Ever wondered why telling a story is powerful in business? Ann Booth-Clibborn writes about their power to make people care.

Don’t tell the accountant but the spreadsheets don’t attract funding on their own. I’m a story coach so of course I’ll tell you the key is stories, but what about the VCs what are they looking for?

I asked Richard Marsh, entrepreneur and now partner at DFJ Esprit.

“I remember pitching my own company to VCs, and now as a VC I meet with many new companies every week. First impressions count and it’s important for start-ups seeking VC backing to have a really compelling story and vision. In particular if you have something new and unique you need to set out the vision of why this is important, who to, why and how you will build your business on this. When we invest in start-ups, we’re buying into the entrepreneur’s journey and will become immersed in its development and ambition for success.”

The truth is the story form is the oldest, and the most successful form of communication we have at our disposal, so it makes sense to use it’s persuasive power for business.

Why is a story so successful?

• It follows a very specific model designed perfectly to achieve maximum audience engagement. Does that sound useful?
• It roots content in the real world and your company story will express how your product/business/idea is rooted in the real world.   This is compelling for VC’s as they will be investing in you in the real world.
• A well-told story is effortless to consume and easy to pass on, and anyone paying for messages to be pushed can tell you how valuable that is.

But as many battle-scarred entrepreneurs will confess – telling your own story is not always easy. We use the story model instinctively when passing on a great piece of gossip to friends, but when it comes to business, the skills often desert us.

I’m originally a TV producer and I developed and launched the award-winning international hit format, Changing Rooms for the BBC. This show started with a brief from BBC2 for a DIY and decorating quiz show. After one week’s research shadowing a handy man and an interior designer I established that most of the content for this would be deathly dull and audiences would be turning off in their thousands. So I started to work on a story that would hold all the same content but take the viewer on a journey they wanted to take. Let’s take it into real homes, let’s learn from the experts but let’s create risk so you want to watch until the very last frame….and so the format for Changing Rooms started to emerge.

Here’s what people want to know from Ken Segall at his CEO Tales talk next Thursday, 31st May in London.

Ken Segall put the 'i' in 'iMac'

If you are thinking of coming, be quick. If you register by 5pm today, Friday 25th May and ask an insanely good, insanely original question, you could get a chance to meet Ken at a small round table workshop discussion prior to the main event.

