Episode 134: Do Different Audiences Need Different Versions of Your Story? | Story Snacks Series
Subscribe to Billion Dollar Backstory on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Ever felt the urge to tidy up your story before sharing it? You scan the room, see the impressive bios and the blazers, and think: “Oof... maybe I should skip that part.”
You’re not wrong for feeling that way, and you’re definitely not the only one.
In this episode, Stacy opens up about her London panel debut, where she felt that pull to edit out the messy parts of her story on the fly. She’s explaining why she chose to dig in her heels and tell the raw version, even though it was nerve-racking (and why she recommends you do the same).
Listen in to learn:
Why you shouldn’t prepare multiple versions of your story, pitch, or deck for different crowds
How to adjust your story to fit the room without sacrificing authenticity and clarity
The “still me, just work-me” approach that will help you tweak your delivery without losing the vulnerable parts of your story that make you memorable
This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.
TRANSCRIPT
Below is an AI-generated transcript and therefore it may contain errors.
[00:00:00] Stacy Havener: Craving more knowledge, but don't always have time to sit down for a five course meal. Take a quick snack break with story snacks, bite-size content to feed your funnel. Each short episode features Stacey, digging into one question. This series has her talking stories, sales, and so much more. Oh yeah, it's time for story snacks.
[00:00:26] Wouldn't it be cool if you could diversify your investor base and add some non-US investors? Europe could be fun, or Latin America, maybe Antarctica. Hey, icebergs aren't really my jam, but you never know. You've only got one problem. How the heck do you do that? Fair question, but maybe this is a who not how thing.
[00:00:49] Meet my friends at Gem Cap. Not only do they handle all the back office stuff, the how. They'll also solve the who in your distribution conundrum. [00:01:00] They have an incredible network of distribution partners who can help you sell the thing once you've built the thing. And Gem Cap won't just help you launch globally.
[00:01:10] They'll tell you where to go, and maybe more importantly, where not to go. Saving you time, money, and annoying headaches. Want to find out if your investment firm is ready to go global? Visit billion dollar backstory.com/gem cap, G-E-M-C-A-P. We've created a quick quiz that'll help you figure out if you're ready to expand beyond the US and side note.
[00:01:37] It's pretty fun too. Get your firm in front of the right investors in the right places with Gem Cap. Take the quiz and get more info@billiondollarbackstory.com slash gem. Cap ge. M-M-C-A-P.
[00:01:57] How much should I tailor my [00:02:00] story depending on the audience I'm talking to? Do different audiences need different versions or should the story stay the same no matter what? This is a good question. Let's like go up a level here. Well, let me answer the question first. You should not change your story. You shouldn't have like different versions of your story, nor should you have different versions of your PowerPoint presentation.
[00:02:23] There sort of has to be like one authentic version of your story, of your pitch, of your presentation, of your fact sheet. There's one source of truth, otherwise it's very confusing to people. Now, with that said, I think we can lean in to certain parts of that story or certain slides in that presentation, depending on the audience.
[00:02:53] So the going up a level that I wanted to do, if you think about [00:03:00] just yourself as a person and you think about this question like, should I be somebody else depending on the audience I'm with? And the answer would be, no, you shouldn't, but am I going to. Again, lean into a different side of myself, depending on the audience I'm with.
[00:03:27] Yes, I might. So for example, am I the same person with my friends that I am at work? Yes. Am I slightly more casual, informal, real edgy? Do I cuss more if I'm with my friends? Maybe. Right, because the professional me is still me. It's just I'm sort of downplaying some parts of me and up leveling or elevating other [00:04:00] parts of me, but it's still me.
[00:04:02] So that's kind of the same vibe here. We don't wanna change who we are and we don't wanna change our story depending on the audience, but we can lean into things. Depending on the audience. So an example of this on the story side would be if I was in a one-on-one meeting with a prospect and it's a fellow founder, I would probably camp out on the entrepreneurial parts of my journey more potentially.
[00:04:31] This is where I'm not sure I even agree with myself, potentially more than if I were standing in front of an investment committee and I was gonna tell my story there. So maybe there I would lean into more of my professional pedigree, but even as I say that you can, you can hear the hesitation or see the hesitation as I'm talking this through because I really, especially with backstory, there's like a single [00:05:00] source of truth here and I know it's tempting to try to show up as the person we think.
[00:05:07] The prospect wants us to be or to tell the story that we think the prospect wants to hear, but that is just such dangerous territory. I don't love that for us. I really don't. I was on a panel in London. My London debut was just, uh, two weeks ago on a panel at an investment conference with 200 people in the room, and I.
[00:05:32] I had to go through this exercise myself as I was going to be introducing myself, and I thought, okay, do I need to do a different version of that introduction because I'm in London? Because the audience is more institutional. The audience is not fund managers, it's more sales and marketing professionals.
[00:05:52] And so I went through this exact exercise of should I change my introduction? Do you think I [00:06:00] changed my introduction? No, I did not. No, I did not. And was I more nervous? Yes, but I kept my own advice front and center, which is, um, this is the story. This is the real me, these are the messy parts. And if I edit them out, because I think that the audience wants to hear something different.
[00:06:25] Am I showing up authentically? Am I gonna be proud of the story I tell and are they gonna resonate or connect with me the way that I want them to, or that typically happens? And I don't think they would've. So maybe that's a long-winded answer, but I just want, this is a tough one. Storytelling is always an exercise in vulnerability, but when you think the audience doesn't.
[00:06:48] Want to hear the story that you want to tell, or the story that you've worked on and are ready to tell. That requires just you just gotta dig those heels in and stick to your [00:07:00] guns and tell the story as awkward as it may be. That would be my advice. Don't change the story. If you wanna lean into something, I'm kind of okay with that.
[00:07:09] But having just done this myself, I would say don't change it. That's authentic leadership. Hope that helps. Let's be real. No one wakes up and says, I can't wait to build some operational infrastructure today you are here to manage money to build something that lights you up, not chase down reports across five systems and 15 service providers.
[00:07:33] That's where Ultimas Fund Solutions comes in there. Your ops dream team, consolidating all your middle and back office chaos into one clean, scalable setup, registered funds. Private funds, SMAs, all integrated. One team, one tech platform, one rock solid source of data. But here's the real differentiator service.[00:08:00]
[00:08:00] I know that Fund in a box sounds convenient. It's also a box. Know what? You can't put in a box? A human who picks up the phone when you call and need help. Real life people who know your name and your fund and they care about getting it right. Ultimas was built on people doing business with people. You get institutional strength combined with boutique level service without getting stuck in a phone tree of doom.
[00:08:28] If you're ready to simplify scale and start working with a team that feels like an extension of yours, check out billion dollar backstory.com/ultimas. That's ul. T-I-M-U-S. You've got the investment strategy, the vision, the track record. Now it's time to upgrade the engine behind it all with ultimas. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.[00:09:00]
[00:09:00] The information is not an offer, solicitation, or recommendation of any of the funds, services, or products, or to adopt any investment strategy. Investment values may fluctuate and past performance is not a guide to future performance. All opinions expressed by guests on the show are solely their own opinion and do not necessarily reflect those at their firm.
[00:09:19] Manager's appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement by Stacey Haven or Haven or Capital Partners.
Resources
