It was clear that relevance was our key goal as we put together this curriculum. Launching a tech start-up is all-consuming, so we wanted to ensure that our storytelling training focused on real-world application, with minimal theory. Inspiration is important, of course, but practical takeaways were pivotal to this group’s engagement and success.

Knowing that participants would likely have diverse backgrounds and levels of experience, we interviewed people on the ground to determine the priority modules: the basics of storytelling for sales, tools to develop a killer brand story, and how to use storytelling to recruit the right people. Each participant left with a compelling elevator pitch and a new, polished About Us page for their website.

We also created a Facilitators’ Guide so Microsoft could roll out the training to aspiring tech entrepreneurs for years to come.