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Storytelling lessons for startup founders from Ridley Scott

ian87701

Gladiator II is a triumph, a gripping cinematic experience, chock-full of massive fight sequences. Producer Ridley Scott knows how to unpack a great story and take us on a visual and emotional journey. Manly, moody Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) - father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife - has been replaced by manly, moody Lucius (Paul Mescal) – strength and honour – is his call to arms, when not quoting Virgil – but it’s a worthy sequel.


It offers the same combination of swords, sandals, stabbings and spearings and broadly the same plot.  We have a massive fight at the beginning of the film that is followed by a series of massive fights, building up to another massive fight so that we end in what I would call a massive fight. This is a sequel that is watchable notwithstanding Russell Crowe’s impressive forearms are missing, as the gladiatorial set-pieces have the right hallucinatory quality.


A follow-up to Gladiator (budget $103m, box office $465m, winning five Academy Awards) began soon after its release in 2000. Here it is at last, with a third instalment to follow. The setting is twenty years after Gladiator and the two survivors from that carnage – Lucilla, the daughter of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and her son Lucius - carry the story forward. It is not much of a spoiler to reveal that Lucius is Maximus’s son.


During Gladiator, Lucilla smuggled young Lucius out of Rome to save his life, and he has grown into a man living incognito in Numidia tending his smallholding. Lovely goats and a decent cabbage crop. Then the Romans attack in a fleet of ships led by General Acacius. A massive fight ensues, all fireballs, arrow showers and blood everywhere. In the tumult, Lucius is captured and enslaved.


Lucius proves his gladiatorial prowess by battering frenzied AI generated baboons-cum-werewolves in a massive fight, and then bought by malevolent gangmaster Macrinus (Denzel Washington) transported to Rome to fight in the arena. The corrupt capital is ruled by the psychotic twin emperors Geta and Caracalla - crazed punks with bleached skins, heavy duty 1970s eyeshadow and Rod Stewart blond hairstyles - and we’re set for more, well, massive fighting sequences.


With AI, there are a few obvious added features which for me were unnecessary and made for silly moments in the film: there’s a contest between our hero and a Roman astride a vast rhino which gets its scaly backside kicked, and a naval battle in the flooded Colosseum livened by lurking animated Disneyesque sharks.


Lucius yearns for the Dream that was Rome, and confronts the sneering, loathsome, obnoxious ruling class. He becomes a new insurgent leader in this dystopian circus, leading the plot hatched between Lucilla and Acacius to do away with the heinous Geta and Caracalla and reinstate the Republic. He wins, and spoiler alert, we’re all set for Gladiator III.


Ever since humans created cave paintings, we’ve used stories to communicate, from gatherings around campfires to traveling poets. Modern-day storytelling is reflected in the popular TED Talks, and its slogan of Ideas Worth Spreading. Stories represent 65% of TED Talks content. We are wired to respond to stories and share them, if you’ve got a good tale, people will listen. so how can startup founders use storytelling to connect with customers?


Let’s use a technique to build our customer story that Ridley Scott will have adopted for Gladiator II – a storyboard to build a story spine. A film storyboard is a visual representation of a film scenes and sequences, breaking down the action into individual panels, like a comic book. It's a crucial part of the pre-production process, to plan out the shots, camera angles, and overall visual flow of their movie before filming begins. 


The story spine is a storytelling structure also used by Pixar and originally developed by playwright Ken Adams. By mastering the story spine, startup founders pitching to customers can effectively communicate their vision, proposition, be interactive, and inspire action. Brian Chesky used story spines for Airbnb, mapping every step of the guest and host experience. It helped fix problems, fine-tune key moments, and identify key potential moments of customer delight. He hired a Pixar designer to help sketch it out.


A story spine condenses a story into its most important parts and keeps the storyteller on track. A story spine’s structure goes like this.


  • Once upon a time (sets up the initial situation or context)

  • Every day (establishes the routine or existing norm)

  • But one day (introduces an inflection that redefines the norm)

  • Because of that (shows the consequences of the change)

  • Because of that (continues to show the cascading consequences)

  • Until finally ((resolution or climax)

  • Ever since then (new reality or conclusion)

  • The moral of the story is (there is a new reality that represents an exciting different future


This structure provides a number of uses when pitching to potential customers:

Using the story spine helps founders think clearly about their startup's true purpose. It helps distil complex ideas into a simple, logical flow, making it easier to communicate and focus on what's essential. A well-structured story spine also helps create an emotional connection. It helps explain not just what your startup does, but why it matters—highlighting the problem you're solving and the impact you're making.


