How I Built This: The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs

by Guy Raz

enables consumers to connect to your brand in a deeper, more personal way,

big part of how you differentiate and de-commodify your product, create brand loyalty, and set yourself up for long-term success.

The story, more than anything else, is what connects you and me and everyone out there to the thing you’re building.

its goal is to answer a hundred different variations on one simple question:

Why? Why should I buy your product? Why should I join this company? Why should I be excited to work here? Why should I invest in this company?

CEOs, whose main job, he contends, is to be “the keeper of the vision and the story.”

“The story must explain at a fundamental level why you exist.”

But the key here is:

Why do you do what you do? Or, Why should we care?

the answers to these basic questions are usually best understood and best shared with the world through a story.

‘I can start something right now. And I can change what I hate that I see in the world.’”

I’m going to start my own business, and I want it to be mission driven, and I want it to be impactful,

Whitney remembered that with each answer she gave, it was clear Andreev could sense her passion for her idea and her commitment to its mission, which was heartening.

Specifically, knowing when a woman was interested in them (or why) and what to say in turn.

the story of its choosing is also a microcosm of the company story as a whole.

It speaks to the power and importance of a good and catchy name.

Especially when it comes to conveying your story to customers and investors and emplo...

It was a story whose importance they eventually embraced, but whose

details they didn’t fully appreciate in the beginning.

think that may have been a big part of the reason they had to bootstrap the busines...

Really knowing your story—knowing the why—is often the bridge between...

answers to many of those “why” questions when they ...

because Obama O’s had a great story behind it, one that explained why Obama O’s existed and why Paul and the Y Combinator team should give Joe, Brian, and Nate a shot.

Bumble is the story of her reclaiming her story and building a space for other women to safely reclaim and exercise power over their stories.

The Airbnb guys, on the other hand, didn’t have their story fully developed right away.

all businesses are stories, and all stories are a process.

They are a mechanism for thinking deeply about yourself, your product or service, your employees, your customers, your market, and the world.

Ben Horowitz is right: knowing your story and being able to clearly articulate to the world why you exist is one of your most important challenges as an entrepreneur.

the basic story that answers the big “why” questions is the one that creates loyal customers, finds the best investors, builds an employee culture that keeps them committed to the venture, and keeps you committed and grinding away when things get really hard and you want to give up

Typically, there are two phases to the iterative process prior to launch.

The first involves tinkering with your idea until it works and you, as its creator, are satisfied with what you have.

The second entails exposing the working idea to the public and tweaking the product based on their feedb...

But Tim didn’t like what went into making them, and he wasn’t all that excited about their sales potential.

went through 200-plus versions until he found something he loved.

it’s important to spend enough time in this first phase to really get comfortable with your product and your story and really get to know the business you’re trying to build.

The exact amount of time you spend in the first phase of development isn’t as important as making sure you don’t get stuck there for too long.

Except “absolutely sure” doesn’t exist.

understand the importance of allowing their product to be judged by the marketplace, and the opportunity that users’ feedback presents to make the product better as a result.

they also know that they have no idea if anyone will actually like what they’re making. And that’s always essential to keep in mind.

It is a difficult but necessary process that took Gary Erickson six months, Peter Rahal seven months, and Lara Merriken three years to complete.

they stayed long enough in the first phase of iteration without staying too long (or forever), so that when they moved into the second phase for consumer feedback—like Lara Merriken did with her focus groups—they were putting their best foot forward.

This is why if, like most new businesses, you aren’t doing something completely novel or you aren’t doing it in a totally new way or new place,

you should be thinking long and hard about how else you might enter your market besides knocking on the front door and asking for permission to come in.

“Don’t always go through the tiny little door that everyone’s trying to rush through. Go around the corner and go through the vast gate that no one’s taking.”

“A lot of people look at niches, or look at a small segment, and it’s not big enough for them,”

Whereas in a CrossFit gym, we were by ourselves. RXBar was literally engineered and designed for that occasion. It was perfect.”

They refused to sell their invention to him or even offer him a license on their formula.

With the help of scientists from a company he’d founded for the express purpose of finding inventions just like this one, he had a comparable energy drink formula in a matter of months. It would turn out to be the easiest part of the process.

“If I make another drink,” Manoj said of his thinking at the time, “I’ve got to fight for space in the

cooler against Red Bull and Monster [Energy]. I’ve also got to fight Coke, Pepsi, and Budweiser for space. So you’re pretty ...