What urgency drives this?
Why you? I mean, what makes this team and solution credible?
And why should anyone care? So that's where the
emotional hook lives. A good narrative knows how
to speak to both, and speak
the language of opportunity to investors and
value to customers. And it does it both without
switching personalities. When you hit that sweet
spot, your story doesn't just resonate, it compels action.
You mentioned clarity and momentum. How
do you build that in a pitch, especially a short one?
Okay, so clarity and momentum are two rails. Every great story
runs on. Clarity means
stripping your message down to the one thing you want people to remember.
It's not about dumping things down. It's about making
complexity unavoidable.
When I start working on a story, I always ask, if your audience remembers
only one sentence, what should it be?
That's your signal. Everything else supports it.
Then comes the momentum part, and that's where most
pictures fall flat. Momentum is the feeling that
things are already moving, and the only smart thing to do
is is to join the ride. A good example would be
showing traction early or use a quote or win
a number that proves motion. Structuring your pitch.
Like a story arch. Don't just inform people. Escalate.
End with the vision so people lean forward, not back. When
you combine clarity with momentum, you don't just
explain your idea. You draw people into it. People
are looking for that hook. So give them something to
aspire to.
Can you walk us through? I've seen
some examples when preparing for this interview. Can you walk us through
how you turned quantum computing into
story about speed? Because many things, many people talk
about quantum computing. Yeah, they're, they're small things and they do
something that is not really a story. Isn't it? Yeah,
absolutely. So that's an excellent example of taking
a complex message and simplifying it.
One of my clients, a partner at a VC firm, asked how to
explain quantum computing to non technical audience.
So instead of starting with definitions, I
reframed the whole concept with one word, speed.
I open with Usain Bolt's 9.58 second world record.
This is something everyone instantly relates to and understand and get.
And then I positioned quantum computing as the next leap
in computer processing power. Not just faster,
but a new kind of speed. And to get the
full picture or to bring it to life, I used metaphors like
the flesh. Again, not to explain physics, but
to paint a picture of limitless potential. We showed
how this new kind of acceleration could transform
fields like medicine, cybersecurity,
and finance. So basically what we did is
we swapped equations for metaphors, confusion for
clarity, and abstraction for emotional resonance.
So once we planned the right association, the rest
was given. Mm.
I was wondering, what's your take on why
so many pitch deck fails to convert? Is it just
you're pitching the wrong vc, you're pitching the wrong
vertical, the wrong stage? Or is it simply the story fails?
Okay, so as long as it's just both of us on
this conversation, let me tell you a secret.
Most pjeks, just you and me and 50,000
listeners. Yeah. Okay, go ahead.
So let me tell you a secret. Most pigex fail
not because the idea is bad. I mean, some ideas are not
worth mentioning. But the majority fails because the
story is broken. A good deck transforms the way
people feel about your opportunity. The problem is that
founders are often too close to the product.
They try to explain everything. Features, deck
milestones. And in the process, they bore the one
thing investors need. The belief. A pitch
tank isn't a data dump. There is a considerable difference between
dumping data, even if it's good one, and telling a story.
Telling a story is a belief building tool. After all, you're
not just pitching your solution. Most of the time, what
fails is decks are too long or too technical
or too flat, lacking momentum or
flow that resonates with the audience.
Storylines that feel scattered like a list, not a journey. And
no Emotional anchor, just logic and most
importantly, no. Why? One of the most quoted
TED talks, why by Simon Sinek, discusses where
great leadership and innovation begin. Sinek
explains that people don't buy what you do, they buy
why you do it. The most successful leaders inspired by
communication from the inside out. I mean starting with the
purpose, then how, then what? Show a clear
Signal from slide 1. What are we solving and
why now? A founder who gets the market, not just
the tech and the structure that builds
confidence. Slide by slide. This is the way to do it.
I totally know what you what you mean. Let
us get a little bit into fundraising and
pitch coaching because a lot of people out there, usually we
start with our audience around
without coverage around series A. But I do get
the message that a lot of our audience is series A
B, but mostly series C founders.
So therefore that's actually a
different level because you have somebody who's working for you, you have coaches that
work with you on that. But
what do top performing investor
presentations have in common?
So I would like to address this matter
from a broader range of stories because
we all have all kind of stories supporting our day to day,
whether it's marketing, sales, product finance,
ipo, internal stories and so on. So
I did some research and looked at the top 20
rated TED talks and found some similarities between them.