The structure emphasises change and resolution, which is vital for startups. Most begin by solving a specific problem, and the story spine framework naturally aligns with this. It also helps founders update their narratives as their products or market conditions change, keeping customer pitches fresh and relevant.


Recall Uber’s story: So, you called a cab, but no one’s showing. The only thing the cranky dispatcher will say is He’ll be there in 15. You call back in 15, and he now says the driver’s on the way. Any minute now. Click. It’s cold, it's getting dark, and you’re already late. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an app that let you tap into an unused supply of empty cabs and cars to get you where you want to go?


So goes the story behind Uber, a story encapsulated in a single tagline: Everyone’s private driverWe’re all familiar with Uber, here’s what their story spine might have looked like:


  • Once upon a time, there was a woman in Manchester named Jane who struggled with finding an easy way to get into work in her own car and then to in-person meetings at work. Finding safe, secure and reasonably priced parking spaces was a constant headache.

  • Every day, she booked a cab with a local firm and stood outside and wait. Finding a cab was painful because cabs often never arrived on time, and when they did arrive, they often wouldn’t accept credit cards. If they didn’t arrive, she was left standing on the street and hail a free available cab. She was often late for work and meetings.

  • But one day, she saw a car drive by with an Uber sticker. She discovered there was a new app for booking taxis. Some of her friends had tried the service and said it was awesome. Cars arrived quickly. You knew who the driver would be because you could see their profile from the app. You knew how the driver had been rated by other riders. You knew when the car would arrive as you could see it in real-time on a map. You could pay for the ride from your phone automatically, at a fixed price. It made getting a ride feel easy and safe.

  • Because of that, she could get around easily throughout the day. She saved money on parking and spent less money than she would have spent on taxis. She was no longer late for work or meetings.

  • Because of that, she never had to worry about people breaking into her car when it was parked. She never had to worry about getting a parking ticket if she couldn’t find a spot.

  • Until finally, she realised she didn’t need to drive to work. She could take an Uber to work and back as well.

  • Ever since then, Jane used Uber to go to and from work and get around throughout the day, and shares reduced cost of travel with Uber’s ridesharing service.

  • The moral of the story: anyone with a smartphone can go wherever they want, whenever they want without even owning a car.


For Uber, putting customer experience at the heart of their business model changed the market dynamics significantly, in a way incumbents couldn’t respond too - like Airbnb have done.


Stories have more impact than simply listing and highlighting ‘features’ – Jane’s narrative shows there is another way. The story must be about their transformation and success, not about you - they anticipated resistance, like concerns about getting into strangers' cars, and addressed it by naming the driver, making the service more approachable and talked about.


Another opportunity storytelling offers is to create your own breakthrough language with your new offering. When you coin new terms the right way, you own the problem and the solution, shaping how people talk about it. Slack used ‘channels’ and ‘workspaces’ instead of positioning themselves as just a better email; Spotify reshaped the music industry with ‘music streaming’.  Uber’s ridesharing service created a new term and differential from existing taxi firms, creating a new category.


Each created new language to define their offerings and set themselves apart. In each case, they weren’t just selling a product, they were selling a new way to think, a new way to see the world. If prospects respond to your startup idea by asking how it compares to existing products, your language isn’t clear enough. Your story needs to clearly set you apart and resonate. They shouldn’t see yourself as a version of something else that fits in a category they already know about; they should recognise you as something entirely new.


What does this mean for you?

Good stories make us think and feel. They stick in our minds and help us remember ideas and concepts in a way that a PowerPoint crammed with bullet points never can. Customer engagement is no longer about the stuff you make, but about the stories you tell. The purpose of a founder storyteller is not to tell customers how to think, but to give them questions to think upon.


Using the structured narrative of the story spine helps ensure you’re hitting the key points. Once you’ve outlined your core story, tailor it to your audience’s needs. Ask yourself:


  • What’s the two-minute version of my story? What’s the ten-minute version? 

  • How should my delivery differ when speaking to new and existing customers?


The key is practice, the more prepared you are with it flowing with passion and enthusiasm, then you’ll deliver it with impact when it matters most. We are all emotional decision makers, focusing on storytelling creates a conversation with customers as they listen, asking questions, not a sales pitch. 





New ideas are like belly buttons. Everybody has at least one. So be original and create a unique narrative. Your storytelling will be more influential and memorable than any slide deck. Stand out from the crowd, take the road less taken.

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