The 23 Rules of Storytelling for

Fundraising
When you are fundraising, there are specific storytelling
techniques that will motivate your VC audience to
invest. Here are our top 23 rules for greats storytelling.

Source: James Currier, NfX

 1. Brevity: Only call out what’s important:

It turns out that there are only a few elements of your story
that are important in motivating an investor. Here's the
list:

1. Sector
2. Business model
3. Traction numbers
4. Team
5. Timing
6. Unique insights you have
7. Competition
8. Business design
9. Market
10. Go to market
 2. Constantly adjust your story to your
audience:

Each time you start to tell your story again, you’ve

got to be able to speak to what they’re interested in,
only including only the key details that are relevant
for that audience.
3. Have Different Sized Stories for Different
Audiences at Different Times

Different contexts require a different size story. Be

aware of which context you’re in and adjust the
length/depth of the story.
 4. Get Past The “COO Mindset” Problem

Many founders have a hard time during fundraising

is shifting their language from the detailed daily
activity to the big picture.

It’s understandable, but you have to become a CEO

when you tell your story.
 5. Tell Your Story For Their Partners, Too

Your listener needs to be able to retell your story.

And typically, they have about 30 seconds. Find the
language that resonates with them and their
partners.
 6. Startup Storytelling Isn’t Like Movie
Storytelling

Investors and potential employees will give you just

a few minutes to tell your story, and they are
looking for specific pieces of information.
 7. Speak In Numbers

Use a number in 100% of your sentences. People

who build big companies are data-driven. Think in
data, speak in data.
 8. Stand Up, Move Around

Storytelling is a full-body experience. Embody the

energy of the startup you’re creating. Show
listeners that you have vitality.
 9. Give Your Best Points Right Away

Don’t make the mistake of building up to your

punchline. Get to the good stuff right away. If not,
there are 4 more pitches coming today.
 10. Make It Big

Investors, employees, journalists, and anybody

listening to your narrative wants excitement. And
whether you build something small or something
big, it will take 100% of your time. So go for
something big.
 11. Simple Words, No Jargon

Keep it simple, so easy that you can explain it to a

five-year-old.

Like Square says, “Sell on the go.” Venmo, “Make

and share payments.” And Evernote, “Remember
everything.”
 12. Draw Analogies

Draw analogies to things that listeners already know

or think they know & keep your analogies fresh to
start the conversation with excitement.
 13. Let The Audience See How They Look
Good for Being Involved

The easiest way to sell something is through ROI -

Return on Investment, how does the listener make
more money? - or EGO - ego, how does the
listener look good to others.

By helping the listener understand their benefit, your

story will be more effective.
 14. Have A Great Origin Story

Having a good origin story helps humanize you and

the idea.

A great origin story is shockingly effective for

stimulating resources and momentum.
 15. Don’t Always Start Your Narrative With
“The Problem”

The problem with talking about the problem is that

the listener might not agree with you and they’ll get
hung up before you can get to the positive change
you’re going to make in the world.
 16. Four Narrative Templates

You can either choose one of these or you could

use more than one in a pitch if you’re skilled about
it.

1. Industry Story: Competition, industry changes,

and where your company fits in. This is typically
how an investor looks at the world.

2. Customer Story: How a customer finds and

experiences your product. Making it about real
people makes it tangible.
3. Hero Founder: Why you’re special and how you
will bring something new to the world.

4. Company Journey to Insights: The story of the

pivots and learnings of your company that got you
here. We tried X, we realized Y. We tried Z, and had
insight A. Now we do B and it’s working.
17. Talk About Your Past Proof Points AND
Your Future

That’s where we get the traction numbers and proof

points from, but the fact is, an investor is buying
your future. So, also honestly talk about your
future, and get them excited.
 18. Use Visuals. Show, Don’t Tell.

Images can be 5X more effective at

communicating information than words alone.
Charts, graphs, images & numbers make your
dreams more tangible, and the listeners absorb
information much faster.
 19. Make an Effective Deck

● Think 10 to 14 slides in the main deck with 10 to

40 slides in the appendix to quickly answer
specific questions live.

● Take great care with the titles of your slides.

They are the core structure of your story.

● Try to communicate one concept per slide. You

don’t need any extra elements on the slide
except for the concept. Less is more.
● Use giant font size. We’ve seen thousands of
decks, and I’ve never thought once, “Wow, that
font size is too big.” But I’ve thought the font is
too small in about 80% of decks. Don’t use a font
smaller than 24 pt in a deck, and 144 pt font is
not too big.

● Use charts and numbers when you can, and

make sure they go up and to the right.
 20. Make A Beautiful Deck

Having a quality deck shows that you like to do

things right. Here’s a nice example:
21. Your Decks Will Always Be Changing

Your deck is always going to be changing up until

minutes before your pitch, and you might end up
with 50 different decks during a fundraiser. That’s
not unusual or wrong. You should be doing that.
 22. Always Ask the Listener Something
That Will Help Make You Better For the Next
Pitch

Ask open-ended questions to find out where you

rank. If you’re not at the top, find out why, and
change parts of your business or change the pitch
to move forward with the next investor.
 23. Align Your Story Elements

For your story to be eaten up by investors,

customers, employees, and for your company to be
big, you need to line up all its elements:

1. Who are you as a Founder? What’s your

background?
2. What’s the origin story of the business?
3. How’d you come up with the name and the logo?
4. Who are the customers/users?
5. What do you do for people? What does the
product do?
6. How does the product look and feel?
7. How do you make money?
8. How big is the market you’re going after?
9. What future are you creating?