This is the ‘Win with Stories’ newsletter. It’s focused on helping founders, entrepreneurs and business owners. Every week I send an email with a business or life message wrapped in a short story. I also share one actionable tip to help you enhance your business storytelling skills.
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How Do We Know That Travel Matters Deeply To Deep Kalra.
Raj Shamani is one of those online content creators who is omnipresent. This itself told me that the quality of his work may not be great, and it must be click-bait titles and sensational content that drive his views.
Interestingly, I had never listened to any of his videos or talks for more than ten seconds to arrive at this judgment.
I decided to move beyond this judgment last week and listened to Raj Shamani’s podcast ‘Figuring Out’. The episode I listened to featured Peyush Bansal and provided the trigger for the previous edition of this newsletter.
This sufficiently motivated me to listen to one more episode, and I chose to listen to Deep Kalra of MakeMyTrip.
In the last year, I have increasingly become loyal to this travel booking app, thanks to the ease of use, focus on business-owners like me and their efficient customer service.
Deep Kalra, I have realised is one of the best communicators in India Inc, and even more so in the startup ecosystem of the country.
There was a point in this podcast, where I felt that this gentleman actually cares about travel because he is an avid traveller himself.
How did I know that? He shared some of his personal travel favourites, pet peeves and concerns about over-tourism.
Sample these points:
- Radhanagar beach in the Andamans is his favourite because it is pristine and really long
- He feels that the moon-like landscape in Ladakh is stunning and Pangong lake is actually as beautiful as it seems in the movie ‘Three Idiots’
- Over-tourism is something he deeply worries about, and believes like many destinations across the world India should also restrict the number of travellers entering certain destinations.
One thing is clear. Deep Kalra is not just a founder, but also someone who is passionate about travel. To me, that makes a lot of difference whether as a customer of MakeMyTrip or if I was an investor.
And I am sure most of you feel the same way, don’t you?
One communication tip for today.
I believe that not every founder is passionate about the space they operate in. Deep Kalra could well have been more passionate about tech than travel, and yet been quite successful.
Still, I feel that passion for your idea multiplies your chances of success, simply because you are unlikely to give up as early as others would.
So first suggestion is to either work on an idea you are passionate about. Standard rules on validating the market, your own ability, etc apply.
Second point is, that many founders are passionate but aren’t particularly good at showcasing it.
For them, my suggestion is: Speak like an enthusiast and not an entrepreneur
Narrate your stories, anecdotes and inspiration like you were an enthusiast and not a business owner.
In the example I shared, Kalra speaks many times like a traveler and not as the Chairman of MakeMyTrip.
Sugar Cosmetics’ Vineeta Singh says as CEO her job is to deeply understand the consumer and stay close to them. So she understands make-up and dressing up. That shows in her public appearances and on Shark Tank India.
Rajan Singh of HabitStrong(look him up on Linkedin if you haven’t heard of him) is as much a practitioner of deep work and mindfulness as he propagates it to other people via his startup.
I think it’s pretty clear that speaking like an enthusiast communicates both empathy with the customer and your passion for the space.
More often than not, people trust the ones who they believe have a deep connect with the problem they are solving.
So yes, discover the enthusiast in you while you build the business like an entrepreneur.
That’s it from me today. Hope you found this newsletter useful 🙂
That’s it from me this week. Tell me one thing that will make you share this newsletter with friends and colleagues 🙂
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🔥India is the next big economy, yes.
And Indian startups will play a huge role in catapulting our nation’s growth.
But there is one problem no one talks about.
Every startup and enterprise in this country faces a crisis. It’s not a crisis of creativity or of work ethic. It’s a crisis of leadership.
Our founders and leaders need to do better to connect with, inspire and influence their audiences.
Look at folks like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk or even Brian Chesky of Airbnb. Their ability to influence has led them to create disproportionate impact.
But we need an Indian playbook for leadership & communication. And that’s where I come in.
Stories are in the DNA of every Indian, and they are the best tools to inspire and influence.
So I bring this power of stories to the world of business.
I’ve coached over 50 startup founders and hundreds of corporate leaders use this superpower.
My ‘Founder’s Storytelling’ coaching programme helped:
💯Deconstruct Skincare realise they were building products for the information-seeking educated Indian woman
👣Campmonk found out that they were more than a camping aggregator. They were on a mission to help people ‘Find Their True Nature’
📺Vdociper helps fight video piracy. It discovered its mission was to help educators go online without fear, because it is ‘Time to Teach’.
While the big story or narrative is important, so are real stories from a startup’s journey.
And even with those, we need founders to be great narrators. Otherwise, great stories go to PowerPoints and websites to die a silent death.
That makes me believe that my work as India’s first and only startup story coach is important.
I am on a mission to equip 10,000 Indian founders with the power of stories over the next three years. I intend to do this through my online cohorts, self-paced courses and community initiatives.
A bit more about me: I burned the midnight oil at a PR agency for almost a decade before I quit it all to travel to 14 countries. Then one afternoon, at a fighting festival in Peru, I realized I was not chasing destinations, but stories.
The seeds of The Story Co were sown then, but it took me another five years to launch the company.
My coaching and training helps founders and leaders multiply their success in sales, fundraising and team-building.
If what you read makes sense to you, or if it evokes curiosity, then drop me a line at sachin@thestoryco.in
Indian founders, entrepreneurs and leaders can win every big game. They just need to be equipped with the right narratives and stories. And I am here to make sure they never fall short of them.
Stories mean success, let’s get Indian businesses to narrate many more of them.
amaskara! Many of you got connected with me recently, so I thought a re-introduction is in order.
So here goes:
We all remember stories from The Mahabharata and comic books since our childhood days. But we find it difficult to remember business presentations from last week.
Why is that?
It’s because stories are a hack into the human brain. My company The Story Co is on a mission to bring the power of stories to business.
We do this through coaching, training and consulting.
I believe that Indian startups will win the world, once our founders become great storytellers. So I focus on the startup ecosystem.
My mission?
To equip 10,000 Indian startup founders with narrative and storytelling skills in the next three years.
In the startup space, we’ve worked with over 50 startup founders in the past three years.
💯 Some have been able to raise funds faster
🤝 Others were able to convert customers more easily
👥 Founders have also built strong mission-oriented teams through our coaching and training programs.
My cofounder Ranjani focuses on building our enterprise business(basically we run coaching and training programmes for corporates as well).
🤝 Trained Tata Motors’ teams to use stories in communication and leadership
🔥 Bestseller India’s senior executives delivered memorable speeches through our coaching
💢 Helped 60 people managers of Saks Retail to progress faster on their leadership journey.
What are our programs and who are they for?
📈 Founder’s Pitch: 4-week online cohort to help entrepreneurs and business owners build a compelling narrative for their company
💵 Ace Linkedin with Stories: 4-week online cohort for senior execs and founders to discover and showcase their expertise on Linkedin
✌🏽Lead with Stories: 2-Day workshop for managers and young leaders in corporates and mid-sized companies
🔥 Story Punch for Marketing and Content: 2-Day workshop/ 4-week online cohort that helps marketing, content, PR, startup and agency professionals create more compelling campaigns and content
📈 Story Punch for Sales Success: 2-Day Workshop for enterprise sales teams to convert clients faster
Stories mean success, and we need to narrate more of them.
If any of this interests you, or you just want to say hi – get in touch. Links to calendar, newsletter and socials in the first comment.
Pic: I believe we are more than our work, so hee’s a brief introduction to my most important asset – my family. And who’s the most important member? Kiki, our pet indie dog. She changed our lives for the better after she entered the family a little over two years ago. 🐶
