Story as Strategy: How Founders Win Hearts, Funding, and Exits

As a first-time female founder in a B2C impact marketplace, the odds weren't exactly stacked in Laura's favor. What carried Give InKind from a bootstrapped startup to a $3.3M raise and ultimate acquisition wasn't just traction — it was story.

This session unpacks the storytelling strategy behind building a company from a deeply personal moment of loss into a platform that investors, customers, and acquirers couldn't say no to.

What we'll cover:

• Why storytelling is a strategic weapon, not a soft skill — and how to wield it at every stage of your company's growth
• How to thread the needle between selling a bold vision and the reality of where you are today — without losing credibility
• How to reframe what you (or the market) see as shortcomings into signals of conviction, insight, and resilience
• How to create genuine enthusiasm that turns skeptics into funders, customers into evangelists, and conversations into deals

What you'll walk away with: A new way of thinking about the stories you're already telling — and the confidence to tell them more deliberately.