First of all, they all use the platform to its
maximum. You have a limited time you to convey your
message. First of all, clear ideas,
narrative structure, visual simplicity, of
course, authentic delivery
data supporting storytelling and compelling conclusion.
In his TED talk How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint,
David JP Phillips emphasized the importance of
designing presentation that aligns with our brain cognitive
capabilities. He advocates simplicity by
focusing on one message per slide,
minimizing text and utilizing visual to enhance
understanding, creating more engaging and effective presentation.
A great example would be Al Gore that
effectively conveyed complex climate data through impactful
visual in his and inconvenient true representation.
I think everybody remembers him for this lift he was
on, right? Yeah, absolutely.
Another great example would be Steve Jobs in his iPhone launch
concluded with the iconic phrase one more thing,
introducing a surprise element that left a lasting impression.
And there are many more examples of great stories that can
maximize the audience attention by following all these
fundamentals. Can you describe a moment when
a storytelling shift led to funding success?
Well, I'll answer that with a story, but not from a
startup point of view, but from recent events that can teach
us how a great story is formed.
Yuval Rafael, Israeli representative for
Eurovision 2025 which was held a few weeks ago
didn't win the audience favor with the 13 douce bois
and second place overall just because of the music. I
mean she's a great singer no doubt. But if we
go deep, we will find an unbelievable story.
To those of you who don't know her story,
she's a survivor from the nova festival on October 7
after plane take four hours until she was rescued.
And she captured hearts and global attention because her
performance carried something deeper. A story of identity,
intensity. If you'd like an unapologetic
authenticity, this is something you can't fake. I mean,
she wasn't just singing a song, she was telling a story of
resilience, of self expression, of belonging. And
that emotional clarity. Exactly what changes
the game in startup storytelling too. If you can build that in your
pitch, the rest will follow.
I was just checking on ebay while you were talking
with this Nova Festival, we got into very tough content.
I was just checking. Such a scissor lift as Al Gore
used, it should be worth for you a few thousand euros. So
I would not recommend it to use it for your next
presentation, especially if you do air travel.
Okay, keeping a little bit to our fundraising and pitch
coaching, how can a founder translate his
or her belief into deck or keynote?
So referring back to Simon Sinek
TED Talk, the essential or the most essential belief tool is
start with why. And the answer can't be because I want to change
the world or to make money or like every
beauty queen wants to stop world hunger, you know. This,
that's definitely possible. Or world peace.
Or world peace. Right? So
because all these things are too vague, too universal
and too emotionally hollow, at the end of the day, it doesn't
create the resonance because anyone can say it and
many do. So it's like saying I want to be happy.
Okay, it's true, but it's not specific, earned or
anchored in personal insight. So
I often use the Pixar story spine. It's used to craft
emotionally compelling, clear and memorable narratives. And it
works just as well for startups as it does for animated
films. So basically what it means, you're
not selling the idea, you're inviting belief through a
narrative arch. You, you go from the personal
spark or your personal spark to problem to
solution, to vision. The audience isn't just
informed, they emotionally involved. It has six steps
for creating a story. So once upon a time,
everyday problem, until one day
because of that, until finally and ever since then.
So now let check this out how it really works.
So every story starts with
once upon a time, right? Yes.
So Describe what was broken in the world before you
started. For example, once upon a time,
small businesses were invisible online. Continue
with everyday problem. Describe the fast trading status quo
or the reality your audience relates to.
Every day they spent hours creating content that
no one saw. Okay, until one day,
what was your spark, the insight, the frustration
or problem that's made you act. Until one
day we realized the problem wasn't effort,
it was a strategy. And because of that, introduce your
product or solution. But not as a pitch, but as a
natural response. Because of that, we build a platform
that uses AI to optimize every piece of content
in real time. Because of that, you can show
traction here or momentum proof, emotional
payoff. Because of that, our users
double their reach in under a month. Until finally,
describe the transformation, what success looked like with you in
the picture. Until finally, small businesses had the
voice that could compete with big brands.
And ever since then, paint the future, your vision
that you're building. Invite the belief in. And ever since then,
we've been on a mission to level the playing field for small
creators anywhere. So that would be an example of using a
well known model and translated it into our needs.
The mechanism stays the same, but the story changes according
to our goal. Exactly. So
I was wondering, we are already getting into the next question because you
have the same startup story for different goals. Once
for the VCs, once for the customers and once for the media.
