8/21/2015

Startup Storytelling on startups Medium

Startup Storytelling

From the beginning, I wanted to share Product

Hunts story in public along the way.

Product Hunt was born 100 days ago. From the beginning, I wanted to
share its story in public along the way. Storytelling done well is fantastic
marketing but thats not my only motivation. I do it to give back by sharing
the learnings, thought process, and strategies used to build and grow the
product. Entrepreneurs rarely share their story in publicand often for
good reason. But I admire those that do.

Storytelling Startups
No company is more transparent than Buer. Its founder, Joel Gascoigne,
has blogged about his company since the beginning, sharing how he came
up with the idea to an apologetic postmortem of a security breach. And
Joels not the only one. His cultural inuence shines through in his team as
they write with transparency and honesty.
In early 2013 Danielle Morrill announced the death of her zombie startup,
Referly. Few have the courage to admit this to themselves, let alone in
public. Over the next 10 weeks, she blogged every day, writing the kernels
of what eventually became Mattermark. Although she infrequently
publishes new essays now that shes operating a company, her recent essay

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Startup Storytelling on startups Medium

captured her startups struggle, undoubtedly resonating with other

founders that have faced similar challenges and fears.
Adii Pienaar is one of the most generous entrepreneurs I know, frequently
oering his help to others. His generosity and empathy extends into his
writing, sharing his strategies used building PublicBeta and his decision to
put his startup on pause.

Product Hunt in 5 Stories

Ive published ve essays on Product Hunts story. Here they are:
1. Announcing Product Hunt (November 6, 2013)
2. The Wisdom Of The 20-Minute Startup (December 9, 2013)
3. Hunting for habits: Keying in on smart design to make an irresistible
product (December 19, 2013)
4. How We Got Our First 2,000 Users Doing Things That Dont Scale
(January 7, 2014)
5. Five Hard Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Starting Up
(February 10, 2014)
Im not saying everyone should write their startup story in public. Many
should focus on building over blogging. That said, I encourage founders to
do so and in turn, they will gain respect, attract attention, and contribute to
the startup community.

If interested, more of the Product Hunt story is shared in the press,

through editorials and interviews:

Can the democratic power of a platform like Hacker News be applied

to products? (December 4, 2013)

How VCs Are Coping With The Startup Boom (January 20, 2014)

The hunt for Product Hunts relevance (January 28, 2014)

To follow along, subscribe or follow me on Twitter (@rrhoover).

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