• Which emerging nations does he feel has the levels of entrepreneurial verve that could match the creativity of Silicon Valley?
• Did you ever feel a marketing decision you’d made would ruin Apple’s credibility?
• oranges
• Who will win – the closed operating system of apple or the open architecture platform such as Microsoft?
• Why is Apple so successful?
• Whats the one thing you wished you had done differently?
• How do you do?
• If there was one emerging company in the world that could match Apple’s dominance in the industry, who would it be?
• How important is data and functionality compared to design?
• Do you believe in simplicity inside the organisation? i.e. avoiding the known pitfall of large organisations which, as we have all experienced, “kill” innovation?
• How do you keep it simple, when so many want to make it complicated?
• Can you come and give a talk at my company?
• guest
• How do you deal with engineers who find it hard to see the results of their work through the eyes of a consumber using it for the first few times?
• What does the Apple TV look like?
• What is your favorite Apple Product?
• What’s the real value of building a software product brand name
• Can the success you realised in Apple be replicated elsewhere, or was it a unique combination of people and products?
• What was it like working for Steve Jobs
• buying for a friend (already answered)
• Could Apple have achieved the same success if they had chosen a different obsession?
• What’s the principle way in keeping a brand and it’s marketing ideas fresh?
• Which one other marketing campaign would you like to have led and why?
• How did you manage to keep the brand and message simple throughout the world?
• Is google going to overtake Apples position as innovator in device space
• Was there a pivitol moment when the team at Apple realised that making things so simple was so important?
• Do you think Apple has peaked?
• Why the letter ‘i’?
• How do you manage building and planning for today while continuously innovating for the future?
• how do you know when you’ve innovated “enough”?
• How do you keep your emails simple?
• What do you think of Facebook
• How much of it all was Jobs and how much was the team? What’s the right mix of interference of those holding the vision vs those implementing it?
• Can apple continue to innovate as successfully in the next 10 years, as it has in the previous?
• Could apple have happened anywhere but the USA?
• How would you describe Jobs in 6 words?
• How do your analogies relate to professional services organizations providing productivity coaching and consulting services?
• what were the practical methods Apple used to innovate (meetings, focus groups?)
• What product/s / brand/s do you wish you’d been involved with?
• Who else inspires you?
• What’s Apple’s next big thing and can they keep the hits coming?
• After marketing Apple, does it feel like every Marketing job that follows is a comedown?
• Why can’t Microsoft do it?
• Can Apple think as differently without Jobs?
• What other successful companies are applying simplicity to their product, marketing and strategy in the way Apple is?
• Describe a time when things were going bad
• Is Apple in danger of becoming complacent about their dominant market position ?
• Did everyone else at Apple believe in “Insanely Simple”?
• How did you make it so simple!
• Simple sounds simple but in reality its not, why?
• What is a good name for a brand?
• What is the single most important business principle that you have stuck with over the years?
• What would the single bit of advice be he would give to companies aspiring to follow in Apple’s design and innovation footsteps
• When will Apple TV be launched?
• How do you apply the concept of simplicity to creating your product and then marketing it?
• What was the secret of Apple’s marketing success?
• Which other companies / products do you most admire?
• Please share one mistake that Apple could have avoided through better design
• Can’t think of a good enough one at the moment sorry!
• How can the lessons learnt from apple be applied to the wider markets
• Do his values in life cross over into his creative work?
• What other companies are insanely simple?
• What are the qualities of a great marketeer?
• Are there any companies or brands you would like to work for, if so which ones and why?
• What do you perceive as the greatest strenghts Europe has in technology – software especially – and how best can we leverage and grow these strenghts?
• With the prominent rise in Facebook and Social Media in general, will the bubble burst, and if so, who or what does he think will be the next area that will take the stage ?
• Is the marketing approach different for small, growing companies than for large corporations? Would “think different” have been the right approach without the global brand awareness already?
• What will be your top 3 tips for a startup about to launch a new product?
• What has driven the mass following of Apple products and brand?
• What is the event/idea/book that had the most impact on your creative thinking?
• Why did you leave Apple
• How do big companies stay innovative?
• Will come back to you on this
• Is “simple” the new “white”?
• Best and worst things about apple
• How do you ensure that all aspects of the business deliver in accordance with the vision?
• Brand is all well and good in retail, but how do you overcome the price focus of B2B?
• What if the problem you are solving is very complex – where do you stop with simplicity?
• Which entrepreneur/CEO (e.g. Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey) do you think is most like Steve Jobs?
• When did the drive for simplicity cause failure?
• What has driven the mass following of Apple products and brand?
• What was the most challenging project in Ken’s career?
• Is it possible to over simplify? If so are Apple in danger of doing so by keeping a single iPhone model given its popularity.
• Where does the creative inspirations for Apple’s marketing programmes come from? (Jobs, staff, external, etc….)
• How could a “lean startup” get the best creative agency to work with it?
• Can Apple continue to innovate with Steve Jobs?
• How can the UK create the maximum value from its ‘creative technology’ talent?
• I need to give that some thought….
• What other design do you admire in the online market?
• Do you think simplicity is the key to all good marketing/branding, even professional services?
• How do you ‘engineer’ simplicity?
• What are three frequent errors — admirably aimed at ‘simplifying’ customer experience — that you’ve seen recently?
• Apple Smart TV? When?
• How do you keep things simple for everyone when people’s desires often conflict?
• How does Apple execute so well so consistently?
• Is Apple’s Insanely Simple approach going to limit their success in selling to businesses
• What difference will Steve Jobs death really have on Apples future?
• How do you makes others see the value of simplicity?
• What is your next big idea?
• If there was one entrepreneur in the world that could match Steve Job’s dominance in the industry, who would it be?
