Every startup Founder’s dream

Jerry Kaplan, 29, started to fidget. He was standing outside the conference room at the most prestigious venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, Kleiner Perkins, sure he was going to blow it.

Kaplan had thought this was going to be an informal get-together. But inside, the partners were grilling another entrepreneur giving a very formal pitch. He had a crisp colour graph projected on a whiteboard. Looking at the man’s perspiration gleaming in the reflected blue light, Kaplan realised he was utterly unprepared. He had no business plan, no charts, no financial projections, no prototypes. All he had was a maroon leather case holding a pad of blank paper.

When it’s too late for a Pitch Deck…

What did Kaplan do? He told a story. When his turn came, he shared his dream of a new technology he wanted to develop that would take PCs from clunky boxes to something on which you would take notes unobtrusively during a meeting – today’s tablet.

After talking for ten minutes nonstop, he could see the partners narrowing their eyes at him. Thinking there was nothing left to lose, Kaplan decided to go all-in with his storytelling approach.

“If I were carrying a portable PC right now, you would sure as hell know it. But you probably didn’t realize that I am holding a model of the future of computing right here in my hand.”

So saying, Kaplan tossed his maroon leather case. It slapped into the centre of the table, shocking the respectable partners.

“Gentlemen, here is a model of the next step in the computer revolution.”

Time for a new approach

For a moment, he thought this final act of drama might get him thrown out. They were sitting in stunned silence, staring at his plain leather folder —which lay motionless on the table— as though it were suddenly going to come to life. One of the partners slowly reached out and touched the portfolio as if it were some sort of talisman. He asked the first question.

“Just how much information could you store in something like this?”

Before Kaplan could respond, one of the other partners did. “It doesn’t matter. Memory chips are getting smaller and cheaper each year, and the capacity will probably double for the same size and price annually.”

From that point on, Kaplan hardly had to speak. His story had fired their imagination. They didn’t care about the absence of projections. The partners and associates fleshed out this new business opportunity themselves.

From Combat to Collaboration

Kaplan had stumbled upon a timeless truth. Good stories are not confrontative; they are collaborative. Instead of grilling him, the venture capitalists were helping him. Of course, they didn’t see it that way, because it wasn’t a pitch. It was a puzzle they wanted to solve.

Kaplan left the meeting feeling relieved, but without high expectations. After all, he’d only sold them a story.

This true story is recounted by Kaplan in his autobiographical Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure. What happens next? Kaplan gets a phone call saying the partners have decided to back him. Kaplan is confused. He still hasn’t given them a business plan – nor asked directly for money. But when the deal closes the next morning, the idea is worth $3 million. That’s the power of storytelling done right, even instinctually.

A good business storytelling pitch captures the imagination. That’s how the right story can transform your investor pitch from desperate plea to energetic collaboration.