Digital storytelling for business - a study on how to present your startup/idea/business with digital storytelling

1. Digital storytelling for business- a study on how to present your startup/idea/business with digital storytelling Tom Laine, Innopinion Ltd Oy, tom.laine@innopinion.com

2. Whatif… • Wecouldsupporttheideasborn outside of thebigcities and localprivateinvestmentpools? • Wecouldtesttheideasearly on with thepotentialtargetmarkets? • Wecould help theinvestors – private and publicalike – to betterunderstandthepotential of theseideas and thenperhapsfundtheideasmorelikely? • Wecoulddo market-driveninnovations and R&D? • Wecouldinstead of a heavy business plantell a visuallyengaging and betterexplanatorystories of theideas and thepotentialtheymayhave? • Wecouldsupportourlocalstartups to betterpresenttheideas, developtheideas, to getbetterfundingopportunities, and promotetheideas in general? Yes, wecan! How to presentideas and startupstime and placeirrelevant? How to tellthestory?

3. Whatwouldbethemeans to just dothis? • Wewentthrough a greatnumber of startups, theirideas and howtheypitchedthem, talked to public and privatefundingrepresentatives, interviewedthecrowdfundingplatformproviders, didwide and deepInternet searches, and found some interestingcommonissues to solve, potentialsolutions, best practices, and lots of peoplewhoaredealing with thesameissues. • Allaroundtheworldpeoplearedealing with thesameissues and havetriedsolvingthisproblem. Here arethefindings… How to presentideas and startups?

4. Theconcept of pitching is becomingpopular and best practicesareborn • Pitching is a condencedway to presentones idea in shorttime for differentpurposes • For investors, clients, partners, media… • Pitchingcanbetrained, evenbyyourself – try it with mirroror video • …But it doestakelots of practice to master! • Forgetsending business plans, pitching is thenewblack with startups http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq0tan49rmc Thepitchingconcept

5. Lots of pitchingcontests and trainingavailable in various live events • Askyourlocalacceleratororincubatororreadthe startup publications • EBAN and itslocalrepresentativesacross Europe arrange and/orattendpitchingevents, butalsolots of independentactivity • Check out The Web Summit, Webit Congress, Slush, Le Web, etc. • Midnight Pitch Festnextweek in Oulu • Pitching in eventsrequirestravel to certainplace at certaintime, hopingthe ”right” peoplearethere, and of course, gettingthepitchright with just oneshot – in public in front of a Jury oraudience! • Pitchinghasalsogone online – SomePitching.com leadingtheway Pitching for money

6. SomePitching.com runningsince 2010 – a non-profitoperation • Pitching with video – shoot as manytimes as youwish, in yourowntime, at your home or studio, with professional help ifyouwish • MIT’sYouPitch, FounderInstitute’scontest, and Test My Pitch alsopopular • Not just a one-offpitch, but a promotional video, canbesent to investors, canincludeanimationsoreffectsin manycases • Rulesdefinewhatcanbeincluded • Pitch canalsobemarketingmaterial • Structurevaries Pitching online

7. Doesn’thave to be TV quality • Practice and re-takesrequired • Some companies in thefield, providingsupport and havestandardizedstructure, such as Luoda’sOneMinStoryconcept • Lots of (semi-)professionalproductioncompaniesoradvertisingagenciesavailable • Thesmallerthe city, theless help is available… • Can youoryourlocalschool, accelerator, orpublicsupportorganisationprovide a bluescreen, camera and facilities? Dotheyhave practice to trainthepitchers and shoot and editthe video? How to buildorsupportbuildingthe video pitch?

8. Vibsolas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxkZYhlBTdo • MokkaMokkahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofH_18BbBzc&list=PLa82lL-z1w1kQWUn5eNJgZnQDVWKTGlCR • Cosmic Gekko http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnWL3iu1b24&index=5&list=PLa82lL-z1w1kQWUn5eNJgZnQDVWKTGlCR It doesn’thave to be a professionalproduction…

9. Additionallytheuse of video supportsdifferenttypes of possibilities • 360media-europe.com’s Xsense video brochure • Remote mentoring • Supportingmaterial to publicfundingapplications • Testmarketing • Crowdfunding Video canbe a lot of things

10. According to both crowdfunding platformproviders, investors, and companiespitching, video in a crowdfunding projecthaspropablythe single biggesteffect on thesuccess of a crowdfunding campaign • Picturestellsmorethan a 1000 words is reallytrue • Video is personal, at best givesface to thecompany, helpsunderstandthepeople/team, and createstrust! • Theinformationoverload… attention span shortening! Video in crowdfunding

11. Video is a greatway to practice and executepitching, allowingremotepresentations in a handy and informativeway – everyoneseems to think video is just coming to pitching and is consideredgreat! • Video hasseveralbenefits in presenting an idea as such • Investorslovestories, and pictures and video speaklouderthanwords • Even publicauthoritieswouldaccept video to explainideasmuchmore in-depth • Video pitchcanalsobeused to test market potential …but a reallypoor video candestroythechances of funding! Solet’sbecareful out there, practice (lots) beforeyoupreach! Key findings

12. Asmo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfRRunHyoA0 • Iron Sky Universe https://www.invesdor.com/fi/pitches/226 • Crowdlottery https://www.fundedbyme.com/fi/campaign/3081/winner-takes-all-crowdlottery/?button=tile&from=browse#.U4z-CvkemYI • SolarRoadways https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/solar-roadways Examples

13. Thank You!I’d be happy to answer your questions now or later today… Tom Laine, Innopinion Ltd Oy, tom.laine@innopinion.com