The importance of storytelling in business
Storytelling is Axonista’s lifeblood – without it we simply wouldn’t exist.
Our core product, an interactive video platform, is in essence, a storytelling engine. We help our customers to harness its power to tell their stories in new and engaging ways. QVC uses our technology to tell stories that connect their viewers to the products they love, Fashion Relief TV uses the power of shoppable video to raise vital funds for Oxfam, and the WaterBear Network tells stories that educate and encourage its viewers to take action to help save the future of our planet.
Good storytelling lights the right kind of fires, and helps people to remember key pieces of information, so it’s an important tool in the arsenal of a SaaS founder when it comes to engaging your team, customers and investors.
When myself and Daragh Ward founded Axonista, it was over two pints of Guinness, a packet of crisps, and a shared vision for how video storytellers could use touchscreen devices to interact with their viewers. Our enthusiasm in how we told the story of that vision, and expressed our belief in it coming to fruition, enabled us to win over our first team members. It served as the energy that drove us in the early days of our startup, knowing that we were building something amazing with the potential to change how others would tell stories in the future.
The story of our vision for how our technology could be used to achieve successful outcomes, gave global media companies like MTV, Aol, and QVC the confidence to take a chance on a small startup from Ireland. In turn, their success stories became part of our story, and a powerful way to entice a wider set of customers, and convince investors that we might really be on to something, enough to give us the backing, guidance, and support to build our company.
Fast forward to 2021, with our vision having become reality, storytelling remains a big part of our company activities, as we scale the business. With a shift to fully remote working, and with new team members joining on an almost weekly basis, storytelling is more important than ever to ensure that everyone is connected to the company vision, strategy, and goals, and that they understand their role in taking it to the next level.
While we may not know exactly what the future holds, one thing we do know is that we are looking forward to adding more exciting chapters and interesting characters, as we continue to tell the story of the Axonista adventure!
This article was first published in TechIreland’s Irish SaaS Report 2021 which can be downloaded here.
