It is a powerful asset in everything from raising capital to driving sales to securing press to attracting talent. Countless entrepreneurs have achieved business success by crafting a great story, and you can, too.

Start with Story is the definitive guidebook for first-time entrepreneurs to create the best story for their business. Inside, Lyn Graft demonstrates the power of this medium by examining the successes of companies like Starbucks, Dropbox, Spanx, TOMS, and many more who built incredible brands from nothing. Using his own storytelling framework, Graft leads you through a 5-step process to construct the best narrative to showcase your business.

You already have the best asset that sets your business apart. It’s time to create your story.

Start With Story shares the practical lessons, actions, and takeways you need to create the best story for you or your business. The book begins by helping you understand the true power of story and the science behind it. I then share a definition of story SPECIFICALLY as it pertains to entrepreneurs and lead into the most frequent and effective types of stories used by successful founders.

A core element of the book is a simple-to-use and easy-to-implement story framework I built to help entrepreneurs create their story. This framework is designed to help first time entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses. I share proven methods on how to get your story to stand out, how to make your story memorable, and how to overcome the ‘so what’ factor you will encounter throughout your business career.

Throughout Start With Story, I walk you through the steps on how to prepare, collect, and organize everything you need to build your story. And I wrap up with everything you need to do with your story once it’s done (including the most important thing to remember for you go out and share it with the world).

In this book you’ll learn:

• The power of story and what it really is
• How to get your business to stand out
• How to make your story memorable and shareable
• How to over the ‘so what’ factor so people care about your offering
• The 6 most common types of stories
• How to research, prepare, and organize your story
• The most important thing to remember once you ready to share your story with the world
• And much more…

Lyn Graft is the founder of Storytelling for Entrepreneurs, an online platform for founders to help create, tell, and share their story. Over the last 15 years, Lyn has filmed and captured the stories of more than 500 of the world’s top entrepreneurs, including the founders of LinkedIn, Starbucks, Dell, and Whole Foods. He has produced more than 800 videos focused on entrepreneurs, start-ups, and business content, and dedicated twenty thousand hours to studying and practicing entrepreneurial storytelling.

Lyn is an entrepreneur, producer, dog lover, and co-creator of CNBC’s American Made. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from New Mexico State University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.