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Sometimes, you just need to get out of the house and attend that networking eventâyou never know who youâll meet, what youâll learn, or what fire might be lit. Thank goodness I decided to go see some guy with a duffle bag full of T-shirts tell his life story because it planted a seed in me that still blossoms to this day.
In this issue, learn about that story along with:
⢠3 storytelling lessons every founder can apply to overcome challenges and grow
⢠How transparency leads 94% of consumers to stay loyal to your brand
⢠A must-watch video by MUD\WTRâs founder on transforming burnout into a killer brand
Remember, struggle isnât the end - itâs the start of something extraordinaryâŚLGâ¨
Founder Story: Marc Seriff, AOL
I was tired, frustrated, and confused about what to do next. Two years after I finished my MBA at the University of Texas at Austin, I began my first start-up, a tech company with my best friend. We were months into the launch and were readying to approach angel investors for our first outside investment.
We had been working on our business plan and pitch deck for months and had been told by peers and informal advisors that there were still umpteen things wrong even after all the updates and changes weâd made.
She and I felt completely lost.
It was late afternoon on a Monday when I remembered a monthly meeting that night at the Austin Software Council with a founder-type speaker to talk all things start-up. We were still chipping away at our deck, and I had originally planned to skip the talk because we had too much to do. And it was cold.
However, completely drained by the current challenge, I decided to step away from my computer and get out of the house. I arrived late to the meeting and had no clue who the speaker was, but the 200-seat auditorium was packed so I assumed the guy was worth the trip.
He carried a duffle bag to the podium and began by stating that heâd like to tell his story using a set of T-shirts. He reached over and pulled out a T-shirt with a company logo on it. He held it up for everyone to see and said,
âThis was my first company. It failed."
I had never heard the company name or seen the logo before. âThis was a cool idea,â he said, âbut we never could get the technology to work.â He put that shirt down, reached into the duffle bag, and pulled out another shirt. Again, unrecognizable. âNow, this company was a cool idea,â he began. âWe got it to work, but we couldnât turn it into a product that anybody cared about, so that company failed as well.â He put that shirt down and pulled out another. âThis was our third company. It was a great idea and great technology. We turned it into a product that worked, but nobody would buy it. It was a terribly frustrating situation.â He shook his head, put that shirt down, and pulled out yet another.
âThis company was a great idea, great technology, and a great product. We started selling, but a key partner didnât want the product to continue, so we ended up shutting it down.â
He put that T-shirt back in the bag, and at this point, I remember thinking, this man has failed multiple times, and heâs confidently sharing his failures like recipes for chocolate chip cookies.
He went on to share another failure. From what I recall, this was another great idea, great company, great team, incredible technology, product, and market opportunity, but it was just the wrong timing.
They lost millions of their investorsâ money. At this point, I was thinking, "Who is this guy? And will these failures ever stop?"
Finally, he held up his last T-shirt but kept the name on it hidden. Then he said, âThis was a great company. Great idea, great technology, great market opportunity, great founding team. And the people that had just lost the money in our previous company? They funded us.â
He turned the shirt around, and in big letters on the front, it said AOL.
AOL, or America Online Inc., was one of the most successful and recognized web brands in the 1990s and an early pioneer of the internet. At its height, it represented nearly 1 in 3 internet users in the United States at the time. The man on the stage that night was Marc Seriff, one of the original founders.
That night, I went home with a new sense of optimism and vigor to complete the deck and business plan. The work paid off. Within a few weeks, we closed our first $100,000 seed investment. The company I founded would go on to have its own ups and downs, but what remained from that experience that night was Marc Seriffâs story and the inspiration it gave me.
When I spoke to Marc recently, I told him how heâd inspired me. He was humbly honored.
Though I may not have remembered the exact dialogue or all the exact details of his story, the spirit of what Marc said and the message of perseverance and determination were the same. And still inspire me today.
All these years later, I can still picture Marc on stage with his duffle bag and T-shirts. I remember exactly what I felt, what I saw, and how it motivated me. I didnât know it at the time, but that talk planted the entrepreneurial storytelling seed in me, and I would soon come to learn how powerful a story can be.
(edited excerpt taken from the book âStart With Storyâ)
