We Are Writing the Future

In his wildly popular newsletter, Professor Scott Galloway recently described the venture world in terms that hit home to me. He called it “the storytelling economy.”

It makes so much sense. Before founders ever sell a product, they are selling a story. The vision they see doesn’t exist yet. Ultimately, they want to build it, but first they have to paint us all a picture of why this story matters, how it can become reality and how we’ll all be better off because of it.

This was an impactful shift in perception for me. I had always been drawn to telling company stories, but now I realize that for any creative person this is the great challenge of our time.

Great storytellers have always evolved their medium with the times. Shakespeare wrote plays because those were popular. F. Scott Fitzgerald didn’t write plays; he penned short stories. Steven Spielberg tells his stories through films. I always wondered what the next great medium of storytelling would be. Now I know: startups.

So don’t hide from your company story. Embrace it. Bring it to life. Have it be told by every employee, customer, investor and ambassador. Yours is a story for the ages.

Because remember: It is one thing to write a play or a short story or a movie script. It is another thing entirely to write the future.