Using storytelling to make your startup stand out to the media and investors

9 October 2025

“Europe doesn’t have a startup problem, it has a storytelling problem,” wrote Steph Bailey in a recent Sifted article.

Journalists and investors are hungry for compelling stories.

As a startup, storytelling is an integral part of gaining funding, attracting media attention, and cementing your credibility. So, it’s time to look beyond innovation and the product itself and start telling captivating stories.

On 17 September 2025, we hosted a webinar entitled "How to make your startup stand out to media and investors”. It featured a panel of experts from journalism, venture capital, startups, and communications, including:

• Amy Lewin, Editor at Sifted
• Andrei Dragomir, Founder and CEO at Aquark Technologies
• Jimmy Fussing Nielsen, Managing Partner and co-founder at HeartCore Capital
• Stephanie Forrest, CEO at TFD

In this blog, we’ve extracted all their invaluable advice so that you can better tell your startup's story in a way that resonates with investors and media.

If you’d like to watch the full recording of the webinar, click here.

The importance of a foundational approach

Investors and journalists hear endless claims about “game-changing” products. Words like this are empty. You need to prove it – show, don’t tell.

What cuts through is evidence: case studies, pilot results, user feedback, or independent research. Proof points lend credibility and turn statements into a trustworthy narrative.

 “You need to get very good at storytelling to a broader audience,” said Amy Lewin.

But facts and features alone rarely stick. A strong narrative needs a human angle and must resonate deeply with your audience: a founder’s personal motivation, a customer whose life has been changed, or the real-world impact your technology is driving. This human element makes your message more relatable and memorable, and it helps investors and media see your startup as a force for meaningful change, rather than just a business.

Storytelling: Why and how you should be doing it

Telling your startup’s story in a way that attracts media and investors means crafting a memorable narrative that resonates with multiple audiences and has a human angle – emphasising the importance of “feeling”, just as much as “doing”. 

“It needs to be something interesting beyond your company's internal workings,” explained  Amy. 

Compelling narratives can come from companies looking to create significant change, but they can also come from those solving everyday problems in smart ways or the people behind the technology. 

From an investor’s perspective, many companies see an investor pitch as being more rational than emotional, which then makes it lack conviction. “The reality is we also want to understand the story at a personal level – the reasons why you want to solve this problem,” said Jimmy Fussing Nielsen. “What is the personal story behind it? If the pitch becomes too rational, it is not really believable that the outcome is really amazing. So I think the misconception is that many people think a pitch is a very financially driven situation, which is maybe true when you're a very mature company, but for venture capital, that is not true at all. You have to kind of define the future with what you do. You have to find the balance between risk aversion and bravery.”

But remember to simplify your story – make it digestible, describe clearly what you do and why it matters to your audience. 

When reaching out or pitching your company to journalists, the key is simplicity.“I think a good way to start is to imagine that you are just having a chat with someone in a pub,” said Amy. “How would you tell the story to them? You need to do a very good job of distilling what your company does and why it matters in a way that anyone can understand. So it can't be super jargon-y, can't be really niche. You want to make it as easy as possible for a journalist to agree to write that story and get it over the line.”

Gaining Credibility

First impressions matter, and gaining credibility is integral to your startup's narrative and the impression it makes.

Social Media and Credibility 

Engaging with founders and your audience on channels such as LinkedIn, TikTok, and Reddit, as a form of connection and information sharing, makes you more visible to journalists and investors.

“If you seem to be a person that is saying interesting stuff, is doing interesting stuff, and people should get to know you, then a certain kind of following will come after you,” added Amy.

A simple website, with a digestible ‘About Us’ section, for example, is also often overlooked as a first step towards attracting journalists and securing media coverage. As Amy noted, “Having a company website that makes it clear what your business actually does is critical. It also needs those key contacts, email, or phone numbers on there – to make it as easy as possible for me as a journalist.” 

Successful startups build a layered reputation by winning trust in the communities closest to their technology. They then expand outward to wider audiences as they develop more proof points. As Andrei Dragomir noted, “Being a company based on new science, or, in our case, a twist on the old science. The first important step was getting credibility with the scientific community, and then getting credibility with the end user community, then with the investors, and then with everyone else. So it was multiple different layers, and at each stage, I absolutely agree that it's all about the story”. 

Andrei added one caveat: “I would probably say one of the biggest learnings is to know your audience as well. So I think my pitch, for example, for a US investor, would be completely different from a pitch targeted at the European market and area.”

Investor credibility

When pitching to investors, it is important to frame your pitch in the context of the problem you're aiming to solve.

"It's really important to remember that no one buys technology. They buy a solution to a need," explained Stephanie Forrest. 

From an investor's perspective, venture capitalists have more risk appetite than most founders. So, it's important to keep their attention and their focus – keep it brief, punchy, and make sure you're defining the future with what you do. 

The challenge is then making sure you aren’t adding to the hype. “Because we're a quantum technology startup, there's a feeling that a hype bubble is being created,” said Andrei. “So, you might get a lot of short-term, high-level returns from being too bold, but long-term, the entire community would suffer from it.”

In essence, successful startups don't just build great products; they build great stories through well-executed PR and comms. Attract investors and media by focusing on authenticity, clarity, and a deep understanding of your audience.