• What’s the best forum / procedure for ideation?
• What techniques do you use to generate customer adoption when you have created a new market such as the iPod
• If it weren’t for Sir Isaac Newton would Apple be Apple?
• Do you think simplicity is a trend or a basic human need that will always be relevant? If it is a basic need, why are so few companies get it right?
• What’s been your proudest moment of your career (not necessarily the biggest)?
• Can Apple be as successful without Steve Jobs’ single minded focus?
• Will the warm weather hold out for the summer
• What are you most proud of?
• How can simplicity be measured?
• What was Steve Jobs’ most annoying trait
• Would you like a drink?
• Where do you find inspiration for ideas on marketing products?
• What is the thing most companies are missing?
• How do you keep it simple Ken?
• How much of the company was driven by Steve Jobs alone?
• Simplicity often looks simple. How does Apple make it look excellent?
• Where do you get your design inspirations from?
• Why is this form not simple!
• Would Apple have been so successful with ‘just’ great products and ‘average’ marketing?
• What industries or products are most ripe for disruption through design?
• What is it about your job/business/the tech industry that keeps you up at night?
• WHAT DO YOU MOST FEAR IS TRUE?
• What is you next big idea?
• What (untrue) myths has Apple been capitalising on
• Given Steve Jobs didnt initially like ‘iMac’, how did you change his mind?
• What can small businesses learn from Apple?
• What is the most compelling thing that you find attracts the best engineers?
• What’s all thew fuss about ?
• If you’re starting a company what are the 3 things you should focus on to work towards achieving a brand like Apple?
• How does Apple retain its focus on simplicity in a multibillion dollar organistion with thousands of employees?
• If you were 15 today, what would your future look like?
• How do you preserve the culture of simplicity as the company grows?
• Do you think the new CEO of Apple Tim Cook as the same vision as Steve Jobs
• when will simple also mean cheap ?
• Was think different the first campaign idea or did you have many others before
• Did you ever think that the Apple brand would become such a household name?
• Is there a size limit on how far you can go by keeping it simple
• Anti-patterns: Why did Sony go wrong when Apple went right?
• Can you protect the “insanely simple” in business?
• Which emerging nations does he feel has the levels of entrepreneurial verve that could match the creativity of Silicon Valley?
• How to keep yourself creative
• What would your advice to a small fish in a big pond be to drive innovation and simplicity in a large corporate environment?
• Can Apple’s success be ever lasting?
• How do you stay focussed on a long term vision and not be distracted or diverted by passing opportunities?
• Was think different the first campaign idea or did you have many others before
• What would you spend most of your time doing on a day to day basis?
• Which companies inspire you?
• Whose going to beat Apple?
• What are the key actions to take to foster and sustain innovation?
• How best should moixa commercialize http://1.usa.gov/oXCEpl (rollable tablets, multi-touch sphere, wrist mobile band, smart self charge batteries)
• Can Apple sustain its dominance?
• What is the universal formula that you can apply to anything to get to the greatest degree of simplification?
• to give more detail on the processes which generate and turn these product ideas into reality
• What are the disruptive changes that social networks bring to marketing?
• In what industries would you NOT advise the insanely simple approach?
• What was Steve Jobs’ most annoying trait
• What’s your favourite insanely simple website (not including google search)?
• How (if at all) would he recommend to engage customers during a product’s design phase?
• What’s the one piece of advice he’d give to Microsoft, Google, Oracle.
• Why do digital products seem increasingly complex?
• Do you have favourite examples of companies in other sectors that you think ‘get’ the concept of insanely simple?
• Where will Apple be in 10 years
• How did you encourage people to try your ideas?
• How does he get inspiration for his creative designs?
• 3 years time… What device will we be carrying
• How does the creative landscape of the UK compare to the US?
• How do you see Apple’s future without Jobs?
• Any advice on how a small startup can improve their brand awareness?
• How many iterations of the iPhone before we saw it?
• What’s the one technology you think will drive consumer products in the next 10 years
• What is the one key thing that Apple deliver?
• Why has the little “i” been so successful? In terms of how recognised it is.
• Can apple be creative when their CEO is locked into a 9 yr share deal
• Can I have your autograph?
• How would you apply the ‘insanely simple’ obsession to the financial services sector (banking, investing etc.)
• If he wasn’t at Apple which startup has he seen in the last 6 months that he would join?
• Why did you add the i, and why do you think it’s been so successful?
• IBM or Apple? Which is the more innovative in their business models?
• when will battery technology develop sigificantly ?
• If its so simple, why can’t microsoft do it?
• do you always follow your gut instinct
• how would you advise the UK & Ireland to play in the technology market with the continued rise of China?
• What is the one consistent, impactful characteristic that runs through all the staff of Apple?
• How does simple apply to complex business purchasing?
• does he think now that Steve is gone Apple will loose their direction?
• How do you continue to innovate at the leading edge as the product set becomes increasingly more successful
• Apple reject focus groups as a means to generate ideas – so what exactly do they use?
• What one thing does he wish that he had done dfifferently during his time at Apple?
• Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTV probably next. Does Ken think that the next big product is already being tested by Apple and any guesses as to what it could be?
• What advice on branding would you have for a first-time entrepreneur?
• What was your inspiration for the ‘i’ and did you think it would have such a global impact?
• Apple regularly builds simple and elegant products on initial release but then adds features and complexity over time. Does this result in an improvement or dilution of the originally executed idea
• Is Macintosh not a really strange name for a computer?
• What has been your biggest challenge working at Apple?
• What do you do when you need inspiration?
• How do you work out whether the next product and it’s packaging will delight your customers
• How was it working for Steve?
• Is there a company that does what Apple does better than Apple?
• What proportion of a great marketing success story is pre-planned and what is  improvisation and/or accidental?
• What are the key differences between national markets?
• Was design a major driver for simplicity or was it functionality?