How do you do that? So one of the
first questions we ask at the beginning of a project
is who my target audience is.
Think your story is like a diamond. It has the same
shape but different light or different angles.
Catch different light. The core story or essence
stay the same, but the emphasis shifts depending
on who's listening. VCs
are interested in considerable market insight. The size of the
opportunity. The team unfairs
advantage. They're looking for momentum and scalability,
betting on growth, not just the idea. For example,
we've identified a massive shift in the industry
and are building the infrastructure to power it.
Customers on the other hand, are looking to see if you got them
lead with the problem they face. Use their language, their
pain points. Show empathy before features
and benefits before specs. A good example would
be, you know that fast trading moment
when XYZ happens, we fix it.
Okay, Media looking for a
story worth telling or a breaking news. You can lead
with a hook. Surprising stat, a bold claim. If
you would like a human moment, position the
startup in the culture or industry trend.
Something like in a world flooded with AI hype,
this team quietly built a Tool that helps human think better.
So remember the diamond. It has the same shape, but different
angles catch different light.
Understood. We get
a little bit deeper now into psychology
and emotion leverage. Because
storytelling actually appears
to emotions, to psychology,
that's the way it works. What role does
this emotional resonance play in high stakes
communication?
So emotional resonance resonance is the. Is the
difference between being heard and being remembered.
A perfect example of this is Martin Luther
King's I have a dream speech. He had stood on
the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and presented statistics.
We might have heard him, but we wouldn't have remembered him.
So instead, he painted a vivid emotional picture.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day.
And so on and so on. So emotion is what moves people to
act. It feels personal, it bypass
the doubt. And it's about being human after all.
Take our day to day, for example. We are all surrounded by
messages all day at work, on our way to home
and with our loved ones. But ask yourself
what you remember at the end of the day? I mean, what you honestly
remember. And the answer would be close to nothing.
But if you keep in mind that you're not just transferring
information, whether it is for a pitch deck,
company story, or any other story you need to pass, you're
transferring emotion, urgency, and trust after
all, then you would be on the right path of conveying
a good message. I'll give you an example of
a story I built for a construction company that wanted to sell
its building project. Took the basic term of
home. We took the basic term of home and then transformed it into
something emotional by giving home a meaning.
We did it by taking the phrase home sweet home and
said that the home is more than just four walls and
a rooftop. Home is our memories. It's our
dreams and hopes. It's our whole life. So once we created
that emotion, a home went from four walls and a rooftop to
something bigger that people can relate to.
That makes sense. What is the best
way for founders to tell vulnerable
but also authentic stories without losing any
trust? So we'll start with the bottom line here.
Vulnerability builds trust as long as it serves the
story and not the founder's ego. People don't lose trust
when you're vulnerable. They lose trust when you pretend everything is
perfect. Share the challenge, but not the chaos. I
mean, tell us what was hard, but
show us how you overcome it. A good example would
be something like, we almost gave up after the product
failed, but what we learned reshaped everything.
I mean, frame failure as fuel. When
asked about his success Michael Jordan said, I succeeded because I
fail. Vulnerability becomes strength when it
leads to insight, action, or growth.
You're not saying we messed up. You're saying we got
smarter, faster. Balance the emotion with
clarity. Show heart, but stay grounded. After all,
investors and teams need to feel both your
humanity and your leadership. Make it relevant. Of
course, if you're telling a vulnerable story, it should support your
core message and not the other way around.
In strategic messaging,
there's always talked about signal and noise.
How do you approach that? And can you tell us a little bit about what
is signal? What is noise? Because I personally,
I run startup rate IO mostly by myself with
some assistance and I get up to 100
emails a day. No kidding, you guys. And the question
is, how would you, for example, stick out from all
this noise that surrounds me that I get your message?
So, as you said, first, let's remember what signal is and
what noises. Signal is what truly matters.
Noise is all the rest, as simple as that. But
the hardest part of strategic messaging is deciding what not to
say. I mean, in every founder story, there's
a ton of noise, feature metrics, buzzword, even
good intentions. Remember the quantum computing story? It had
the potential of being a flop using buzzwords.
Founders tend to use the everything is important method.
But come to think about it, if everything is important,
nothing stands out. That's where the signal comes in.
