The Narrated Startup

Picture yourself years in the future, at a launch party for your proudest work. Somebody is exclaiming about the dessert. You paid for this lavish party and its beguiling pies, but you can hardly deign to remember what any of it cost. 

The people at your party, whoever they are, are your bedrock supporters. They’ve kept your project going by sacrificing their time, ideas, patience and perhaps even their money. They like what you’re doing, and they seek to ensure that you keep doing it. But better yet, they like you. 

Some people crassly refer to your party-goers as “customers.” Such an impersonal word doesn’t do them justice; many people at this party are your friends. How did you earn so much loyalty from them? How, without a PR department, an advertising budget, a big-name producer or professional marketing? How have you transcended all that? 

The answer is simple: you told the story of your creative endeavors without feeling like a spammer.