Following our little video interview with Mr & Mrs Smith Founder and Chairman Ed Orr a couple of weeks ago on their bond issue, it seems a few other companies have been thinking the same way.

Leon Restaurants, purveyors of fine and healthy fast foods to the masses have launched their own bond issue, this time with payment in their own currency, the £eon pound. The £eon Pound can be used in their own restaurants as well as, they hope, other participating places in due course. This means that they can offer a relatively higher rate of interest on their bond.

Disclosure, I know the founders socially and think they run the best restaurant chain on the planet. I was more excited that they opened in Kings Cross than I was about the new concourse.

Henry even gave me a free wrap once but I do not own shares…

The Leon Bond…

Dear Leon Club Member,

Last month we sent out an email to a small group of Club Members to see if they would be interested in investing in a Leon Bond. We were overwhelmed by the response and have decided to launch it for all Club Members in early June.

This letter is intended to tell you more about the bond and to let you know what you will need to do if you want to invest, so that you can be ready.

“This is a brilliant idea! It sums up what I love about Leon :)”  – Leon Club Member

What is the Leon Bond?

We are often sent messages asking us to open new restaurants – so often that we wondered whether the people who eat with us would like to get involved in helping us grow. This kind of collaboration between customers and businesses is increasingly common – King of Shaves have issued a bond, as did our friends at Hotel Chocolat. It is very simple. Club Members who want to get involved lend Leon the money, and in return we give them interest along with some other edible and non-edible perks. We’d rather pay interest to our Club Members than to the banks.

What would we use the money for?

Expanding the Leon chain by opening new restaurants in carefully selected locations, creating jobs, and making good food available to more people. We are also planning to set up a not-for-profit Leon Foundation.  In future we may use the money to set up Leon outside the UK. A proportion of the money may be used to replace debt we currently hold.

The Leon Foundation

Our vision is to make it easy for everyone to eat good food. We are currently doing this in our fast food restaurants, but we believe that our expertise and contacts can be of use more broadly. So we are setting up the Leon Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation with the same vision. The first step of the Leon Foundation is to set up an annual summer cookery school with chef Mitch Tonks on the river Dart in Devon for children with renal illnesses, who require a very specific diet. The children we will be taking come from homes where very little or no primary cooking is done.

How does the bond work?

We are launching the £eon Pound: an alternative currency that will be available in Leon restaurants. You can use it to buy food, drink, cookbooks or anything else in any Leon. We are also talking to like-minded business who would accept them too.

– You buy a three year bond, after which time you can ask for your cash back or you can ask to extend

– You will be paid interest in £eon Pounds

  There will be three bond options you can invest in any combination up to £10,000 in total:

1. Invest £1,500 for three years and receive 120 £eon Pounds each year

– equivalent to a 8% net return or 10% gross return for the basic rate taxpayer

2.  Invest £3,000 for three years and receive 300 £eon Pounds each year

– equivalent to a 10% net return or 12.5% gross return for the basic rate taxpayer

3. Invest £5,000 for three years and receive 600 £eon Pounds each year

– equivalent to a 12% net return or 15% gross return for the basic rate taxpayer

– In addition to the interest, every bond will be entered into a seasonal prize draw only for Leon Bond holders. This will be drawn four times a year on the autumnal equinox, the winter solstice, the vernal equinox and the summer solstice. Prizes will include places at our cookery school on the Dart in Devon, residential cooking holidays, hampers of food from our suppliers and other goodies.