Signal is the one thing that must land the sharp
truth you want people to remember when the meeting ends.
What sets you apart? From my experience working
with hundreds of companies, this is the most
challenging part and the heart of every process of creating a winning
story. It requires some skill, a broad
understanding and the ability to listen. My approach
is to zoom out before you zoom
in. Always look at the big picture using
the one slide test. So once you find it, the rest will
eliminate what's nice to say.
Test each slide to see how it fits the overall flow and
whether he creates the momentum you are seeking. All of these
create the differentiation between a
signal and noise. I see. So
noise is what does not matter and signal is what matters.
I think I'll keep that in mind for future
communications. Guys, we will be back after short ad break.
Hey guys, welcome back with Ehud as my
guest here we are talking about storytelling and
communications and we already talked about
there is a lot of complexity in startups
talked about simplifying a complex
story. Can you walk us through your framework
for explaining e.g. deep tech to non
technical stakeholders? Okay, so explaining
deep tech to non technical stakeholder, whether it's Investors,
partner or end user is tricky because the
the tech is the easy way to go and most of the time the founder
safe place. So in order to avoid
that, we need to keep it simple. As you said, use
analogs that support your message by creating imagery.
Usain Bold the Flash Quantum computing.
Avoid the jargon. Remember, no one understands the algorithm,
so remember that. And
it's not that important at that stage of the
presentation the
jargon because people tend
to use it in order to sound
smart. Okay, so avoid it. Just
put it aside. Show the journey, not
the code you need to map the user
or business flow, not the algorithm. Use
images to demonstrate what you mean.
We call it visual storytelling. So today we use
AI tools to create any image we want to want to
convey a precise message. Understand
what your target audience is looking for and try to give it to them.
Learn from the competition, obviously, I mean, see what they say.
You might know how to say it better or differently. Please
keep it simple. I mean keep in mind that your message needs to
be understood by an 8 year old. If
an 8 year old can understand your message, you're in the right way.
That reminds me of one of my first bosses who
is actually listening to this podcast and he told
me if you write a presentation on capital markets in
consulting, make sure your grandmother would understand it. And
I do believe that that's something that could really stick to.
We just talked about jargon. How can
founders avoid falling into steadily token in
jargon but still preserve credibility within the
respective sub scene? For example, in deep tech,
fintech and so on and so forth. So I think we already
covered that. But jargon pushes people
away versus clarity that invites them in.
We keep the credibility, but wrapped it in a story everyone can
relate to and understand at the end of the day. In your case
it was your grandmother, in my case it was my eight year old
son. Yes, that works. Are
there certain elements that are essential when pitching
highly complex, highly technical products for
highly, highly complex content? Yeah.
So most of the time the more highly tech, the more complex
the message is. When you pitch something highly technical, such
as quantum computing or AI, the elements of the
story are the same in every story. But remember that
the tech at the end of the day doesn't close the deal, the story
does. It goes back to clarity, simplicity and using
plain language. You don't have to hide the tech obviously,
but you must translate it. Focus on the problem, not the
product. For example, we are solving
a one billion dollar problem in supply chain trust, not
just building a better blockchain. Because blockchain is
abstract. But supply chain everyone understands
technical doesn't mean boring and technical doesn't always mean it's
the signal if it serves you right, so absolutely
use it. But if not, let's try to find out
what your advantage is. The one thing that you do that
nobody else does. Let's go a little bit into go
to market and growth. As I said, we do have
different audiences here, different stages
of entrepreneurs. Do you have any
narrative strategies that work best during different
stages? Like early stage series, a scale up?
Is there a difference? Yeah,
absolutely there is a difference. So our name
is tailoring your story because we don't have a one size
fits all policy. As you said, different
fundraising stages demand different narratives
strategies because the audience mindset
and what they are betting on evolves all the time.
For example, pre seed or seed, we usually sell the
founder or the insight and the belief
because this is the leg we can stand on. Serious a
shifts from belief to traction show that
the story is starting to come true. Scale
up we will position ourselves as category
leaders owning the narrative. We approach every
story according to its goal, target audience and
main message we want to convey.
That makes sense. So in different growth stages
you do have different stories to tell. And how can a clear
story accelerate your go to market strategy or product
market fit? Clear story can massively become a
fundamental way into the go to market and strengthen
it, but not to replace. Might help
execute and support it better. Because when your story is
sharp, everyone from product to sales to
investors, understand what you're building, who is it
for and why it matters now. It sharpens your
customer lens. It arms your sales and marketing teams.
