FYI: Your Chaotic Story Is an Asset — Please Share
The pivots, founder feuds, competitors, and development delays are just some of the many hairpin turns that contort your journey into something much more…free-spirited.
You and I have realized that we need to strategically and positively frame our stories to raise a successful funding round. Yet, our startup stories can sometimes seem so chaotic that we might mentally predict failure — how on earth can our messy story look appealing? Who would want to get involved in that? We may even begin envying companies with a seemingly more linear (as far as we can tell) storyline. But regardless of our perceptions, the chaotic story you have can actually be an overwhelming advantage if played correctly. Let’s take a look at this extreme example.
Enter Jon Medved, the CEO and founder of an Israeli startup fund called OurCrowd. In 2012, Medved was in the process of courting OurCrowd’s first investors. These two New Yorkers had never been to Israel before, so Medved decided to show them around Tel Aviv and introduce them to Israel’s startup landscape. After having an enjoyable afternoon of touring and meeting local entrepreneurs, Medved and his guests were on a highway back to Jerusalem when the sound of spine-chilling air raid sirens began to howl. Rocket attacks on Tel Aviv had just begun, the first attack in twenty years.
After the assaults ceased and sirens fell silent, Medved and the two investors climbed back into the car. On the drive back, Medved had the sickening feeling that the successful day had just been completely ruined — who in their right mind would invest in companies that were threatened by missile attacks? Upon arriving home, the two investors informed Medved that they would reconsider their investment proposal and get back to him tomorrow morning.
