[bastian]

The most interesting part to me was this: "He’d been telling a version of that same story every single day for months and months during development—to us, to his friends, his family. He was constantly working on it, refining it. Every time he’d get a puzzled look or a request for clarification from his unwitting early audience, he’d sand it down, tweak it slightly, until it was perfectly polished."

I did the same thing for 12 years as CEO of Postmates and I still do it when I work on new ideas. I thought it was something I just did. But reading this I have to assume it is more common.

[thom]

For me the internal part of this is far more important than any external pitch. Storytelling is a key skill for keeping an organisation aligned. Every company I've worked for that felt disjointed wasn't because of a lack of structure or process, it was the lack of a unifying narrative that people can follow and weave their work into. Once you have that, the sales and marketing part is pretty natural because you're already living the message like you mean it.

[billfruit]

But is that the only way? Can organizations be driven on pure process instead to having to find, and refine 'some narrative' to keep it all together.

[Frederation]

The Narrative, a cohesive one, drives my purpose and gives me direction.

[BOOSTERHIDROGEN]

The question is how do you find such unique narratives? Who decide it is unique.

[formerphotoj]

100% - I used to sell/evangelize/promote/pitch the vision of the educational non-profit I used to work for every. single. day. to. every. single. person. Loved it, still do, and still storytelling at my current gig.

[neom]

It's one of the first lessons I teach the founders in my classes, I learned it building DigitalOcean, I think it was Michael Dell who told me "yeah your job just becomes saying the same thing different ways all the time". Best I've seen at it is Flo the founder of mesosphere.

Don't think you can build a startup into a business if you can't learn how to do this.

[matwood]

And it’s a good lesson. The first hurdle for many (me included) was getting over the fact I’m going to repeat myself - a lot. And that’s ok. There’s a reason Coca-Cola still advertises. Repetition works. When telling someone the story, you never know what’s in their head at that moment. They might be thinking about some other important thing they have to do that day and not hear anything you said.

[nicbou]

I do the same thing when I have a new idea. If people don’t seem as excited, I either refine the story or reconsider it entirely. It tests the idea, but also my understanding of why I want to build it. Is my hype justified or will it falter once the caffeine wears off?

[neilv]

I don't know how common it is for the different people who do an elevator pitch, but IIUC most successful standup comedians do this incremental testing and refining of bits very heavily.

One difference I'd call out is that the delivery is different in what's understood as a formal rehearsed performance, than when speaking in informal one-on-one contexts.

IMHO, for informal, it's OK if you use pretty much the same canned explanation each time (especially for an elevator pitch, which is understood as a thing), just don't pretend you're speaking off-the-cuff.

For example, don't pause like you're thinking of the right term or analogy to use. (I've seen Steve Jobs videos where he seems to do this. And I had a colleague who would do it for one key metaphor term, even though they said the same bit about their research to different visitors almost every day.)

If you go to a standup performance or TED talk, you're expecting a heavily-rehearsed performance, with artificial flourishes. But if you're having a one-on-one conversation with someone, you want a bespoke, genuine, engaged, adaptive interaction. Canned bits in that are OK, but don't pretend those bits are fresh.

[darkerside]

You can still do that, just know it's disingenuous, inauthentic, and disrespectful to your audience. May be worth it to you, for example if you don't care about that particular audience.

[itronitron]

How do you avoid annoying everyone around you, or does being CEO mean you don't have to worry about it?

[philodeon]

Just as movie stars get paid a lot to compensate for dealing with the unpleasant life-ruining consequences of fame, CEOs get paid a lot to compensate for the monotony.

[tiffanyh]

Just curious, what was the same story you said every single day for 12-years?

[bastian]

Probably a bad choice of words on my part. I was referring to the stories of the products we worked on, not the same story for 12 years.

[matwood]

I also do this as I refine any pitch. I tell it to everyone over and over, tweaking it slightly, refining, etc… One difference is I don’t think the polishing ever ends until it’s time to move on to something else.

[veunes]

It makes me wonder how many great products were shaped not just in boardrooms or dev sprints, but in casual conversations with friends and family.

[contingencies]

Hey Bastian, would love to have a chat about the impact of total automation in the food space (prep, package, deliver). We have 10 years R&D down, about to raise US GTM round, didn't find you on LinkedIn, email in profile. Cheers.

[bastian]

I deleted my LinkedIn. Email or text me. 415 629 9329 or [e-mail] - I do not like to invest in anything related to food though.

[e40]

It’s exactly what standup comedians do, over months and years, before filming a special.

[rottc0dd]

Even just saying the whole thing out loud again and again, makes the talk better. Because, you would understand what you whizzing past, what you are spending time on and reduces the time you would buffer while talking.

[rjsw]

I see "mansplaining" as a variant of this.