From logic to emotion, detail to simplicity, the anatomy of your business story
Julian March
Partner @ Positive Momentum ?? Translate strategy into stories & practical delivery to accelerate change & growth
Welcome to the first edition of my new newsletter, The March Foreword, aimed at advancing your business story.
It's the first time I've embraced a pun involving my surname, but that's because this one actually means something, and in this case, you get two puns for the price of one! ??
Every edition is a foreword to the story that you write. I'm just offering you some thoughts and ideas which might help you on your way.
So let's get stuck in.
I have just finished preparing a due diligence pack for a business to present to impact investors. It was well received, with one portfolio manager saying it was the best they had seen.
It's a fascinating exercise, because the due diligence pack is a synthesis of your business story told in a variety of ways, in various formats.
And this all got me thinking about the anatomy of the business story.
Those formats span two axes: length and depth, for want of better descriptions. Length is about the level of detail, and depth spans emotion and logic, heart and mind.
I had a bash plotting some of the key business documents on these axes of depth and length, right here:
The first thing which jumps out at me is that there there is empty space in the top right quadrant: high on emotion and high on detail.? I suppose you might place a feature film or a Netflix series in this quadrant, but it's unlikely your due diligence pack would contain either.
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Investors are known traditionally to be a bunch of hardheaded financiers.? Obviously they care deeply about your numbers, and they will want to see them both in summary and in detail -? understanding, for example, the assumptions you have made in your forecast, and the levers of growth.
But investors also want to understand you, what makes you tick, what you're trying to do with your business, and how it connects emotionally with your customers.
Let's not forget the adage - "people buy with emotion and justify with logic". And to some extent, the same as true for your investors: before they buy part of your business, they need to buy into you and what your business is doing.
So in the same way that much of your marketing material will lean heavily towards the emotional side of buying, do not neglect the emotion in the due diligence pack.
And finally, all of these components must hang together to tell the same story of your business, simply via different angles. Any dissonance between any of these articulations will reduce the impact and resonance of your business story.
If you find that there is indeed some dissonance between any of these storytelling components, then there may be some misalignment within your team, and that’s why your executive team should break down the silo mentality which can build within an organisation.
Plenty more where that come from in coming editions.
I'd love it if you subscribed, and I'd love it even more if you got involved and told me what you would like to see more or less of as we go.
Consulting - In transition
7 个月Julian March thanks for the invite... Right timing to add perspective to my newest journey... Will just share some random thoughts here... I look at it in terms of breadth & depth, with time as the length coordinate... Also, I see that you have sales decks & investor pitches along the depth line. I look at a pitch as a pitch, to anyone... As such I would like to see pitches of 3 types primarily - employee, customer & investor (all shareholders), and in that order of importance... I wish you more engagement as you march forward...??
Commercially aware fundraiser at International Bomber Command Centre. Organiser of the annual InSpireRide charity motorcycle event in May & 'Operation Paravane2024', a charity ride to Northern Norway in Sept 2024.
8 个月Thanks Julian ... as with all of your comm's thinking it is clear, concise and makes complete sense. Just think about some of the stuff we are doing with PM right now, the Drgaon, Knight, Happily Ever After stories should be targeting that top right hand corner if they are to land with impact ... All the best. Simon.
Multiplatform media consultant
8 个月Nice work, Jules - thought-provoking! Great name for it too.
Adviser | Coach | NED | Consultant | Trustee
8 个月Thanks so much Julian March. It's wonderfully simple and brilliant. If I could add one additional box to the graph, it would be "shareholder base". Telling the story of your existing investor base and engaging (and aligning) them in your business story can be incredibly powerful. Could you include this box mid vertical and left horizontal?
Chief Commercial Officer and NED
8 个月I love a 2x2 Julian March. Very well put together. The top right is interesting. I would say from experience that the pitch to investors itself occupies a place further up and right than the investor deck. The deck contains higher level information (and might have a financial model sitting alongside it). But during the pitch, you can get into all sorts of detail as required. And of course it is during the pitch that the investors see the emotion and passion of the leaderships team. So I would add another box called Investor Pitch; a bit up and a bit right of the deck.