Telling your business story (go deeper in M3)

Before anyone lends you money, invests in you or gives you a grant, they need to understand your business quickly and believe in it. A clear business story does both. Course M3 goes deeper into pitching; this lesson builds the core story you will use everywhere.

The story structure

A strong business story answers six questions, in this order:

1. The problem. Who is struggling, and with what? Make it real and specific.
2. Your solution. What you do about it, in plain words.
3. Why it works. Proof: customers, sales, repeat orders, testimonials, a pilot.
4. Why you. What you know or can do that makes you the right person to run this.
5. Where it's going. What the business could become in the next two or three years.
6. What you need. Money, equipment, a contract, a mentor. Be specific.

Make it human

People remember stories about people, not about spreadsheets. Start with one real customer and their problem. "Every morning, Mama Dube walks 40 minutes to buy fresh bread because there is no bakery in our section" is more powerful than "There is an underserved market for baked goods."

Use numbers, but only real ones

Funders trust specifics: how many customers, monthly sales, how many repeat orders, how much each sale earns you. Never inflate numbers. If you are just starting, say so, and show what you have tested (see B2).

Practise the one-minute version

Write your story, then cut it until you can say it in about 60 seconds. Practise it out loud until it sounds natural, not memorised. Then prepare a three-minute version with a little more detail for when someone says, "Tell me more."

Adapt it to the listener

• A bank wants to know you can repay.
• A grant funder wants to know the social or economic impact.
• An investor wants to know how big the business can grow.
• A customer wants to know what's in it for them.

The facts stay the same; the emphasis changes.

A South African example

Nkosinathi runs a mobile car-repair service in East London. His first pitch was a list of services and prices. His mentor asked him to start with a story instead: a nurse whose car broke down before a night shift, and how Nkosinathi fixed it in her driveway. Then he gave his numbers: repeat customers, monthly jobs, and the second bakkie he needed. Funders at a local enterprise event remembered him afterwards.