🧹 Decluttering our stories
We create words, images, or slides to serve our story. But sometimes the purpose of that content was just to help us understand our story.
🍌 Be the Banana
Redundancy —in packaging or in storytelling— is neither elegant nor sustainable. Be the banana, not the banana bag.
How bad service can be good branding
There’s a teeny tiny Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago called Schwa that has unforgettable food. It also has a reputation for “bad” (or perhaps we’ll call it…sparse?) customer service that actually benefits it.
🔀 Where there’s a will there’s a way…to buy your product or service.
So speak to the will, and show the way.
🛩 How designing your own pitch deck can hurt your chances of getting funded
Confusing, distracting, or unintentionally hiding information from investors can cost you big opportunities.
🚨 New Freebie 🚨
It’s a pitch deck about pitch decks.
With ✨ illustrated tips ✨ to **grab and keep investors’ attention**.
How to Filter Your Pitch Deck Feedback
Just when you think you’re done with your pitch deck, more “helpful” feedback lands on your desk. Your to-do list gets a little longer. You may even start to feel defeated.
Feedback on your pitch deck from investors isn’t as valuable as you might think
Michael Bungay Stainier, a favorite author of mine, says that each of us has an advice monster inside of us. And it has convinced us that the only way to add value is to have all the answers.
Why does storytelling matter more for climate startups?
Countless brilliant people are working on exquisite solutions for the biggest problem humanity has ever faced. And most of those solutions are quietly sitting in a lab or an office somewhere.
How to Make Everyone Forget Your Brand
“The relentless pursuit of mass will make you boring, because mass means average, it means the center of the curve, it requires you to offend no one and satisfy everyone.” - Seth Godin, This is Marketing
We all know a mass brand when we see it. We also won’t remember anything about it.
Don’t be a mass brand. Be bold. Be memorable. Offend someone. Leave some people unsatisfied.
Because you don’t need *everyone* to like you. And those that do like you, will remember you.
Is social media a waste of money for an early stage startup?
Social media is a great tool for awareness, retention, and growth, especially for consumer brands. But if you’re not reaching your audience where they are, a social media strategy can be a bad investment.
Nothing is bad for the environment
Do you ever hear someone say “[insert climate threat] is bad for the environment,” like the environment is this “other” thing outside of ourselves? Fossil fuels, fertilizers, and landfills aren’t “bad for the environment.” They’re bad for our health. They’re bad for our kids. They’re bad for us.
