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Comment by jimmar | Hacker News Reader

> How can we fix that?

It doesn't need fixing. If you can't tell a compelling story to potential investors, how are you going to tell a story to your customers?

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Maybe not every business needs to tell a story. I recently bought an enamel pan that I absolutely love. There was no story involved in the transaction. I looked at the pictures, checked the price and the size, and ordered it. I'll buy a smaller one before long, that's how good it is.

Some businesses will need a story (I would consider my own an example). For others, the products do speak for themselves. The initial generalization, that 90% of a founder's work is storytelling, tells me more about the limited, silicon- valley-centric perspective of the author than it teaches me about business.

One was is to make a product so compelling to your customer that solves such an impactful problem for them that it doesn't need to be conveyed to them through pablum and/or obfuscation.

Something is usually "compelling" when it reaches the level where the customer can figure out the story themselves. Story doesn't equate pablum/obfuscation. It's a narrative presentation of the vision of how the product will impact the customer's life.

Referring to the original link, I don't think the Pixar way it to tell stories using pablum and/or obfuscation. I agree with what I think is your point--the product matters most. If your product truly is great, it should be easier to craft a straightforward, compelling story.

Obfuscation is only halfway to the Pixar way to tell stories; the central point of Pixar stories is that they are false from beginning to end. There is no fish called Nemo, fish don't talk, fish don't organize rescue missions, fish fathers don't take care of their fish children after they hatch, and the good guys don't always win in the end.

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