Startups and movies have more in common than we might think, says @buckhouse. Here are some nuggets from @sequoia’s in-house guru of storytelling and design. #surge03 #getreadytosurge Thread. 
1/ Make a product like you’re making a movie and think of your user personas as characters in that movie. The only thing that matters in film is the story. And great stories start with great characters. #surge03 #getreadytosurge
2/ You need to take customers from where they are in their life as a person and help them become the person they want to be. If you can do that, then they will do anything to get your software, your technology or your product into the hands of the rest of their company. #surge03
3/ People buy stuff, people do stuff, people change their behaviour based on things that are happening on the inside. We just tell ourselves that we make our decisions through logic and reason. But we actually make our decisions emotionally. #surge03
4/ The fastest way to fail as a founder is to be cynical toward your customer. You've got to love your customer. You've got to believe that your customer is leading a life worth living. You got to believe that they can do good in this world... Then you'll help that customer win.
5/ When we build our products, we tend to not think of the inner character. We think of the demographics of the person to whom we are trying to sell stuff. But, we need to think: How does that person experience life? How can we help her become the person she wants to be?#surge03
6/ Sell a problem instead of selling the solution. If you want to try to sell the problem tactically and practically, then borrow this framework for your story:
#surge03 #getreadytosurge
#surge03 #getreadytosurge
7/ Don’t go into a pitch with the mindset ‘I'm going to close’ but instead ‘I'm going to listen’. Show your customer that @ every step, you understand their problem. Embrace comity. Embrace empathy. Demonstrate an understanding of the human being on the other side of the invoice
