Speaking entrepreneur to other humans.
My mind is an echo chamber of reverberating thoughts. They bounce off the cavities within my mind— from the daydreams to the ideas that fulminate in the dark corners. Trying to make sense of it all to another human being can be a real challenge. So when you add on an additional layer of entrepreneurial rhetoric to the lasagna of jumbled thoughts, you can almost hear the other person’s eyes glaze over.
The entrepreneurial ecosystem is one part innovation, one part elitism, and two parts communication. Seriously, if you are not able to effectively and clearly communicate what you’re thinking, what your idea is, or what you’re trying to do, then the chances of success are rather slim. Here are ways to speak comprehendible entrepreneur to other humans (who can or can not be entrepreneurs themselves.)
IF POSSIBLE, DO NOT USE THE WORD NARRATIVE.
It’s an incredibly empathetic word; however, it could also be unintentionally superficial. Narratives may be intellectual sounding but in most cases, they’re a hollow word when it comes to telling your story.
Stories can be narratives, but not all narratives can be stories.
Autoparts going down the assembly line, eventually becoming a car is a narrative but not a story. Narratives tend to be a linear structure of first this thing happens, and then this, and then that, and so on and so forth. They are bland, boring.
Stories imply desire, conflict, powerful values, and dynamics of positive and negative charges of life. They speak about the intense struggles and uphill battles against forces of antagonism that give your life meaning.
Stories can be narratives, but not all narratives can be stories.
TRY NOT TO BE MELODRAMATIC, JUST HUMANIZE YOUR STORY.
Melodramatiztion occurs when the motivation doesn’t match the action. What exactly motivated you to drive towards this particular solution?
Think about who your protagonist is when you are translating your venture into a story. What is the inciting incident or first major event that brought your product or service to conception? What was the upsetting moment of your or your target audience’s life that threw it radically out of balance? Why do you want to consciously put it back into balance? Who are the antagonists?
A really good story asks what does this user really want subconsciously and what is stopping them from achieving that balance. It keeps it about the humans involved before, during, and well after.
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS GOOD, KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.
This means no jargon or fancy words that artificially embellish your communication. Especially when you’re talking to other entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and key industry leaders. This will come across as confusing and can actually do more harm than good. Always assume that they don’t really understand the problem and use language that they recognize to explain it.
Any flowering, fluff, or marketing language such as, “this is the greatest invention of the 21st century and here’s why you need to invest!” needs to be filtered out. Most seasoned players can recognize embellishment from a mile away and it can also make you come across as overly solicit rather than authentic.
The few exceptions are when you’re talking to select customers. You may use the language or jargon of the industry to build credibility.
Always assume that they don’t really understand the problem and use language that they recognize to explain it.
PROOFREAD. PROOFREAD. PROOFREAD.
There were countless times during my entrepreneurial story where I wish I possessed a time machine just so I can go back and fix a typo. If you’re expecting others to take your work seriously, then you need to be meticulous with your writing and communication skills. Most of these individuals don’t have the spare time to decipher your cryptic typos.
Some of my most noteworthy typo accomplishments were:
- “Best wishes,s”
- name@mail.com in the subject line
- “I am a non-innovative change agent” when I meant to write, “non-traditional.” Yes, that one really happened.
- And one of the most heart-dropping ones was when I accidentally wrote “Less than 38% — and that’s on the generous end of the scale — of entities are founded and lead by women.” when it should have been led. This was sent to a prominent figure who later sent back my document highlighting the syntax error and claimed, “It’s led by women, not lead by women. Syntax error in your first paragraph. Note, I am rigorous about this process. Please fix and revert and I will look further. Thanks.” The lesson was learned hard. Proofread the damn thing.
And to end this off on a strong note. The last, if not most important, way to speak entrepreneur is becoming fluent in tech-bro. Feel free to learn more about that here.
