Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

why is practicing telling your story as an entrepreneur so important?

13 Sept 2023 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:56

In this short YouTube monologue, the speaker explains why entrepreneurs must deliberately practice how they tell their story. Using a personal anecdote, they recount their first pitch to Dr. Ambika Bham, their initial 45‑minute explanation of their startup Lotus, and the advisor’s immediate feedback that the story needed to be far more concise. The speaker describes an iterative process of trimming the pitch—first to 20 minutes, then 15, 5, and finally a three‑minute version—illustrating how repeated practice and external critique sharpen the narrative, making it clearer, more compelling, and ready for real‑world conversations.

Chapters

What it is like to like practice telling your story as an entrepreneur? It doesn't sort of just happen. And case in point, I'll be vulnerable. When I first asked my very first advisor, Dr. Ambika Bham, to become an advisor to Lotus, it took me 45 minutes to explain to her what we were doing and why. It took us 45 minutes. And I remember the very first, you know, I stopped, you know, after 45 minutes. I paused and I said, okay. All right. What questions do you have or what concerns do you have? And I'll never forget the very first point she made was, you need to figure out a way to explain this more concisely, which makes a ton of sense. And so over time it came down to 20 minutes, 15, 5 minutes. And I think more recently, I think I figured out a way to say it in 3 minutes.