Facts Tell, But Stories Sell
I’ve been in rooms where founders rattle off financials, market stats, and growth projections—watching investors’ eyes glaze over. And then I’ve seen a different kind of founder stand up and tell a story.
Not just what their company does. But why it matters. Who it’s helping. What’s at stake. And suddenly, the energy in the room shifts. People lean in. They get it.
That’s the power of storytelling.
That’s the difference between being heard—and being remembered.
We don’t invest in spreadsheets.
We invest in people.
Of course, the numbers matter. But here’s the truth: most investors know better than to blindly trust a spreadsheet. Projections can be optimistic. Market sizes can be inflated. Traction metrics can be massaged. The data is important—but it’s rarely the thing that moves people to invest, support, or follow.
What does move them?
Emotion. Connection. Clarity. A compelling reason to believe.
And women? We are natural storytellers. We do it instinctively—when we pitch, when we lead, when we advocate. But too often, we’re taught to leave the emotion out of business. To keep it clean, analytical, and buttoned up.
Let me say this clearly:
Emotion is not the enemy of strategy.
It’s the delivery vehicle for it.
The best pitches aren’t just logical. They’re felt.
If you’re fundraising, don’t just walk investors through your TAM, CAC, LTV, and revenue model. Show them the real-world why behind your company. Who are you building for? What pain are you solving? How does your solution actually make someone’s life better?
Make it personal.
Make it memorable.
Make them care.
Storytelling is your leadership superpower.
If you’re leading a team, your story is what keeps people motivated through the hard days. Goals and KPIs are important, but the vision behind them is what gets people to show up with heart and energy. That’s what rallies a team, not just to execute, but to believe.
If you’re advocating for change, especially in systems that weren’t built with women in mind, stories are your greatest asset. Data can be dismissed. Anecdotes can’t. When you tell a story that makes people feel something, you bypass resistance. You create urgency. You make it impossible to look away.
Let’s stop waiting for someone to ask for our story.
Let’s start leading with it.
You don’t need to have a polished TED Talk to be a great storyteller. You just need to speak from your lived experience, your truth, and your vision.
The story of why you started.
The story of who you’re fighting for.
The story of what the world looks like when your vision becomes real.
That’s what people will remember.
That’s what they’ll get behind.
That’s what turns a pitch into a movement.
So if you’ve ever been told to “just stick to the facts”—I encourage you to do the opposite.
Tell your story. Loudly. Boldly. And without apology.
Because facts tell—but stories?
Stories sell. And they change the world.
