This month, we kicked off “Prequel: Origin Stories and Inflection Points,” our newest event in the Intentionally Good program!

“Prequel is based on the Hero’s Journey. It’s part workshop, part storytelling practice, and part community building – all with the intention of generating IMPACT.“

~ Joey Womack, Founder and CEO of Goodie Nation

During Prequel, founders virtually gather in a transparent and intimate environment to learn tips on how to tell a masterful story that weaves together their entrepreneur journey with their personal narrative.

Infusing the startup’s pitch with one’s personal backstory presents the opportunity for founders to connect with people on a human level – ultimately sparking a relationship that may lead to open doors in the future.

The program encourages founders to recall inflection points – which are moments in time, relationships, and events that brought them to where they are today. In piecing together a timeline of inflection points, founders identify the very patterns that underpin their passions and ambitions for building their startups.

Because entrepreneur journeys are heavily intertwined with personal narratives, recalling inflection points can be and usually is an emotional process. Our team has noticed that an outpour of emotions when recalling inflection points often means a founder has identified or realigned with their “Why.”

When a founder finds their “Why,” they’re better equipped to write a story or pitch that effectively presents their startup along with the reason why they’re uniquely suited to lead it. This is what we want!

Here’s a quick look into our February Prequel session and what founders were able to identify.

 

A Look into Our February Session

Being the inaugural Prequel session, founders joined the Zoom not knowing what to expect. As the Goodie Nation team walked through the details and purpose of the event, founders began to grow eager to start recalling inflection points.

Founders were given about 15 minutes to draft a timeline of inflection points along with the years in which they occurred. The founders were encouraged to share their timelines once they were finished, and we heard some amazing backstories.

A founder shared her stories of being an entrepreneur in grade school and how she was making $300 dollars a day selling watches. One founder shared his story about how he developed strategic planning and implementation skills while working with huge brands. Another founder shared her lineage of entrepreneurship dating back to her great grandparents!

It’s always eye-opening to hear the stories that led founders to where they are today. We’re glad we were able to watch the stories unfold for founders during our February Prequel session, and we look forward to seeing it happen again in March!

We host this program to benefit the founders, so when we hear that it’s helped them in some way, we know that we’ve done our job.

What Founders have said about Prequel:

“The Origin Story exercise helped me frame the story of Expect in more personal and emotional terms… The exercise reminded me of the deep reason I launched Expect as an expression of myself. I changed how I ended my semi-finals pitch – I had chills myself.”

~ Dara Cook of Expect Fitness