It reduces friction in the funnel. People will convert faster.
Clistoy doesn't just tell the world what
you're doing. It tells your company and employees
where to aim and how to move faster and achieve your goal.
We've talked about positive
parts of the story, but is there a common mistake,
a common storytelling mistake that kills startup
momentum? Absolutely. So the first
mistake would be not doing all the things we talked about so far.
But a company story is like a living creature.
It needs to be updated and examined all the time.
Momentum in storytelling isn't about speed.
It's clarity. It's tension. And the reason to keep going.
A powerful example is that is the
opening of the first Harry potter book when
J.K. rowling doesn't rush through action or overwhelm
with the magical details. I mean, she builds the momentum
and tension momentum by creating clarity. A seamlessly
ordinary boy Living under the stairs. And then comes the
tension. Strange things are happening. Letters keep
arriving and no one will explain why.
And the most important thing
is a reason to keep going. Who is Harry?
Why is he different? Readers are pulled forward not
by speed, but by emotional investment and
unanswered questions that
storytelling momentum. I mean not how fast the plot moves,
but how deeply it makes you need to know what happens
next. I see, I see that. That's
interesting. From Harry Potter, always have in mind like when they
go out, when they avoid all the letters, when they go out and have like
all the trees, the building
surrounding covered in owls. That's
what I half of mine. I'm going a little bit
into the last few questions because I I
am bombarding you with questions for almost 40 minutes
now. Talk a little bit about differentiation and
competition. Sometimes it feel like
you're swimming in an ocean of startups. How does a
narrative help to shape your positioning?
Okay, so narrative is positioning with the
heartbeat. Positioning tells me where you are, but
the narrative tells me why I should care.
It gives investors something to bet on. It give
customers something to believe in. And it gives your team a
reason to show up with fire every day. For
example, you're not just a fintech tool,
you're restoring financial dignity. Or
you're not just a cyber security platform, you're defending
the edge of digital trust.
Or you're not just optimizing workflows,
you're reclaiming hours of human focus.
Once you set the narrative, it should guide you through the whole story.
You're doing good. And we do have the last question ahead of us
still differentiation and competition. How can
storytelling help founders to defend either
against copycats or even larger competitors?
So this question reminds me of the times we're
experiencing in this era of AI.
The one thing AI can't replace yet is
our emotions and intuition. In a
world where anyone can copy your product, your story and
strategy becomes your strongest defense.
Because feature can be cloned. But trust and emotional
connection, those take time to build and are
almost impossible to steal. Once you build them right, you can be
a shoe company, but you can't just do it like Nike. Or
you can manufacture computers and phones, but you can't think
different like Apple. So a good story
anchors your uniqueness and it shifts the conversation
from features to value. For the close. I was
wondering, we are just on
the onset of the age of AI. What
would be your boldest prediction about how storytelling will
change startup fundraising by, let's say, 2030?
Wow, that's
well when it comes down to it,
storytelling isn't a trend. I mean, it has been a co human
communication technique since prehistoric times. If you'd like.
It's one of those. The oldest tool we have
used long before written language to pass down
knowledge or culture or survival skills.
People tend to remember stories from childhood, like Hansel and
Greta or Cinderella, for example.
Today, AI can make you a good pitch deck.
But good as it is, it's not good enough anymore
because everyone is good and uses the same AI.
Storytelling will take you from good to
excellent from 9 to 10. It will always be the
difference between. Actually, it will always be the
difference and turning point between success
and failure. In the future, I think
storytelling won't just support the fundraising process, it
will be the fundraising process. So while the tools have
changed from caves to slides or from firelight to
spotlight, the strategy remains the same.
All you have to do is choose the right storyteller to walk you through
this process. So
that means if you do have a story, a
story that appeals to human, it's always possible to
get an AI to help you with refining, with adapting
it. But it's almost impossible for an AI right now
to come up with such a story. Yeah, AI
still can't put the emphasis
on emotion and intuition. This is something
that us human still have
in opposed to AI. So as
long as we keep that ability, we will be good.
I see. Ehud was a pleasure having you as guest here
on Startup Rate IO. Thank you very much.
It was my pleasure.
That's all folks. Find more news streams,
events and
interviews@www.startuprad.IO.
remember, sharing is caring.
Sam.