From Robotic to Real: How Founders Lose (and Reclaim) Their Voice
Last week, I coached three different people — a sales manager prepping for a big demo, an Engineering Director prepping an all hands, and a start up founder. Different roles, different contexts; but all stuck in the same pattern: they were explaining their work, but the connection was missing.
The start up founder had been pitching nonstop. Investors, advisors and mentors — all giving her the feedback, but none of it useful. “Tell a better story.” "Connect more." “It’s not landing.”
So she tried harder to sound polished. Optimize. Impact. Disruption. Paradigm Shift. She was hitting all the potential talking points, but it felt robotic and was hard to visualize what her idea was.
So I asked: Forget the deck — Tell me about the moment you realized you wanted to start this business?
She paused. Then told a story about watching her sister, a single parent working back-to-back shifts, struggle to manage her medication after surgery. Missed doses, brain fog, no support. That’s when she realized how broken recovery care really was — and started building a better way.
That one story — not a feature list — became her lead-in. And everything shifted. Investors said, “That’s what my cousin went through!” People stayed after to talk. She's starting to get more follow-up meetings.
Three Takeaways for Any Communicator:
Start with the spark. What made this personal before it was a pitch? Lead with that connection.
Jargon is a shield. When the stakes are high, people hide behind big words. But clarity is more powerful than complexity.
One specific moment beats ten talking points. You don’t need a sweeping narrative. Just one honest moment your audience can feel.
To help you brainstorm, try answering any one of these prompts:
What moment made you frustrated enough to take action?
Have you ever watched someone struggle with the thing you’re now trying to fix?
If someone asked why you really care — what story would you tell?
When did you first feel excited about this idea?
What’s something you saw working — even just a little — that made you want to go further?
The best stories don’t start with strategy; they start with something real. When you share a specific moment that mattered to you, you give your audience something to care about. Start there. The rest will land more naturally.
